I was in Little Root when the quakes started. I had just gotten there from Johto. Yes, it was a long trip. I started in a small town in Kanto, actually. But anyways, I had just gotten into Lilycove City when the earthquakes hit.

The shaking died down quickly enough, and I decided to help fix things up. Arcanine and I were taking a break when the news reported Chimney's eruption. And I figured, hey, why not? I was going to be scouring the land anyways, planning on taking the gym challenge, maybe battle the Hoenn Elite Four. I could make my way here. But I had to get some more pokémon and get them strong enough to survive first.

I made my way to Little Root town and from there to Rustboro. I breezed through Roxanne, caught a boat to Dewford and did the same thing to Brawly. By this point, the word was that Lavaridge hadn't survived, but nobody knew for certain because of the ash fall. While in Dewford, I delivered something to a guy named Steven. He said that I had potential to be a great trainer, and to always be on guard. I had a feeling I'd be meeting him again later.

From Dewford I travelled to Slateport City, where I spent a day touring the place and went to the Museum of Oceanology.

That's when I met them for the first time. I was delivering a package to one Captain Stern when we were assaulted by Team Magma. I'd tangled with Aqua before, and found them to be less than threatening. But when that man Maxie walked in with his Camerupt on one side and a Torkoal on the other, I knew deep down that he was dangerous.

He looked at me, regarding me with cold, calculating eyes. "So you're the boy who's been giving Archie problems, huh? He would fall to such a weakling." His voice was smooth, silk, but at the same time gravelly, like he smoked a lot. Hell, he probably did. And it was with that voice that he gave one order to his pokémon. "Destroy the boy and the captain."

Before I could move, the Camerupt had released a blast of fire which killed Stern. It was a quick, painful death. The Torkoal released a wave of pure heat that sent me to the ground and busted the glass from the windows. I stood shakily and called out my own trusted ones. Arcanine, my first ever pokémon, hatched by me, stood across from the Numel.

My darling girl, Sylph, stared down the Torkoal, her red eyes filled with rage, her silvery skin glowing in the light. She's a Gardevoir, and if I speak of her with more than a trainer's love, you'll have to forgive me that. I forget she's not human sometimes.

I don't remember what I shouted. Something to the effect of "kill them" but I don't know for certain. All I know is that I train my pokémon for situations like this. I had a hand in toppling Team Rocket a few years back, so it comes with the territory. Sylph through up a powerful light screen, holding it across our half of the arena. Arcanine would dart forward, land a few quick blows on the much slower Numel, and then jump back behind the barrier in order to avoid the blast of fire he got in response. Sure, it wouldn't kill him, but I could feel the heat each time a flame hit the light screen, and knew it would hurt him.

And through it all, Mazie watched. He was firmly convinced that he had me cornered, that eventually Sylph would lose her focus and then he could kill us. But I've been known to pull surprises from out of nowhere. I always had an escape strategy.

In this case it called for me to rush through the light screen and jump at Maxie while issuing a psychic command to Sylph. Maxie and his pokémon were all too surprised to react as I flew at him. Just before I made contact, though, my scenery changed. I found myself landing hard on my knees in sand. We were back at Dewford Town. I called them both back to their pokéballs after telling them what a great job they did.

Something Maxie had said bugged me... Archie. I hadn't ever met the leader of Team Aqua before, but I'd heard the name tossed around. Maxie thought he was weak, but Maxie probably thought a lot of people were weak. I spent the night in Dewford's Pokémon Center, and the next day caught the first ferry back to Slateport. I attended a short memorial service for Stern, and then made my way up to Mauville...

Look, not to be rude, but is there somewhere to eat and sleep around here? I've been on the road a long time... I'll tell you more later.