The next day my alarm clock went off late. I'd set it for 7:30 AM, but instead it went off at 8:30, so I was in a huge rush to get packed. I still couldn't comprehend everything: I was finally going on my journey. All I could think about for the last 6 years was becoming a Pokemon master, and this was my opportunity. After I finished packing, I woke up Umbreon.

"Umbreon, time to get up, we've gotta go!"

Umbreon looked up at me, still half asleep, and let out a small cry. Then she stood up and shook herself off, trying to wake herself up.

"Bree!" she called, and trotted over to the door. I followed her out, saying goodbye to my mom, and headed to Steph's house.

When I got there, she was almost done packing, and Ron, her boyfriend, was sitting in the living room. His backpack was next to him on the couch, and his rolled up sleeping bag was strapped on top. Ron is kind of tall, just a bit shorter than me, and with short black hair.

"Ron!" I called out. "What's up, man? Are you ready to go!?"

He got up and came over to shake my hand. "Yeah," he answered, "I'm, ready to go, and so is Poocheyena."

"Poocheyena?" I asked, confused. "I thought you had a Teddiursa?"

"Yeah, I did, but I traded my cousin. I wanted something cool, and Poocheyena is a lot cooler than Teddiursa."

"No its not," I contested, "Teddiursa is better. It can evolve into an Ursaring, which is WAY cooler than any Poocheyena."

Ron made a short laugh, and said "Whatever Joe, it was my decision, and I stand by it."

"Whatever dude, is Steph ready?"

At that moment, she came down the stairs with her bag ready in her hand. "I'm ready now, lets go!" When she got to the bottom, she went over to Ron and kissed him. I faked disgust at it, sticking my tongue out.

"Aww, that's sick guys, come on!" I said. "Just get a room already."

"What, jealous?" they both asked at the same time, which made me laugh.

"Whatever guys, lets get going. I want to be in Oldale Town before nightfall, lets get going!" They both nodded and we left the house.

The road to Littleroot was just as beautiful as it always was around this time of year. Umbreon walked next to me, occasionally drifting to the side of the road to smell the flowers, or to investigate some small pokemon in the bushes. She was always curious, and hated being in her poke ball. Steph walked to my right, and Ron was on my left. Around 10:00, we came up on the berry farm. Steph wanted to stop by to buy some, so we decided to take a little break.

While Steph was talking to the old lady who owned the little shop where they sold them, Ron and I were talking pokemon.

"Hey Ron," I said, "can I see your new pokemon?"

He nodded, and pulled out a poke ball. "Poocheyena, come on out!"

A small dog-like pokemon came out of the ball. It was grey, but it had black paws and the fur around its face was black too. Ron said it was a boy, and it took a quick liking to my Umbreon. She wasn't having any of that, though.

"Brehh!" she called out when he tried to get near her. She jumped up and took a fighting stance, and Poochyena whimpered and ran back to Ron. I fell down laughing

"Haha, Ron, looks like you got the short end of the trade!"

"Whatever. My Poochyena can take your Umbreon any day in a battle, just remember that."

"Is that a challenge?" I asked with a smile on my face.

"Yeah, maybe it is!" Ron came back. "Your Umbreon versus my Poochyena, right here right now!"

"Alright then, lets go. Umbreon, pursuit, go!"

Umbreon jumped and hit Poochyena right in the side. He rolled over for a bit, then stopped and got up to his feel. Umbreon then did a sideways flip, and hit him with her back end, putting him back on the ground.

"Oh come on you guys!" Steph had just came back from getting the berries, and saw the fight. "Why are you two fighting?" "Hey, he challenged me!" I answered. "I'm just trying to have some fun here."

"Poochyena, get some rest." Ron put Poochyena back in his poke ball and attached it to his belt. "Well Steph, get anything good?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I got some Oran berries, Cheri berries, and a couple pretty rare Sitrus and Bluk berries." We split them up among ourselves and continued along the road.

Around 2:00, we passed through Littleroot town, and paid a little visit to Professor Birch. I tried to get us moving again, but Ron and Steph decided to stay for lunch. We found a small pizza parlor, so we ate there.

