Carmine smiled with his eyes forward and Charmander trotting along at his side: this was it! He was on his own now and though it scared him a little, looking down and seeing Charmander looking happily back at him quickly eliminated that fear. Ever since he could remember, Carmine dreamed of going on his own Pokémon adventure, especially after hearing about his parent's for so long.

"Okay!" He declared, stopping suddenly, "We're starting our training, you ready Charmander?"

The small Pokémon looked up at him and hopped enthusiastically, "Char!"

Carmine quickly scanned their surroundings, but failed to notice anything other than plants and trees. Scratching his head, he looked down, "What do you think we should do Charmander? How does somebody normally find a Pokémon?"

"Charmander," It replied, obviously clueless. It was then that Carmine noticed the small stones littering the ground and a simple plan formulated in his head.

After gathering as many stones as he could carry in one hand, Carmine began systematically hurling them into the nearby bushes and trees, hoping to scare out any Pokémon hiding inside. The first few claimed nothing, though he did manage to chase away a flock of Pidgey that were resting in a tree. However, on his fifth stone an annoyed Rattata appeared and charged.

"I've got you now!" Carmine exclaimed, "Get him Charmander: use Ember!"

The small ball of fire sent the Rattata rolling and out of the fight fairly easily, but Carmine was ecstatic nonetheless.

"Yeah!" He cried, literally jumping for joy and hugged his partner, "Great job Charmander!"

"Char-char!"

"Let's see what else we can find around here."

Charmander looked back at Carmine with a dull expression when, according to Carmine's count, the fourteenth Rattata emerged, "Come on Charmander, get it!" He yelled with excitement as it charged. Charmander sighed as it slapped the rat away, immediately knocking it out cold. The Pokémon then sat down and crossed its little arms, "Char. Man. Der." Carmine shrugged, "Okay, if you're tired I guess we can just move on." He let out a soft, "Char" of approval before being returned.

Carmine yawned as he stepped into the Viridian City limits, he had been here a few times with his mother; thought it was mostly for shopping and he never had a real chance to explore. However, as he walked towards the Pokémon Center, he took a good look around and realized that, save for a few people here and there, the town was pretty desolate. In the past, Viridian City had been home to Team Rocket headquarters, Carmine couldn't blame people for being iffy about living in such a place.

"HOLD IT!" A voice shouted; Carmine turned as he heard a whistle. Approaching him quickly was a woman dressed in an official looking blue uniform with oddly green hair. Crossing his arms as she reached him, the woman exclaimed, still nearly shouting, "You!...do you own a Charmander?"

Carmine raised his eyebrow, and then nodded slowly, "My name is Officer Jenny and YOU are under arrest young man!"

Looking as if an Electrode just erupted in his face, Carmine sputtered and shouted back, "For what?!"

"The unnecessary fainting of multiple Pokémon without intent to capture." She replied, brandishing handcuffs.

Carmine took a step back, raising his hands defensively, "Whoa, whoa! Since when was that against the law?! How is my Pokémon supposed to gain experience if I don't battle him?!"

Jenny now raised her eyebrow towards him, "Your Pokémon is not going to gain much, if any experience battling Pokémon that much weaker than it in the first place, so why were you fainting them if you weren't going to capture them?"

"I...I..." Carmine gritted his teeth and then let out a heavy sigh, "I don't know."

"Uhm, excuse me, Officer Jenny?" A voice piped in from behind. Jenny turned and stepped aside, revealing a young man in purple cargo pants and a black tee.

"Oh!" Jenny saluted quickly, "Is there something you need, Mr. Oak?"

"No, I was just wondering if I could offer my help in any way."

Jenny turned to look at Carmine, who in turn looked to the boy for sympathy.

"No, I don't think I will require any help. I'm just hauling this no-gooder to the station for beating up helpless Pokém-"

"HEY!" Carmine shouted, cutting Jenny off, "I just started my journey, how was I supposed to know about that law? Isn't there some kind of three strike rule or warning system?!"

Jenny paused for a second, as if deep in thought, then perked up suddenly, "You're correct! With all the Team Rocket activity, we stopped giving breaks to people to try and curb other crimes so we could focus on stopping Team Rocket."

The boy forced a cough, as if he had something to say and Jenny paused for him to speak, "Officer, I don't believe this guy is bad or anything, I think he honestly didn't know."

Jenny nodded in agreement, "Alright, but no more beating up Pokémon unless they attack you first or if you intend to capture them, okay?" With that, Officer Jenny saluted the two boys and walked off spinning the handcuffs around her finger.

Carmine sighed in relief, then noticed the boy was still standing there, "Thanks a lot, you really saved my butt."

