"You know, you've got it pretty good, Andrea," Larson said. "I remember when I went up to Blueleaf Village all by myself. It's a boring walk all alone."

Andrea was too busy studying the Pokéball in her hands to listen to Larson. She wondered how to open it, thinking that clicking the button in the center would do it. The Pokéball grew in size, scaring her. "Uh... how do you open these things?"

"Grip 'em like this," he said, grabbing one of his own Pokémon to demonstrate. His four fingers were wrapped evenly along the top with his thumb grasping from below. He stopped in his tracks and held it out in front of him. "Then, just say something like... 'Star, how about a little walk?'"

The Pokéball split open, revealing the complex circuits inside. A dim, colourless glow of light formed in the center, brightening and shooting forward onto the ground in front of them. After the blinding flash of light subsided, the pink, star-shaped Clefairy appeared and looked up at her master with a wide and clueless smile on her face.

"That thing is creepy..." Andrea said. "Those huge eyes and that ridiculous smile! It's so... weird looking!" She held onto her Pokéball in the same way that Larson did. "Uhh... Fur... Furret? Come on out?"

The Pokéball in her hand opened, repeating a similar light show. The creamy furred, brown-striped Furret appeared, looking around at his surroundings with curiosity. He saw Andrea and Larson standing in front of him and approached quickly. Flinching nervously, Andrea's fear subsided as he brushed up against her leg and let out a purring noise.

As she looked down at him, Larson said, "Looks like he likes you! Go on, show him he's got a good girl looking after him!"

Andrea timidly knelt down, running her hand through his silky smooth fur. It was the softest feeling she had ever felt, even softer than the Visalian silk dress she wore when she had graduated from school. Furret's purring increased as she continued to pat it.

"After all these years, I knew you'd finally come around," Larson smirked.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "I just like this guy... I wouldn't be caught near anything else, especially that... thing." she said, looking at Star. Star responded by looking back with her large, soulless and almost non-sentient eyes. "I don't see how you can stand to be near it."

"She's adorable!" he said. "But if she bothers you that much..." he said, holding his Pokéball out again. "Star, return. You can come out later."

Star looked up at her master and began to glow red. She deformed into a red blob of energy and was sucked back into the Pokéball, which made a beeping noise to indicate that she was safely back inside.

"Whatever," he started. "Let's keep moving or we won't reach Blueleaf Village before nightfall."

Andrea turned to look at the skyline of Azure Ridge. She held her hand up to block the sun, counting the various skyscrapers, remembering what each one was. She was anxious about visiting Blueleaf Village, having never been to it before. "I think this is the first time I'll have ever left the city..." she said. After a long pause, she turned back to Larson and said, "Feels good."

"Atta girl!" he said, approaching the gateway that led out into the untamed northern wilds of Route 301.

As the two passed through it, a red haired scientist who was leaning on a fence approached them. "Greetings! Are you two Larson and Andrea?" she asked. She looked at the Furret who was following closely behind Andrea. "I assume so."

Larson greeted her warmly. "Yes. And you are?"

"Dr. Beverly Pressman. I work with Dr. Spruce over at his research lab." she said, reaching into her pocket. "Dr. Spruce was scatterbrained as usual and forgot to give you two something, so he sent me out to find you."

"He did seem a little flustered..." Andrea said.

Dr. Pressman retrieved a small device from her pocket. The device was about 4.5 inches by 2.5 inches long with a strap wrapped around the bottom of it. "Dr. Spruce usually gives this to all of his employees. It's a mobile research tool with an interactive touch screen, give it a try!"

Andrea grabbed the device from Dr. Pressman and studied it. A tap of the screen caused it to light up to a blue and yellow tropical theme. A wide array of buttons appeared on the screen, ranging from trainer tips, coordinator tips and breeding tips to an encyclopedia about the ins and outs of berries and fruits. She picked random buttons until it spoke.