When we were about to leave, the most beautiful girl I'd seen in my life walked in. She was short, just barely even with Steph, but the way she carried herself made her look like she wasn't the "look at me, look at me" type, which I'd always loved in a girl. Her hair came down a few inches past her shoulders, and it was this amazing dark-red color that perfectly accentuated her dark brown eyes. The second I saw her I couldn't help but stare.

I could hear Steph talking, but I didn't hear a word she said. Finally, just before the girl looked over at us, Steph snapped me back to reality with a tap on the head.

"Hey, what was that for!" I exclaimed

"That's for not paying attention!" she said. "I was just saying that we need to pick up some poke balls and food when we get to Oldale Town. Ron said that the distance between Oldale town and Petalburg City is long enough that we'll have to camp out a couple times, so we're gonna have to cook then, okay?"

I just nodded and turned my gaze back to the girl. It looked like she was here to meet some friends, because she was just sitting there by herself, looking around every few seconds. "Yeah, sure, whatever you say."

Steph finally picked up on where my attention was, and tapped me on the shoulder. I looked over at her.

"Go talk to her!" she said.

I'd considered it, but I'd also considered that she most likely had a boyfriend, whom she was probably waiting for. But, against all better judgment, I stood up and casually walked over to her. When I got to her table, she noticed me and smiled.

"Hello," I said.

"Hello," she responded.

"I don't normally do this, but do you mind if I sit?"

"Not at all," she said with a smile. "My name's Alice, what's yours?"

Surprised at how willing she was to let me talk to her, I nearly began to stutter. I had to take a second to calm down, then I answered, "I'm Joe."

"Well Joe, we rarely get new faces around here, and I've never seen you before. Did you just move here?"

"No, I'm just passing through with some friends. I'm out to get all the gym badges and become a pokemon master." This made her chuckle a bit, so I quickly added "yeah, I know, sounds kinda cheesy, doesn't it?"

"Actually, it sounds like a lot of fun." She gave a quick laugh. "Until recently, I'd given up my plans to travel the world."

"How come?" I asked. Just as she opened her mouth to answer, a tall, fair skinned boy came in and began walking towards us, staring first at Alice, then at me. He looked to be around 17, and he had 3 poke balls attached to his belt. I could tell he was a trainer, and I could also tell he was pissed off that I was talking to Alice. Steph and Ron noticed it too, and they looked worried.

Alice drank a bit of her soda, and answered "That's why."

The boy came to our table and began shouting at her. "Who is this! Is he your new boyfriend? Is that why you dumped me, you've got someone new already!"

Alice looked up at him and replied, "No, Stephen, he's not my boyfriend, and I dumped you because you're too controlling. I'm tired of your crap, and I'm tired of you. Get out of here before I make you get out!"

Stephen began to reply, but I cut him off. "Dude, the lady asked you to leave, so leave. I don't think you should piss her off."

He looked at me like he wanted to kill me, but then he seemed to calm down, he even laughed a little. "Oh yeah!? Who's going to make me, you, loser? Let me guess, you're just some kid who decided to travel the world, huh? Tell you what, if you can beat me in a battle, maybe I'll let you leave here without a couple broken bones."

Alice was about to speak, but I beat her to it. "You're on, tough guy. My Umbreon can take anything you've got. One on one, outside, lets go!"

As we began to walk outside, Steph and Ron came up to me

"Joe," Steph said, "What do you think you're doing!? You don't know this guy, he could really hurt you, and who's to say he won't really hurt Umbreon?!"

"Steph," I countered, "he challenged me, I can't back away from it now. Besides, this is a chance for me to really see if I'm ready for this."

She didn't agree with me, but she decided to let me go. Her, Ron, and Alice came outside. Stephen was waiting for me, with a poke ball already in his hand.

"Okay kid," he called out. "You wanna see what I've got, I'll show you. Go Vigoroth!!"

He threw the poke ball in his hand, and out came what looked like an overgrown monkey with razor sharp claws.

I took out Umbreon's poke ball and tossed it. "Umbreon, take him down, go!"

Umbreon came out of her ball and immediately readied herself for battle.

