With Maggie following him, Ethan was running across Krab Wen Town. Sure enough, he grinned as the largest building they've seen in town thus far came into view. Like the other buildings, it was covered with aluminum siding, albeit of a multicolored nature. Mostly blue and pink, though with some white and green thrown in as well.

"This is it!" Ethan grinned as he turned his head back to look at Maggie. "I had a feeling it was somewhere around here- OOF!"

For at that moment, due to momentarily not looking where he was going, Ethan had collided rather painfully with someone else. As he shakily climbed to his feet, he turned to offer his hand to the other person, who he could now see was a girl around his age, with black hair that went down past her shoulders, dressed in a dark grey t-shirt and matching shorts. A small red backpack was slung over one of her shoulders, and she stood up on her own instead of taking Ethan's hand.

"Sorry about that," Ethan said sheepishly.

The girl scowled. "Yeah, right," she said, rolling her eyes. "You know those little round things poking out of your head? They're called eyes. Use 'em."

"Hey, that was uncalled for," Maggie frowned as she caught up to them.

"Yeah," nodded Ethan. "You could've been watching where you were going too, you know. And I said I was sorry."

"I heard you the first time, and it'll do you as much good now as it did then," snapped the girl. "Where the hell were you going in such a hurry, anyway?"

"That's Professor Conifer's lab up ahead, isn't it?" asked Ethan.

"Well, duh!" said the girl. "Of course that's Professor Conifer's lab! What did you think it was, a dentist's office?"

"Hey, give me a break, I'm new around here!" Ethan exclaimed. "Excuse me for not knowing my way around town!"

"Oh, don't tell me you're headed there too," sighed the girl. "That's all I need, is some stupid moron hanging around while I pick my first Pokémon."

"Oh, you're starting your journey today?" asked Maggie, sounding rather interested.

"Yeah, and what's it to you?" the girl replied.

"Well, I've just started my journey myself," Ethan replied. "I'm gonna be traveling the Hojot region and winning Gym badges."

"Pffft," snorted the girl. "You? A Trainer? You don't look like you got the brains to tell a Graveler from a Grimer, let alone train either of them."

"Yeah, well, I don't think I can see any Pokémon warming up to you," Ethan shot back. "Who do you think you are, anyway, coming up to me and throwing insults in my face?"

"The name's Grey. Grey Spearow," said the girl. "Remember it now, because I won't be telling you again."

"Whatever," said Ethan. "I'm Ethan. Ethan Golde. This is Maggie McPixel."

"And I couldn't give a flying-"

"OK, stop it!" exclaimed Maggie suddenly. This caught both Grey and Ethan's attention, and they turned to look at her. "It's obvious we're all headed for the same location right now, so could we please try to be civil to each other?"

Ethan and Grey said nothing at this. They merely glared at each other once more before the trio continued on. Within minutes, they found themselves outside the building Ethan had been running towards. True to his suspicions, a pale yellow sign outside the door read "Conifer Pokémon Research Lab" in black lettering.

Ethan knocked on the green and pink door, and almost immediately, a voice sounded from inside. "Come in!" Obligingly, Ethan made to open the door, though Grey shoved past him and went in first. Scowling at this, Ethan followed her in, followed by Maggie.

The interior looked primarily like Professor Redwood's lab, only slightly smaller and a lot more cluttered. Grey led the way to the back of the room, carelessly kicking aside any clutter in her way as she went. At the back of the room, there stood a relatively young man- older than any of them, though he couldn't have been much older than thirty, Maggie was guessing. He had short brown hair, and looked rather fit- she could just barely notice some definite muscle through his lab coat.

"Hello!" the man greeted them. "Allow me to introduce myself- I am Professor Conifer. You, I'm guessing, must be Maggie, correct?" he said, addressing Maggie, who nodded. "Yes. Yes. Professor Redwood called me earlier to tell me you would be on your way-"

"Hey," interrupted Grey. "Now that that's out of the way, how about a Pokémon here?"

"Now, it's not polite to interrupt," Professor Conifer frowned as he turned his attention to Grey. "Having said that, I have been expecting you, so we may as well do this. Maggie, would it be OK if I help Grey here choose her first Pokémon?"

"Sure," smiled Maggie.

"Damn straight, it's OK," grinned Grey. Ignoring this, Professor Conifer escorted the trio over to a nearby table, on which rested three Poké Balls.

"All right," the professor stated as he took a Poké Ball. "First off, the Grass-type starter... Exeggcute!" He threw the ball up as he said the last word, and in a flash of light, a cluster of a half-dozen eggs materialized. Each egg sported a face, and one of them was cracked, with a yellow yolk-like substance showing through.

"Exeggcute," said all six eggs simultaneously.

"Pfft," scoffed Grey. "Next."

"Very well," sighed Professor Conifer as he threw another one of the Poké Balls. "Now for the Fire-type starter... Magby!"

In a flash of light, a small red bipedal Pokémon materialized. It sported small, silver claws on its hands and feet, and a thin wisp of smoke rose from its mouth. "Magby!" it exclaimed.