"Aldrysse Township, Storm Island!" the device said in a feminine digital voice. "Aldrysse Township is home to the affluent Vannedy family, descendants of the Goldwheat Clan. There are no gyms or contest halls within the town, but there are many other tourist attractions, including the Vannedy family mansion which is open to the public on weekdays, the Cold Harbor Watershed, the Go-"

"Employees?" Larson asked. "Did one of us get hired without knowing it?"

Dr. Pressman laughed. "I doubt it. He mentioned that he needed it to be delivered to Professor Ansen along with that Furret. He also mentioned something about being ahead of her... whatever that means."

Andrea continued to study the device. "What else can this thing do?"

Dr. Pressman held up her arm and rolled her sleeve up, revealing another device attached to her wrist. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a Pokéball, holding it in front of the device.

"Wesley! Species: Zubat. Trainer: Beverly Pressman, ID 87261. Gender: Male. Personality: Troublemaker. Favourite fo-"

"These are called R-Kits. They're essential to us scientists, and soon, they'll be available for Pokémon trainers and coordinators across the world. It'll really revolutionize how trainers raise their Pokémon, what strategies they should employ... all that kind of stuff." she said, placing the Pokéball back into her pocket. "I'm sure Professor Ansen will show you more about them, if you ask. I don't want to delay you all day, as there are literally that many features in an R-Kit."

Andrea wrapped the strap around her left wrist. "Wow, it's almost like science fiction."

"It is science fiction!" Larson said excitedly, gawking at the R-Kit.

Dr. Pressman bowed before the two. "I should get back to the lab. There's science to be done! ...and Dr. Spruce will have my head if my projects start to fall behind." she giggled. "Good luck out there."

The two decided to continue on with their task, passing over the city limits border. In the immediate area, tall, wavy grass blew with the warm winds. The path in front of them snaked through the foothills, visibly ending on the horizon as it climbed up the hill to the borders of Blueleaf Village far in the distance. The houses looked so far away to Andrea, like little shining dots. Distance combined with the oppressively warm weather already made her want to give up.

Larson led her over to the tall and ragged grass which reached to her elbows. "Now comes the fun part," he said, looking up and down the wall of grass in front of him. He was unable to find a way around the grass and walked right in.

"Oh noooo..." Andrea groaned. "There's going to be a bunch of creepy bugs in there, right?" she said, pushing some of the grass aside and following Larson in. Her Furret on the other hand was eager to dive into the grass, disappearing from view and appearing in front of Larson with impressive quickness.

"There might be," Larson said. "Then again it might be too hot for them. Think of it this way, too; at least you're wearing pants. Remember last time we left the town and I was wearing shorts? My legs looked like a horror show."

"Yeah..." she said, pushing through the thick grass.

"My dad would kill me if I ever let the grass grow this tall back at home," Larson said, looking back to make sure Andrea was close behind him. "Good thing I don't live with him anymore!"

Andrea was too absorbed in scanning the surrounding area for movement to respond to his joke. Before she realised it, they had both emerged from the grass, much to her relief. As she breathed a sigh of relief, Larson looked at her.

"C'mon, that wasn't bad," he said. "I'm here to protect you, anyways."

Furret bounced out of the overgrowth covered in pollen and bits of grass. He shook his fur in an attempt to clean himself off, then walked over and rubbed against Andrea's leg.

"I think that's what he's here for." she said, scratching Furret behind the ear.

The three made their way along the road to Blueleaf Village. Larson offered some tips to Andrea on how to train Pokémon properly, but Andrea shrugged his advice off with disinterest. His tales of victory over opponents in the Johto and Kanto regions were slightly more interesting to her, but again meant very little as she had no similar experiences.

"I know what'll interest you," he started. "Silph Co... Where my mom worked..."

Andrea looked at him silently, listening intently.