"Umbreon, pursuit, go!"

She took off and made to hit him, but he dodged at the last second.

"Vigoroth, slash!"

Vigoroth swung its wickedly curved claws at Umbreon and hit directly above her right hind leg. She cried out in pain and fell on the ground. Stephen let out the most arrogant laugh I'd ever heard and ordered Vigoroth to finish it.

"Umbreon, move out of the way!"

She jumped forward mere seconds before Vigoroth's claws would've hit her side. I ordered her to use quick attack, and she hit Vigoroth dead center in his stomach, knocking him flat to the ground. By now we'd drawn a small crowd to watch our battle. I heard chants of "Go Umbreon" and "Go Vigoroth", but I didn't care what the crowd wanted. I just wanted to win the fight.

"Umbreon, finish him with another quick attack!"

"Vigoroth, mega punch, go!"

Umbreon jumped right into the path of Vigoroth's punch. It hit her right in her face, and she flew through the air, landing on her side at least ten feet away. She couldn't get up to her feet. We'd lost. Not only had we lost, but I also blew my chance to impress Alice. But at for the moment I was worried more about Umbreon than the girl, and I made to run to her side, but I was blindsided by Vigoroth's huge shoulder.

"Hey, what the hell, dude!?" I shouted.

"Vigoroth, teach this loser why you don't mess with us! Mega punch, go!"

All I could see was his fist coming straight for my face, but then I heard Alice's beautiful voice, like bells, or something. She was saying something about a Zangoose.

"Zangoose, crush claw!"

Suddenly a pokemon that looked a bit like an overgrown cat with huge claws struck Vigoroth with immense force. He hit the ground so hard it kicked up a small cloud of dust. Stephen was immensely shocked.

"Alice, why did you do that!?"

She turned her attention to me to see if I was alright. I told her I was alright and got up to my feet. Then she looked over at Stephen. "You can go to hell, Stephen. I'm done with you. I'm leaving with Joe and his friends. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Zangoose, I'm sure she'd be willing to put you in your place."

His face twisted into what looked like a mix of anger and submission. "Grr, fine, do what you want. But this isn't over, not by a long shot!. Vigoroth, lets go, come on!" He put him back into the poke ball and left in a hurry.

"Alice, thank you, but now he's going to think you're really gone with us. Do you think that's a good idea?"

She looked a bit taken back. "Well, no, not since I decided to travel with you guys. But if you don't want me to…"

I quickly gathered myself and said "No, of course, you can come with us, I don't have a problem with it. Steph, Ron, is that okay with you guys?"

They looked at each other, and both nodded to me.

"Alright then, its settled. Alice, welcome to the group."

She lit up and began to jump up and down and laugh. "Oh, thank you! You won't regret it! I'll help out with what you guys need me to, just let me go pack my stuff real quick, okay!?"

"Sure," I said. "Go get your stuff, we'll wait for you at the Pokemon Center. See you in a bit."

Okay," she replied. "I'll try to hurry up, thank you SO much. I'm so glad to be rid of that jerk and his bull. I'll see you guys soon!"

Then, out of nowhere, she kissed me on the cheek and ran off to her house. Mostly out of shock, I sat down on a wooden bench nearby. Steph came up and sat next to me. "Joe, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, we don't even know this girl. For all we know she could be some total freak and try to rob us. And didn't that Stephen guy say he'd get you back? What are you going to do if he follows us?"

I laid my head back against the bench. "Well, I think it's a good idea to have her along with us. That Zangoose could come in handy in a pinch, and I don't think we have to worry about Stephen. Umbreon almost had him down. I have total confidence that she can take him next time."

"Alright," she said, "but if she gets crazy with us I'm going to put her in her place, just to let you know. Lets get to the Pokemon Center. I'm sure Umbreon needs some healing after that fight."

"Yeah, I think you're right, lets go wait there."

A little while later Alice showed up with her stuff, and we headed out from there. In my opinion, she seemed like a nice girl, and this would allow me to get to know her better. I just hoped we would get to Oldale town by nightfall like I'd originally planned. I didn't want to be caught out on the road at night.