Cheren and Bianca had told me to meet them outside Professor Juniper's lab while I was getting my stuff together. When I got there, however, Cheren was the only one outside.

"Where's Bianca?"

"She said she wanted to say goodbye to her parents before we left. You'd think she would have done that before while she was still there."

"Give her a break, Cheren. She was excited about getting her pokémon."

Cheren sighs. "I guess. Just in case, though, do you think you could go get her? Make sure she doesn't space out or something? I'd hate to keep the professor waiting."

Knowing Bianca, I figured Cheren was right, so I decide to go to her house. When I open the door, the sound of shouting tells me Bianca has just informed her parents.

"No, no, a thousand times no!"

Oh great. Super Dad is at it again.

Bianca's father was, for lack of a better word, overprotective. Right now, he was probably trying to talk his daughter out of leaving. I don't really blame him for wanting to keep her safe, but that doesn't mean he always did what was right.

To her credit, Bianca can be just as stubborn sometimes. "But I...I'm not going alone, Grey and Cheren are coming too. And besides, this is my decision." She turns away, leaving her father speechless, and sees me standing in the doorway. "Sorry, Grey, I always keep you guys waiting. Let's go to the lab."

Yeah, before your dad's heart explodes.

I notice on the way to the lab that Bianca's looking a little down about her confrontation with her father. So I decide to lighten the mood with a joke.

"Hey, Bianca, if your dad was a pokémon, what would be his favorite move?"

"Um...I don't know."

"Frustration."

"That's the worst joke I've ever heard." So she says, but she gets back that cheerful glow everyone loves about her.

We find Cheren leaning against the wall outside Professor Juniper's lab, and we go inside.

As we walk in, the professor turns away from one of her machines to welcome us. "Hello, young people! My name is-"

"We know who you are, Professor," Cheren interrupts. "We've known you our entire lives, after all."

"Please, Cheren, this is an important day, we need to have some degree of formality. Besides, I already memorized the speech. Again, my name is Professor Juniper. I have devoted my life to studying pokémon and how they came into existence." We all know how this goes. Basically, she wants us to meet as many pokémon as we can in order to fill out the Pokédex. To help us on our way, she also gives us some Poké Balls before telling us to meet her in Accumula Town.

We leave the lab and make our way to the town's entrance. At the edge of town, Bianca stops us. "Since we're all going on this journey, I think we should take our first step together."

Cheren and I share a "What is she talking about?" look, but decide to humor her. The three of us line up side-by-side, link arms, and step onto the dirt road of Route 1. One step down, several million to go.

Bianca breaks free and starts rubbing her hands together. "I'm so excited! What do you say we have a little contest? Whoever has the most pokémon by the time we get to Accumula Town wins."

Cheren pushes up his glasses, a habit of his whenever he starts getting ready for something. "That idea actually sounds interesting. It'll fill out the Pokédex too, so I doubt the professor will complain."

I gasp with fake enthusiasm. "Oh boy, Cheren thinks it's a good idea! Now we just have to do it."

Cheren just glares before we split up to begin searching for wild pokémon. Several minutes later, we meet up to compare our catches. I had managed to catch a Lillipup and a Patrat while Bianca and Cheren had only caught one pokémon each.

"Wow! You have three pokemon now, Grey?" Bianca asked. "I'm impressed."

Really? 'Cause I ran into like ten others on the way over here.

Cheren walks ahead, probably a little put off by being beaten...again. "We should probably go meet the professor. She said she'd be waiting in front of the Pokémon Center."

When we found Professor Juniper, she led us inside and gave us a rundown of all of the facilities found in a Pokémon Center. I thought it seemed a little unnecessary, but then again, we had never needed to use one before, so I guess it would make sense to get an explanation.

Before she left, the professor gave us one last piece of advice. "When you get to the next town, find a woman named Fennel. Good luck, and remember to have fun." After that, she went outside and back to Nuvema Town.

Bianca decided to stay behind and do some shopping while Cheren and I left the Pokémon Center. Outside, we notice a crowd forming towards the center of town and decide to see what's going on. A group of people in strange costumes have formed a line on top of a grassy hill. The line splits, and a green-haired man wearing robes and some kind of device where his right eye should be steps through.

"What's going on?" I whisper to Cheren.

"I don't know. But it looks like the man in the robes is going to make some kind of announcement."

And that's exactly what he does.

"My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about pokemon liberation." The townspeople start murmering and giving each other questioning looks. "I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and pokémon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However, is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans only assume this is the truth." He starts going on a rant, claiming that pokémon are practically being tortured by their trainers and that they deserved to be "liberated."

Ghetsis finishes his speech and turns to leave, his followers forming a circle around him as they walk.

After they leave, the crowd disperses and I turn to Cheren. "So, what did you think of all that?"

"I don't know. Some of what he said made sense, but I don't think it's as bad as he claims. I may just be paranoid, but I sense there's something more sinister at work here."

A new voice speaks up from behind me. "Just now...your pokémon was talking." I turn around and see a guy about my age with long, and I mean really long, green hair and an outfit of mostly black and white. He also has this far-off look in his eyes.

"Talking?" I repeat. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, so you can't hear it either...How sad. My name is N."

Weird name.

"I'm Grey, and this Cheren."

"You're trainers aren't you?" N's face seems to darken. "That means you're going to capture many pokémon. I'm also a trainer, but I wonder if pokémon are really happy like this." Then he pulls out a Poké Ball. "Let me hear your pokémon's voices!"

This guy is weird, but I have a feeling it's just gonna get weirder.

Uh oh, N was just introduced. All of his fangirls are going to go crazy now.