Larson sighed. "You'd love it. You've always been a bookworm, you've always been able to figure stuff out by looking at it. A natural born engineer. The things I saw there... you'd fit in perfectly. In fact-"

The conversation was interrupted by a thick, sticky web shooting out of the trees from above. The web latched onto Andrea's purse and pulled it away forcefully, knocking her over. As the purse flew into the bushes under the trees, a large, green spider with fat, hairy striped legs began to quickly descend from the tree, rappelling off of a thick, sticky strand of web. The markings on its back resembled a sleeping face, but quickly morphed into an expression of anger.

As Larson pulled Andrea to safety, Furret immediately leapt to action. He stood below the spider, his fur bristling with anticipation as he waited for it to land. The spider unhooked itself from its web, crashing onto the ground in front of Furret and displacing a large cloud of sun-parched dirt into the air. It raised its back up towards Furret, balancing on its four front legs. The expression on its back changed from anger to blind fury; the 'eyes' narrowed to slanted slits and the 'mouth' began to resemble a wickedly fanged maw.

Furret stood bravely between the spider and his new companions, lowering down on all fours and growling at the beast. The two circled each other slowly, watching each other, waiting for the opposition to make a mistake, ready to strike.

Larson reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokéball. "Perfect!" he said with a smirk on his face. "Andrea, now's your chance. Give Furret the inspiration he needs to defeat that Spinarak!"

Andrea was horrified and could barely stand. The sight of the spider, which she thought reached up to her hips, sent chills down her spine. "Uhh... Y-you're out of your mind!" she said, backing away slowly.

Furret pounced at the spider, leaping onto its back. The spider quickly reacted by running around in an attempt to shake him loose but failed.

"That's right, Furret!" Larson called out.

Andrea tried to compose herself and think logically. Larson's smooth and confident reaction paired with Dr. Spruce's earlier advice strengthened her nerves a bit, but her overwhelming fear of spiders was getting the better of her. "Uhhh... uhhh..." she babbled. Looking away and almost breaking into tears, she blurted out, "Squish it!"

Furret heard the order and raised a furry paw. He balled it into a fist and began to slap repeatedly at the Spinarak's head. As Furret kept punching away, the Spinarak began to grow dizzy, zigzagging around the battlefield, bumping into bushes, tripping over roots and smacking into loose rocks. Furret jumped off of the Spinarak and whipped his tail around, sweeping it off of its legs.

"He's got the upper hand, finish it Andrea!" Larson called out with excitement.

Before Andrea even looked at the scuffle, Furret picked the stunned Spinarak up over his head and gave it a toss down the hill.

"Is... is it gone?" she asked, opening one eye and looking around.

Furret jumped into the bushes and disappeared as Larson helped her up. "It's gone. I forgot you were afraid of spiders. You're paler than freshly fallen snow!"

Andrea grumbled as she struggled to her feet. "How could you forget something like that?" Looking around for any signs of Furret, she dusted herself off. "Where'd that furball go?"

Furret poked his head out from the bushes under the trees with Andrea's purse dangling by the strap from his mouth and bounced towards them. He stood tall and proud, presenting the purse to Andrea.

Andrea grabbed the purse and continued walking along the path. "So, how much further is it until we get to this town?" she asked, fiddling with her new R-Kit. "I'm already not liking this whole travelling business..."

"I doubt we're even half way," he replied.

"Damn it..." she muttered to herself.

"Lighten up, we'll be there in no time. Trust me."


A middle aged woman with silky, black hair was staring at the calendar stuck to her fridge with a magnet. She sighed as she added another large red 'X', finishing off a row of five. Next to the calendar was a photo of her family. Her husband, a tall, handsome and powerful looking man held her tiny son in a bear hug as she wrapped her arm around him, leaning on his broad shoulder. The photo brought back happy memories of the family she used to enjoy.

"Okay mom, I'm leaving again!" called a young voice from the door.

She took a deep breath and turned around to face her son, standing at the door. She walked over and removed his white and red Pokémon League limited edition cap. "I wish you didn't have to leave again, Kyle."

