I've been through many a hardship throughout my pokémon journey. I'd killed, mauled and maimed more men than I could count on my fingers and toes. I regretted many, savored most. I'd narrowly escaped numerous crises; one might even call me lucky. I even learned a few lessons, most were stored away in my memory never to be thought of again. But there was one; just one, that stuck to my mind the most. 'If you dodge a bullet, it'll just hit the guy behind you.'

Before all of the drama, I was just a boy. I had spent my entire life working for my parents on a ranch in southern Azalea Town. The only thing that was on my mind was taking care of the pokémon on the ranch. You could say I came from humble beginnings, you might even have been correct. However,alas, all beginnings come to an end.

I remember the day it first happened, the alarm clock buzzed, six 'o'clock in the morning. That might sound unnecessary; but you have to understand, if a pokémon went without breakfast, my siblings would make sure I was lunch. I had two brothers and a sister, all older than I was. They worked on their own side of the ranch, harvesting crops in the fields. We were all very busy; we barely had time to do anything but our jobs. I never actually physically saw them often, but they did call me a few times a week to make sure I was doing my job. If I did anything wrong, I would get a cut in my already small check.

I didn't see my siblings often, but I damned near never saw my parents. They never even called us. The reason they never even sent a goddamned post card was because they were off on business constantly. Be it going to the hottest casinos in Cianwood or blowing cash on the biggest malls in Goldenrod. I never bothered them with even something as small as a text; I wouldn't have wanted to draw their attention away from their important affairs.

I did my menial morning duties, got dressed and looked in the mirror. I had a red thermal on, some thick light blue jeans and beige colored work boots. I had a muscular build from slaving away on the farm. My skin was honey brown, and I had jet black hair in a ponytail reaching below my shoulders. I was handsome by most standards, or at least I was told so.

I worked my end with three other people, all whom I considered friends of my own. Marshal, Timothy and Grey. Grey was the only one of us aside from myself that was from Azalea, he was born and raised in the city. Grey knew me the longest also; we were friends for over 6 years. He was short with naturally gray hair, hence his nickname. However despite his title, he actually had quite the pep in his step. Timothy was from Cinnabar Island, before the volcano eruption him and his family owned a retail outlet. He moved to Johto for the surplus of job opportunities. Even after all these years, he still had a Kanto accent. Marshal was the newest to this type of work. He grew up in the hard streets of Black City, Unova. He had almost no experience with farm labor, but he still had good work ethic. He was the smoothest of all of us, sporting olive skin and jet black hair.

XxXxXxX

We all usually met at Marshals house before doing our jobs; he was the closest to all of us. On top of that, he always had the best snacks. He was about a 30 minute walk, while I was heading there, it was still almost pitch black darkness. The chilly early morning breeze was refreshing, I relished in the cool air, and it wouldn't last for long. Once the sun came up we would be back to 90 F° weather.

I walked in Marshals house; he already had 4 cups of cappuccino sitting on the coffee table. Some cookies were on a plate in the center. I got comfortable in my seat, reclining in the chair. Soon after I walked in Marshal had come out of the kitchen.

"Glad you let yaself' in, lord knows I wasn't gonna." He commented slyly. His personality was contagious, I even found myself quoting him on occasion.

"Hey, I could've just sat on the porch. As long as you would've slipped some coffee through the doggie door, I'd have been happier than a grumpig in shit." I picked up another cookie and started munching on it greedily.

"Nothin' is happier than a grumpig in shit, just ask yer muthuh." He instinctively covered his face with his arms. Giggling like a madman to himself.

"I smell some roasted ass, is that you Ace?" Timothy made his appearance, skipping into the room and dropping down next to Marshal. He put his arm around Marshal's shoulders, before getting shoved off.

"Marshal, you need to learn to love a little; you are in a perpetual state of being an asshole." He explained, "You're being clouded by negative energy. I talked to Aceves, he said all he wants to do is hold you, but you keep reje-"

"You're doing entirely too much. Just stop." I raised my hand in the air.

"I don't think he's doing enough, it was just starting to get funny." Grey walked in, completing our group.

"So, everyone is here, we'll start in about…15 minutes." Marshal announced, looking at the clock on the far side of the room.

"Did you bake these cookies, Marshy?" Grey asked, reached across the table and patted Marshal on the arm. "Because they're to soft." He sat back down.

"Then eat shit." The young Unovan teen growled. Our conversation was interrupted by barking outside. The room heated up a few degrees. We all rushed out of the house, and stood in the front yard.

"I think the Entei is displeased with your temper, Marshy." Our little island friend teased.

"This isn't the time for that, get quiet." I whispered, everyone's voices went down a few notches in response.

"You think somebody is trying to break in?" Grey asked. We were now hunched over and walking side by side to the farm. We still felt the heat; it was as strong as ever.

I froze. A man rushed past us, Marshal screamed 'stop' uselessly. I didn't get a great look at his attire, but he seemed to be wearing a black uniform. A black hound chased after the man, he was our guard houndoom who looked after the farm at night. It was a powerful pokémon; capable of producing heat waves on its whim. He was what had caused the sudden change of weather. My heart was pounding uncontrollably, we had all agreed to split up; Marshal and Grey would go up the dirt road, to see if the burglar had stolen any merchandise. Tim and I would pursue the thief, going down the dirt road.