"Eeeeeeeee!" squealed Maggie, unable to contain herself. "It's so cuuuuuute!" she breathed as she knelt down to get a closer look at the Magby, who looked rather pleased with the attention.

"Next," yawned Grey.

"Well, here's the last one," replied Professor Conifer as he threw the final Poké Ball. "The Water-type starter... Tentacool!" he exclaimed as the ball burst open, unleashing a blue and red aquatic creature. It stood on a pair of brown tentacles, using them as makeshift legs.

"Tentacoool," said the Water/Poison-type in a somewhat nasally tone.

"Say," Grey said, regarding the Tentacool with interest. "Now that's more like it," she stated as she picked up the Jellyfish Pokémon and held it in her hands, examining it. "Yeah," she said, nodding. "Yeah, I think my choice is pretty clear here. I'll take Tentacool."

"Cool! Tentacool!" cheered Tentacool as Professor Conifer handed Tentacool's Poké Ball to Grey.

"You know, in Johto, I was given a choice between Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile-" began Ethan.

"Hey, Ethan, hold up a sec," Grey interrupted, shushing him. "You hear that?" Ethan heard nothing, so he shook his head. "You know what that is?" asked Grey. "That's the sound of me not caring."

"And here are some empty Poké Balls, and your Pokédex," stated Professor Conifer as he handed five more Poké Balls to Grey, plus a small red box, not unlike the one Ethan had. "Now then," he added as he turned to face Ethan, who stopped scowling at Grey, "What about you, young man? Are you here for a Pokémon?"

"Actually, I already have one," Ethan replied as he held up a Poké Ball. "I got this Cyndaquil from Professor Elm in the Johto-"

"The Johto region?" interrupted Professor Conifer with great interest. "Oh, please excuse me," he added as he realized that he had interrupted. "Well, at the very least, I ought to give you a new Pokédex," he stated as he produced another Pokédex from a nearby shelf and handed it to Ethan. "Now then, Maggie," he said. "As I told Professor Redwood, I have no clue as to Red's whereabouts. He seems to have simply vanished when he left my lab two weeks ago. He could be more or less anywhere, so you would do well to search the Hojot region in its entirety. Also, he seemed to have accidentally left this behind," he added as he reached over to another shelf, from which he carefully extracted a round, white object with triangular red and blue markings- an Egg.

"Yeah, that's the Egg he found!" Maggie exclaimed.

"Well, I would like you to take it with you when you look for him," said Professor Conifer as he placed it in Maggie's arms. "My research indicates that it is the Egg of a Pokémon. Exactly what species it contains isn't certain at the moment, but lately, we've been discovering all manner of new Pokémon left and right lately. Anyway, I believe that the Egg will only hatch if it is kept with other Pokémon and cared for by a Trainer. Unfortunately, my work keeps me far too busy to give that kind of attention to the Egg, but I'm hoping you'll be up to the task?"

"I don't see why not," smiled Maggie as she gently cradled the Egg in her arms.

Meanwhile, once Ethan and Grey were done getting a feel for their new Pokédexes, Grey walked over to Ethan. "Alright, loser," she said. "You. Me. Battle. Now."

For once, Ethan found himself unperturbed by Grey's rudeness- he wasn't one to turn down a battle challenge. "You're on!" he replied.

"Uh- please, not in here!" Professor Conifer exclaimed hastily. "Could you maybe take it outside?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," grumbled Grey as she rolled her eyes. "Whatever.

"OK, this will be a one-on-one Pokémon battle between Ethan Golde of New Bark Town, and Grey Spearow of Krab Wen Town," announced Maggie once they were outside, where there was plenty of room. A large patch of brown, white, and pink dirt served as the battlefield. Ethan and Grey stood at either end of the arena while Maggie stood on the sides to act as the referee, having placed the Egg in her backpack beforehand. Watching from the doorway of his laboratory was Professor Conifer. "Begin!" she said.

"Cyndaquil! Let's go!" Ethan exclaimed as he threw a Poké Ball. In a flash of light, there appeared a small rodent-like Pokémon. Half its fur was cream-colored, the other half was a dark green-blue.

"Quiiiiiil!" exclaimed the Pokémon. As it cried out, its back ignited, a roaring fire now burning from several red spots on its back. As Maggie tried to keep herself from squealing how cute she thought Cyndaquil was, Grey held out her Pokédex.

"Cyndaquil, the Mouse Pokémon," droned the device. "A timid Pokémon that curls itself up into a ball. It shoots flames from its back for protection."

"All right, let's destroy that thing!" yelled Grey as she threw a Poké Ball. "Tentacool! Go!"

In a flash of light, Grey's Tentacool materialized, standing somewhat unsteadily on its two tentacles. "Tentacool," it said. Now it was Ethan's turn to hold out his new Pokédex.

"Tentacool, the Jellyfish Pokémon," it said. "It drifts aimlessly in waves. Very difficult to see in water, it may not be noticed until it stings."

Ethan made the first move. "Cyndaquil! Tackle it!" he ordered.

"Tentacool, Poison Sting!" commanded Grey.