"I'll be in touch, don't worry!" he said, looking up at his mother happily.

"I don't want to be alone again..." she said, placing his hat back on his head.

Despite his young age, he could sense the emotional torment his mother had been going through for the past year. "It's okay, mom... I'll find dad. I'll bring him home and we'll be a happy family again."

"I should be out there with you!" she said. "But I can't..."

Saying nothing more, the young boy turned to the door and opened it. Stepping outside, he waved to his mother one last time before walking out into the dusty, cracked dirt road leading into the town. He looked around for the sun, seeing that it was setting in the northwestern sky behind Mount Hope and adjusted his hat accordingly.

"Maybe I should stay home overnight..." he pondered to himself. "Nah, that stuffy old bat is cramping my style. She needs too much and I can't give it to her."

Kyle strolled casually through the dusty, deserted roads, stopping along the way to inspect the flowers as well as the blue-leafed trees for which his hometown was named after. Having just left home, he was already fraught with boredom, so he reached into his pocket, pulled out a scratched up Pokéball and began to toss it up and down.

"I'm unbeatable~" he began to sing as he reached the town limits and the crickets began to chirp away. "Walking down this endless highway~" he continued to sing, pausing. He tossed his scratched up Pokéball in the air again and caught it behind his back, raising it above him. "With nothing but my friends beside me! We'll never give in! We'll-hunh?" he stopped his singing to listen closely.

Feminine laughter was coming from the surrounding wilderness, followed by a male voice saying, "I knew you'd love that one."

Kyle perked up and continued walking along the path. From around the corner and behind the tall grass appeared Andrea and Larson with Furret close behind them. His eyes lit up as he saw them. "Hi!" he said.

Larson greeted him warmly. "Hey there little fella!"

"I'm not little!" Kyle shot back. He rolled up his white sleeves and flexed his flabby muscles in an attempt to impress them.

Larson chuckled. "Make way for the strongman, Andrea!"

Andrea studied Kyle up and down. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Don't be rude, he's just a kid." Larson replied.

Kyle laughed. "I decide my own bedtime, lady!"

"I'm just saying, it's dangerous for you to be out here this late..."

"Nuh uh!" Kyle said, presenting his battered Pokéball. "My Pokémon will protect me! I can prove it!"

Andrea shrugged. "Whatever you say..." she said, turning her attention to Larson and walking past Kyle. "Do you think Professor Ansen will still be at her lab?"

Kyle viewed her disinterest in him as an insult and decided to show her how serious he was in the only way he knew how. "Is that furry rat thing yours?" he asked.

Andrea looked at Larson, then at Kyle. "Not really. I'm just delivering it to Professor Ansen."

"So it's kinda yours? We have to battle then, those are the rules!"

Larson burst out into a quiet chuckle as Andrea looked at him in confusion. "Rules? What rules? Who's rules?" she asked.

Kyle shrugged. "I don't know. They're just the rules though."

"Look, kid, I can't reall-"

"You can't ignore the rules!" he interrupted. "Are you afraid I'll beat you?" He turned his limited edition hat around and pointed at her. "I think you are, but I don't blame you! I'm the greatest trainer this town has to offer!"

Larson joked quietly to Andrea. "For such a small town, I'm not surprised... Go on, humour him. It shouldn't take long."

"C'mon, lady!" he said excitedly.

Andrea let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, if it'll shut you up."

Larson put his hands on her shoulders. "That's no way to start a trainer battle... Put your game face on! Get in the zone!"

Kyle studied the Furret and nodded, raising his Pokéball above his head. "Prepare yourself! Cause Kyle O'Connor's the name, being the best there ever was is my game!"

Larson laughed to himself again. "Silly kid." he mumbled.

Kyle tossed his Pokéball into the air as Furret stepped forward, ready to battle. The Pokéball popped open and an eerie wind kicked up. Floating above them was a purple orb of dark energy. Wispy slits appeared along the top of the orb and opened up into a pair of eyes. The creature grinned wickedly, showing off its sharp, cloud-like fangs.