"No problem." He replied, smiling softly.

"My name's Carmine, by the way."

"Perry." The boy replied, shaking Carmine's hand, "Why were you fainting Pokémon anyway? Don't you know that weaker Pokémon stop giving yours experience when they get stronger? Just use your Pokédex."

Carmine scratched his head, "I don't have a Pokédex."

"That's too bad..." Perry said with a frown, but suddenly smiled as his eyes lit up, "I have an idea, follow me."

Perry led Carmine across Viridian City and wondered where he was being led, but didn't bother to ask: he sort of liked surprises. A few moments later the Viridian City Gym's shadow was looming over them, and Perry pulled the door open for him, "We're here."

Curiously, Carmine opened his mouth, but decided his questions could wait. He knew that Perry knew that he was a fresh trainer, and he also already knew Perry was pretty smart, so there was no way he was bringing him here to challenge the final Gym Leader already. Something fishy was definitely going on and he made sure to give Perry an inquisitive glance as he walked inside.

"It's about time you got back Perry, I nee-" The man smirked, running a hand through his spiky hair, "I wasn't aware you had any friends, Perry."

Perry rolled his eyes, "I just met him, this is Carmine; Carmine this is my dad."

"Nice to meet you." Carmine said, smiling slightly.

"Right…" He shook his head, "Anyway, Perry, I need your help with something."

"The computer again?" Perry asked, following his dad out of the room, motioning for Carmine to follow.

"Yeah, that di…guy, sent me another email, and now every time I turn on the sound I hear, well, you'll see."

After walking down a short hallway, they entered a messy room with files and papers everywhere, four shelves, and a desk with a computer. Perry sat down at the computer and powered it on, "Okay, let's see what the pro-"

"IT'S BLUE OAK! BLUE OAK! BLUE MOTHER FUCKING OAK!"

Perry quickly turned off the sound as pictures of his father's head started popping up all over the computer screen.

"Uhm…" Perry scratched his head, "I'll see what I can do dad."

"Alright, you kids have fun." Blue ruffled Perry's hair and walked out.

As soon as the footsteps faded Carmine grabbed Perry's chair and spun him around, "You didn't tell me who your dad was Perry."

Perry shook his head, "He's not like you think Carmine, he's…kind of a jerk."

"Still!" Carmine said, throwing up his hands, "You're related to Professor Oak too! What else haven't you told me?!"

Perry chuckled, "The reason I brought you here?"

"Oh yeah," Carmine nodded, "Why is that?"

Perry got up and walked over to the far left shelf, "It should be over here somewhere."

After opening and closing several boxes, then moving to the opposite side of the room, Perry shouted, "Eureka!"

"Well? Don't leave me hanging."

Perry turned, sliding his hands behind his back, "Carmine, do you love Pokemon?"

"Obviously," He replied, hanging his head, "Come on!"

"No," Perry said firmly, "Do you really love Pokemon?"

"Perry, you can ask me a hundred times and the answer will always be the same, yes, I do."

Perry nodded, "Then you can have this." He revealed his hand, holding a rectangular red device.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep," Perry answered, "It's a Pokédex and I want you to have it as a commemoration of our first meeting and friendship."

Carmine took the device slowly, "Are you sure this is okay?"

Perry nodded, "Yeah, we have a ton of them, but this one isn't any use since its blank. I figure it'd be more fun for you to fill out one then to use one that's already been filled. Make your own memories, you know?"

"You're a sentimental kinda guy, aren't you?" Carmine said, pushing Perry slightly, "Thanks, this is awesome."

"However, I do have one condition…"

"What's that?"

"I want to come with you."

"Really?" Carmine replied in surprise, "I don't really have a choice do I?"

Perry smiled, "Nope!"

"No." Blue stated firmly, "I need you here Perry; this research isn't going to conduct itself."

"I don't want to be a researcher, I want to be a trainer."

"You're just going to have to wait then, aren't you? You had your chance five years ago. You had your chance four years ago, three years ago; and where are you? Oh, you're still here." Blue shook his head, "No. You're not going anywhere."

Perry bit his tongue and looked down, whispering, "Go, Carmine…just go."

"Sorry Perry…" He replied, leaving the gym in awkward silence.

Blue moved silently up the stairs to Perry's room, knocking softly on the door before opening it, "Hey, Perry, I'm sorry about earlier-" but stopped when he realized there was nobody in the room. He continued inside and saw a note sitting on Perry's bed, 'Dear Dad, I'm going with Carmine whether you like it or not and we'll be back to defeat you and take that badge. Smell ya later! -Perry' Laughing softly, Blue wiped his eyes, which had become suspiciously moist.

"Good luck…"