"Cooool!" exclaimed Tentacool as numerous glowing purple needles were fired from its body. Cyndaquil charged forward, grunting as it took the Poison move head on, but didn't stop. It slammed into Tentacool, sending the Water/Poison-type crashing to the ground. Tentacool, however, got back up with relative ease.

"Don't take that lying down!" scowled Grey. "Use Supersonic!"

"Leer attack!" ordered Ethan.

"Cynda!" exclaimed Cyndaquil as it suddenly glared at Tentacool, its slit-like eyes starting to glow. Tentacool started shaking in response to this, and did not fire the Supersonic as ordered.

"Cyndaquil! Tackle attack!" grinned Ethan.

"Tentacool, Constrict attack-" began Grey, but before she could even finish speaking, Cyndaquil had rammed into Tentacool once more, and this time, the Jellyfish Pokémon made no effort to move.

"Tentacool is unable to battle!" declared Maggie. "Ethan and Cyndaquil are the winners!"

"Damn it!" exclaimed Grey as she returned Tentacool to its Poké Ball. "You got lucky, you know that, right?" she snapped at Ethan. "If Tentacool had any Water moves to work with yet, you'd have lost!"

Ethan was about to respond to this, when a cry of "Magby mag!" sounded from behind Maggie. She turned around in surprise to see the same Magby from before standing there, looking up at her.

"Heh," chuckled Professor Conifer as he witnessed this. "Well, well, Maggie. It seems Magby here's taken a liking to you."

"Ooh, it certainly looks that way," smiled Maggie as she scooped up the Magby in her arms. "And you're a cute little fella, too, aren't you?" she cooed, much to the Magby's delight.

"Well, it's clear to me that Magby's chosen its trainer," Professor Conifer smiled as he held a Poké Ball out to Maggie. "Why don't you take this Magby? It's obvious it'll be much happier traveling with you than being cooped up in the lab all the time."

"Really?" Maggie asked, a smile on her face. "Oh, yes, I'd love to! Magby, what do you think? You wanna come with me?"

"Mag-BY!" replied Magby, nodding emphatically.

"I'm thinking that's a yes," grinned Ethan.

"Gee, you think?" said Grey sarcastically.

"Well, that settles it," Maggie said. "Welcome to the team, Magby."

Once Magby, Tentacool, and Cyndaquil had been returned to their Poké Balls, Ethan and Maggie headed out in the direction in which Professor Conifer pointed them- west, towards the entrance to Route -29. As they saw a wooden sign welcoming them to Route -29, they heard footsteps behind them.

"What, you thought you'd be rid of me that easily?" demanded Grey. "Get real."

"What are you doing here?" asked Ethan disdainfully. "Haven't you inflicted your presence on us long enough?"

"Hardly," snapped Grey, with the faintest trace of a sneer. "It's obvious the two of you are total noobs when it comes to the Hojot region. Clearly, you both need someone who knows her way around Hojot. Someone who actually knows all the names of the cities and towns Hojot has to offer. Someone stunningly beautiful, like me."

"Like you," repeated Ethan skeptically. "Yeah, thanks, but no thanks. The day I accept help from you will be the day my Cyndaquil shoots icicles out of its back."

"If I might add something," added Maggie, "No offense, but... you're not all that nice, Grey. I'm not so sure I'd be comfortable with this."

"Oh? Just what the hell is that supposed to mean, huh?" demanded Grey as she wheeled around. "Am I not pleasant? Am I not a wonderful person to be around? Does my very presence not FILL YOUR FREAKING HEART WITH JOY?!"

Maggie did not look particularly bothered by this outburst, but declined to answer all the same. Ethan, on the other hand, though he also declined to answer, still eyed Grey warily before hastening to follow Maggie.

Route -29 was beautiful. Huge fields of grass, with large trees dotting the landscape every so often. It would have been a beautiful view of greenery, except the green was mostly obscured by other colors. A lot of the grass was pink and white, and only some of the trees' bark was brown- for the most part, it was yellow, pink, and blue. Even the trees' leaves looked colorful, though Ethan was fairly certain that even on the most beautiful autumn day, he had never seen leaves that were bright pink, light blue, or a sickly shade of lime green. Above the lovely, albeit oddly colored landscape, several Pidgey could be seen flying.

"Well," Maggie said after they had spent some time walking through the fields of multicolored foliage, "maybe we ought to go together anyway."

"Uh, Maggie?" murmured Ethan. "You seem like a nice person, so don't take this the wrong way, but, um... have you completely lost your mind?!"

"Well, Grey, you're going for Hojot's Gym badges too, right?" Maggie asked Grey, who had been stubbornly walking alongside them.

"That's what I said," Grey responded.

"Well, Ethan's doing that as well, so you're bound to cross paths more than once in any case. Besides, I think it'd be more fun to have more people traveling with us than if we were each going by ourselves. I mean, I know, Ethan, we're both finding it a little hard to get along with Grey, but who knows? Things can change. Maybe the two of you could even become friends."

At this, Ethan and Grey both gave funny looks at Maggie. "You really haven't got any brains at all, have you?" Grey asked, shaking her head slowly.