"What the hell..." Andrea whispered. She tapped away on her R-Kit to try to bring information up on the creature in front of her, but it only displayed static. "Umm..."

Larson walked into the middle of the makeshift arena, acting as a referee. "Let's have a clean and fair fight! Kyle will be represented by his Gastly while Andrea will be represented by her Furret!" he said, making a chopping motion with his arm and stepping back. "Let's get started!"

Her unfamiliarity with properly commanding a Pokémon during a trainer battle and having never seen a Gastly before had Andrea flustered. "Alright, Furret... uhh..." she started. "Kick the crap out of that thing!"

Furret looked between her and the Gastly, confused at her command. He studied the Gastly momentarily, then charged forward. He leapt up into the air and tried to kick the ghost Pokémon, but it phased out of existence, reappearing off to the side. Furret landed on the ground but was undaunted by the miss, jumping up to attempt another kick. Furret's foot made contact with the creature, but passed through it as if it weren't there.

Kyle laughed obnoxiously as Furret continued fruitlessly to attack Gastly. "This is rich!"

Andrea looked at Larson, hoping he'd offer some advice, but all he did was shrug.

"Let me offer you a little tip, lady!" Kyle said. "Gastly is a ghost... Your Furret has no hope of touching him, as you can't touch what's not there..."

"No way..." she said, trying her best to analyze the situation. She had never believed in ghosts but took Kyle's advice. "Furret? Back off. We need to figure something out."

Furret backed away cautiously, keeping his eyes fixed on the eerie orb of dark energy. He growled in a futile attempt at intimidating Gastly, but its only response was a blood chilling, echoing laugh that seemed otherworldly.

"Is this it? Just a furry little rat?" he asked. "No matter! Let's finish this, Gastly! Shadow Ball!"

The ghostly cloud began to glow a brighter purple as a cloud of swirling, dark energy formed in front of it. With a shrieking laughter, the ghost flung the ball at Furret. Cowering in fear, Furret was unable to dodge the attack; however, the ball of energy dissipated into nothingness as it made contact with Furret.

Andrea was shocked to see Furret unharmed, thinking the battle was surely over.

"Oops, my mistake!" he said with a cheerful grin on his face and a finger in the air. "Now it's over, summon up a Dark Pulse, Gastly!"

Gastly cackled like a witch as an orb of black fire materialised in front of it. Giving Furret little time to react, Gastly detonated the orb, sending a wave of rippling, static energy outward. Furret again was unable to dodge the attack, only this time he was knocked back into some bushes.

"Score! Another notch on my Pokéball!" Kyle shouted, jumping up and down happily. He waved for his Gastly to come over to him. "I only won 'cause Gastly and I have a true bond!"

Larson stepped forward. "I guess that's it. The battle is over and Kyle is the victor. Congratulations!" he shouted, gesturing towards the young boy.

Kyle bowed graciously. "Thank you, mister!" He turned to Gastly and snapped his fingers. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

Gastly floated over to Andrea who was busy checking on Furret. "Boo!" it echoed, trying to scare her. Andrea turned to look at it, making eye contact. A thick, black fog began to envelop them as Gastly faded from view. A large, striped leg crashed through the darkness in front of her. The darkness lifted enough to reveal what looked like the Spinarak from earlier in the day, but much, much larger. Thick, lavender slime dripped from its massive, fanged mouth as it prepared to attack her.

Andrea screamed at the top of her lungs as she closed her eyes and her skin turned snowy white from fear. She awoke a moment later to see that the monstrous spider was gone and that the darkness had lifted. She snapped to her senses after Larson and Furret started shaking her.

"Andrea? Come on, snap out of it!" he said. "What the hell happened?

Andrea sat up and looked around, shaking. "Spider..." she mumbled.

"Come on, let's get you back on your feet," he said, lifting her off of the ground and trying to hold her attention. "Are you alright?"

