*Beep beep, beep beep*

*Yawn* Ah, its morning. Let's see what's on today's delivery list. 5 deliveries to be made around the business district in the morning and 4 in the residential district in the afternoon. First comes breakfast: berry jam on toast and a cup of berry juice. This is the diet of the poor and scavengers, me basically. Now it's time to get to work.

*3 hours later*

Phew, finished a little early. I'll head to the orphanage and play with the kids during lunch. This orphanage consists mostly of kids who have lost their parents or families from the wars between countries. Most recently, this country has lost a skirmish with a neighboring country, and war-torn civilians are rushing in beyond the capacity of shelters and orphanages. Here, children ages 3-12 are gathered. Ironborough is fairly far from other towns and had only a few children, but now children are pouring in because of the apparent abundance of space. Or so there was because now children are being crammed in, and Ironborough's original capacity has been exceeded many times.

"Jet, Jet! You came! I missed you!" A little girl no older than 5 screamed ecstatically as she ran up for a hug.

"Hi there, Susie," I said as I ruffled her hair.

"Did you come here to play?" she asked with a smile that wouldn't take no for answer.

"Of course I did. What would you like to do?"

"Can you take me on a race around town?"

"Sure. Would you like to come too, Ellie?" I asked to the little girl hiding meekly behind Susie.

"Yes… Please…" She whispered.

"Alright! Let's go!" I said as I lifted the two little girls onto my shoulder and dashed out the door.

Many months ago, I came across this orphanage when I was making a delivery here. Immediately, the kids took a liking to me and I began to frequently visit. We share the dream to have Pokemon of our own, and while I'm halfway there, they're nowhere close. To them, I'm somewhat of a hero who will one day bring them a Pokemon to play with, and maybe even bring them each one also. Aside from that, I play with the younger kids and tutor the slightly older ones as well.

And now it's 1 PM. Playtime's over and it's time to get back to work.

*3 hours later*

Last package has been delivered and I'm done for the day. Now I'm at the edge of town and I suppose it's a good time for a break. I'll take a nap under the shade of this bright green tree.

Hm? What's that sound? Oh, there's a shadow and it's getting closer. Maybe I should mo-

*Crash*

*Minutes later*

"Tooor!"

Ugh. My head. What's that screaming sound. What's this stabbing pain on face? Am I dying?

"Toor!" an angry scream erupted in my face.

I opened my eyes and I found an orange… thing angrily jumping up and down on my chest. It must be a bird since it has a beak and its legs are just like birds' also. But why doesn't it have wings? Now I know where the stabbing feeling on my face came from.

"Ow ow ow! Stop stabbing my face!" I shouted as I picked it up with both hands.

It certainly is a wingless bird; orange from head to toe, a few light spiky feathers on its head, and a head larger than its body. It must have some amazing balance. It's still glaring at me with a scowl. What did I ever do to offend this poor flightless bird? I thought with a frown.

"So, uh… Hey, there."

"Tor!"

I put it down and crossed my legs. Now we began our staring contest. It's wearing a string pendant around its neck with a big marble that has a red and brown swirl in the middle. I reached out to touch it and…

"Tor!" And it pecked at my hand.

I guess that's yours and that means no touching… The little bird then hopped over a few steps and picked up a black circular object with something shiny attached to it and… is that a Pokeball?! The black object was thrown at my face, and I could only let my jaw drop in response.

The flightless bird hopped onto my hand and started pecking at my wrist. This seemed to mean my hand will be its dinner, or I should put on the circular object that must be a bracelet meant to be worn by me. I put it on and it responded with a strong nod.

*Grumble*

"You must be hungry, where's your trainer?" I asked.

It tilted its head and continued to gaze at me.

"Does that mean you're a wild Pokemon? But then why do you have a Pokeball?"

The staring contest continued.

*Grumble*

"Ugh. It's been a while since I've eaten, and you must be hungrier than me." I said as I picked up its Pokeball.

"Return.. What's your name again?" I mumbled.

It continued to tilt its head and spat out a "Torchic!"

"Alrighty then. Return, Torchic!" I shouted and pointed the Pokeball to it.

Torchic turned its head away in refusal.

….

"…. Fine, I'll carry you. Hop on." I sighed and offered my hand. Torchic promptly hopped on and I put it on my shoulder as I dashed home at full speed.

The sun had just set, and we've arrived home. I quickly put Torchic on the only one of two tables in my house, or rather box… I set out a plate of a few berries. Torchic cautiously sniffed the berries and *Grumble* decided to take a bite regardless of the dangers. I proceeded to make my own berry sandwich since Torchic is willing to eat its own berries. I turn around with my complete sandwich so I could eat with Torchic, only to find a bloated flightless bird passed out on my table and not a single berry left. I stared in awe as I imagined a disproportioned flightless bird eating enough berries to exceed half its body mass.

I turned on the radio and tuned in to Professor Oak's Pokemon Talk show.

"…and that's all folks! Tune in tomorrow for Buena's password and we'll discuss the spider Pokemon, Spinarak!"

"Oh! Profess Oak, there's actually still some time left. How about we let some listeners call in and ask some Pokemon questions?"

"That's a great idea, Mary! Let's wait a minute and give everyone a chance to think of a question and call in."

Come to think of it, I've never seen or even heard of a Torchic before. It's not in any of the Pokemon picture books either. This is a great opportunity to find out something good!

*Ring ring ring…*

"Hello, this is Professor Oak, and you're live on my talk show!"

"Hello, Professor Oak! I'm a big fan of yours and I listen to your show every night!"

"Oh shucks, you make me blush. What question might you have for me today, young Pokefan?"

"You see, I came across this Pokemon, and I know nothing about it! It calls itself Torchic. Do you know anything about it, Professor?"

After a moment of silence. "A Torchic, you say? That's a rare name. I'm sorry, young Pokefan, but I haven't researched such a Pokemon, nor has it appeared in my research."

"Wow! Something even Professor Oak doesn't know! You must be quite the Pokefan to stump the great Professor Oak!"

*Beep* I hung up the phone.

It seems not even Professor Oak knows anything about Torchic. Then it seems it'll be up to me to learn firsthand about what a Torchic can do.

Time to sleep… Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..