Tim was from Kanto; a region with very loose training laws. He became a trainer while he was living in Cinnabar, but quit shortly after moving to Johto, were the laws prohibited anyone from training whom was under 16. He always kept his old pokémon on him for self-defensive purposes. Tim threw one of his balls against the ground; it exploded with a loud pop. Emerging from the orb was a little bird with red wings; it had a long pink beak and fire in its eyes. It squawked loudly, but Tim quieted it, giving the fowl a treat for its cooperation. The spearow chirped in happiness; and Tim ordered it to scout the area above. It nodded and fluttered away.

We ran down the dirt road; corn fields sat on the sides of the path. We came across a patch that was seared to ashes, indicating that we were getting closer.

A fireball flew over our heads, and a barrage of flaming pellets followed it. We dropped to the floor instantly; and a growl hit our ears. The sound of a man screaming was highly apparent.

"What was that?" Tim asked rhetorically, knowing precisely what it was. He stupidly darted to the danger, and I begrudgingly chased after him against my will

A man dressed in black; or rather his clothes were torched to the point of being rather coal-like, was curled up in a ball of agony. He was still alive and breathing, but his body had suffered burns from his face to his fingertips. He moaned to himself, muttering inaudible words.

"Well, we found the culprit." Tim laughed hollowly. The miserable man rolled over on his back; revealing a big red 'R' on his chest. I took a step back; Tim shook his head in denial. He was a Rocket; we needed to phone the police, to retrieve his body. You know how they say your thoughts become things? That statement was true as hell.

Red and blue lights shined, and a siren yelled loudly. Several cop cars pulled up to our location, multiple men hopped out, their guns drawn and pointed directly towards us. An officer drew his taser, the houndoom growled at the offending weapon. The cop took that as a threat, and pulled the trigger. The hound yelped and fell to the ground convulsing from the electricity. "Freeze, put your hands up!" One of the officers commanded. Another walked behind us with handcuffs. He told us our Miranda Rights, whilst he was shackling us, a female officer stepped in front of me.

"I recognize you from somewhere." The woman put a gloved hand to her chin. She had red hair and steely blue eyes. Her face told me she was in her thirties, meaning she was about the oldest person in her squad. She was most likely the highest ranked one here too.

"Oh really? We must be old friends then. How about you just unhand me so I can just hold you in my embrace, friend?" I said sarcastically.

"No, no. Not a friend, but it's on the tip of my tongue." I could tell she was frustrated by the fact she couldn't remember. A light seemingly sparked in her eyes, and she gasped.

"You're a Ferry, aren't you? You own this whole farm!" She realized. I figured she would've known where she was at before she drove in. The lady directed a finger at my manacles, signalling for them to be unlocked. The deputy did as he was directed, and I was emancipated from the manacles.

"Well, I don't own it, my parents do. Tim here is my friend, so let him go to if you don't mind."I rubbed my wrist; he put those things on way to tight.

"Thanks…" Tim mumbled, mimicking what I was doing.

"Someone called us to report some heavy weather change, likely the result of a pokémon. One of our psychics told us that their telepathic locating was being disrupted by a dark force of some kind. We deduced it must've been a pokémon with the fire or dark typing or a combination of both. Clearly it was a houndoom." The woman explained. Her partners had all put away their weapons and stood by her side, in quiet.

"Apparently that houndoom was yours, correct?"

"Not mine in particular; he's more like a guard dog." I informed.

"Oh, I see. How old are you, son?" The lady officer asked curiously.

"Well, Tim over here is 15, I'm just turning 16." I replied.

"I'm actually almost 16." Timothy corrected sharply.

"Well, what are you two doing working on a farm? You should be off on your pokémon journeys." The red-headed officer wondered. I never really thought about that much before. I figured I would be working on a farm for the rest of my life, eternally shoveling shit.

"Well, I actually was a trainer for a little while. I got a badge before I moved to Johto from Cinnabar. I can't legally train here because of those goddamned restrictions." Timothy cursed. Timothy only had one badge, but he was no pushover trainer. He was at least at 3-4 badge level at that point, though he was very modest about his skills.

"I can pull a few strings and have the two of you training in no time. You're old enough that you don't even need your parents' permission." Not that they would care, after I said yes they found out a month later and hired someone to take my place.

"I'm cool on training, I might think about it, but for now I'm just focused on helping my parents out by working on this farm. I think it would be a good opportunity for Ace; he needs a break more than any of us. He's been doing this his whole life." Tim said.

"Suit yourself, although I wouldn't exactly consider pokémon training as a break." She laughed.

"Well, I don't normally think for myself anyway. I always just let Tim volunteer me for everything." I sarcastically waved my hands. I honestly didn't dislike the idea of training; I was quite fond of it to the contrary. So many pokémon flashed into my mind. Some of my favorite pokémon came to mind. My heart jumped in delight at the idea of being able to train a dratini, or a kabutops. Maybe I was a bit more than fond of the prospect.

"I can definitely see it in your eyes. I don't even have to ask." The officer smiled. "Whelp, come to the Azalea Police Department, call for me, my name is Lieutenant Samantha Clair, only woman you can trust with two first names." Lt. Clair joked.

"It shouldn't be very busy tomorrow, so you probably won't have to wait. I'll be waiting, Ace."

This was the beginning of my journey. In the next few years I would learn a few lessons. Most would be stored away in my memory, never to be thought of again. But there was one that stuck to my mind the most. 'If you dodge a bullet, it'll just hit the guy behind you.'