She let out a deep breath and bear hugged Larson. "I think so..."

"You'll be fine... I guess he played some mind tricks on you. Whatever the case, we should keep going."

The trio walked into the town, bathed in the warm, orange glow of the setting sun. The shadows of the trees stretched across the ground, offering some relaxing shade from the still warm temperatures. The town of half a dozen houses spread apart by spacious and expansive, overgrown lawns was eerily silent, as if abandoned. Larson led Andrea up Main Street towards the lake on the northern end of the town. Along the shores of the lake were multiple, high tech looking wind mills that towered over a large, brick building.

As the group approached the large building, they noticed that the lights inside were off. "Maybe we shouldn't have bothered with that kid... Looks like Professor Ansen has gone home for the night."

Andrea studied a piece of paper that was taped to the front door, detailing the lab's business hours. "According to this, she was gone two hours ago," she said, downtrodden. "Now what?"

Larson walked to the edge of the building and looked out into the lake behind it, then inspected his surroundings. "We camp out. Unless you want to bother the locals to see who'd be willing to let us sleep in for the night. I wouldn't recommend it, though."

Andrea sauntered over to Larson and flirtatiously bumped into him. "Well, at least it's not cold out..."

"Exactly, count your blessings." he said, tossing his backpack onto the thick grass and digging through it. He pulled out a small pillow, then unhooked the sleeping bag attached to his backpack and rolled it out.

Andrea smacked her forehead as she watched Larson lay out his sleeping bag. "Duh, why didn't I think of that?" she asked. "I should have brought some of that with me..."

"Live and learn!" Larson said, laying down on it and adjusting his pillow.

Andrea stared down at Larson as he tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position. "He's not even going to offer to share with me? He can be a jerk sometimes..." She looked around but eventually decided to just sit down and lean against the building. She looked upward to see the sky rapidly fading to black as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon and the stars began to twinkle into view. An abnormally bright and slightly red star that she had never seen before caught her attention. "Hey Larson..." she said.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"What is that? That bright star? I've never seen it before."

Larson sat up and looked around, then scooted up next to her. "I'm not sure..." he said, looking down at her wrist and remembering her R-Kit. "Hey, maybe that fancy thing on your wrist knows."

"Hmm..." she said, trying to navigate the various applications on the R-Kit. After a few moments, a map of the sky appeared before her. She moved around the map until she found what looked like the star in question, then tapped on it.

"Rose-b Comet." the R-Kit said. "The Rose-b Comet is the second comet to be documented and studied by Dr. Henner Rose of the Mossdeep Space Agency in Hoenn nearly twenty-seven years ago. Rose-b is currently on an approach vector towards our planet and will be at its closest next spring before returning to deep space. Currently accepted astrometrics indicate that it approaches our planet once every 468 years. Humans and Pokémon alike along the equator have used Rose-b as a travel guide for millennia."

"There you go." Larson said. "Something to look up to so you never lose your way. I've been using the North Crown since the day I landed in Kanto. I've never been lost out there."

"You also have that map I gave you..."

Larson chuckled. He watched Andrea as she looked between the sky map and the stars above her. "So how's it feel to get away from it all?"

"Pretty good... I hadn't even thought about my problems back at home since we left..."

Furret poked his head from around the corner and jumped up onto Andrea.

"Oof!" she shouted. "Watch it!"

"He wants to use you as a pillow it looks like..." Larson said, scooting back over to his sleeping bag and yawning. "Speaking of..." he said, trailing off.

Andrea attempted to reach into her pocket to grab Furret's Pokéball, but Furret had her arms pinned down. "Are you telling me you want to sleep out here instead of in your little ball thing?"

Furret made a noise resembling a cat's meow, then licked her cheek.

"I... guess that's a yes?" she said, slouching down in an attempt to get comfortable. After rolling around in the grass for a few moments, she found a comfortable position and closed her eyes. Before long, she had drifted off to sleep.