"Well, now what?" I asked in exasperation.

When I played out what I'd planned to be my first thoughts as a Pokemon Trainer; joy, excitement, and total happiness were some of the feelings that came to mind. Not confusion. And doubt. A flash of anger shot through me at Professor Carolina.

"She ruined our journeys before they've even started! She left us lost with no directions and no Poké Balls so we could even catch anything for ourselves. We're screwed!" I raged.

Both of my friends looked at me like I'd gone mad.

"Zephi! Stop your rantin' for a second and jus' look at the big picture. We're Pokémon Trainers now! You could feel joy and wonder and awe or whatever in tarnation you said if you turned that frown upside down and embraced the fact that we got what we always wanted. That's what's real important, Zeph," Lara explained.

I took Lara's carefully-worded explanation to heart and really thought about our predicament. Lara was 100% right, as always. It was only the state of mind that I'd put myself into that made me feel so hopeless.

C'mon, Zephi! I thought insistently, You're turning into an Angsty Sue! Pick your spirits up and FAST!

"Okay, everyone! Let's find a way out of Mt. Coronet so we can find a Mart to buy Poké Balls in the next town. Then we can actually catch Pokémon. Sound good?" I asked.

"Well, it's about all we can do right now. But how are we gonna catch Pokémon if we have no Pokémon?" Lara pointed out.

Hmm. That was a bit of a dilemma.

"Don't worry, you guys! I can share. This little guy will be all three of our Pokémon until you two can catch something," Evelyn offered, signaling to her Egg.

"That thing could take ages to hatch, though. Let's just head for the next town right now and figure out the details later," I argued.

"Hey, hey, hold on to your Ponytas there, guys. Do we even have any money to buy Poké Balls at all?" Lara said suddenly.

Aw, shoot.

"My wallet is on my desk. At home," I grumbled.

"Mine, too," Evelyn admitted.

"I have mine, but I'm not exactly sure how much is in it. Probably only enough to buy a single Poké Ball. If even," Lara said.

"Maybe our Pokédexes can give us some advice," Evelyn though aloud, reaching for her small handheld device. "Oh, wow, fine thing. These have Poké Ball key chains on them, but no real Poké Balls."

"What?" I yelped, grabbing my own. "Evelyn! These aren't key chains! These are Poké Balls - real ones! They're in travel mode. Here, untie yours and press the centre button."

Evelyn did as she was asked and the Poké Ball blew up to full size in her hand. Her face shone.

"Yes! We're all set! Let's go catch something with them, then. Mt. Coronet is just crawling with good Pokémon. Let's split up and search."

The three of us disbanded, promising not to go far so we wouldn't lose each other. I think we were all just hoping we'd get lucky and catch a wild Pokémon by surprise, seeing as we had no Pokémon to weaken them with in the first place.

I walked around the cave, which was actually surprisingly dark for daytime, and was forced to feel my way along, groping in front of me for any rocks or obstacles. The deeper I went, the darker it became, and soon, I couldn't see at all. I stopped walking and glanced around in confusion. I realized that I had walked into a cave inside a cave, if that makes any sense. It was really cold in there and I found myself shivering so much that I had to sit down.

But the rocks in the cavern were really slippery with ice and I slid right off onto the cold cave ground.

"Ow! Damn it!" I cursed as I fished out my Pokedex.

The little lights on the device helped to light up the cavern a little and the moment I looked straight ahead, I almost had a heart attack. A giant grin stared back at me out of the darkness. I screamed so loudly that I think I busted a vocal cord, then tried to scramble up off my ass, slipping and sliding so much that I fell right back down again.

Fearing the worst, I curled up in a fetal position and just lay there for a bit.

"H-Hello? Is there anyone there?" I called tentatively.

In response, there came a moaning sound from on the other side of the cave. A wave of guilt washed over me. Had I hurt someone or something because of my flailing?

"Whoever you are... are you okay?" I asked, still curled up.

More moaning. I decided that perhaps I'd incapacitated someone and I'd have to go see if they were okay myself. I got up, more careful of the ice this time so I wouldn't fall again, and made my way over to the source of the moaning with my Pokédex outstretched. A peered behind a rock and saw an injured Snorunt lying pitifully on the ground. Ironically, its characteristically large grin remained plastered on its face, even though anyone could see it was in pain.

My heart went out to the little Pokémon. I must've hit it when I was freaking out and flung it over here. Now it couldn't move, the poor thing. What made me feel worst was, it was looking at me with this sense of security in its eyes, as if it expected me to help it.

Well, I thought, If it wants me to help it, then help it I shall.

I reached down to pick it up and it didn't resist, although it did wince a little and moan again when I picked it up. I quickly shifted it so I was cradling it in the crook of my left arm, not wanting to hurt it further. I held my Pokédex out in front of me to light the way and it immediately lit up and began to talk.

Snorunt, the Snow Hat Pokémon. Snorunt primarily inhabits very snowy regions. It has long been said that any home visited by a Snorunt will be blessed with good fortune.

Well, in that case, I must have wandered closer to the Snowpoint exit than I thought. I called out for Evelyn and Lara so I could regain my bearings, and the answering calls sounded distant. I panicked.

"Marco!" I yelled.

"Polo!" came the response.

Man, the game that had annoyed me so much as a kid was now saving my life. Who knew? Playing Marco Polo, I eventually found myself back to where Evelyn and Lara were waiting impatiently.

"Zephi! Where did you go? We were-" Evelyn broke off when she saw what I carried in my arms.

"Aww! That poor Pokémon! What happened to it? Did you catch it?" she asked.

The thought really hadn't occurred to me. It was a wild Pokémon. It was weak. That was the time to throw a Poké Ball and I very conveniently had an empty one just waiting to be filled. At least, that's what I had assumed at the time. I set the Snorunt down gently, removed the Poké Ball from my Pokédex, blew it up, and tossed it at the Snorunt.

All I can say is that the unexpected happened.

Instead of the Poké Ball opening up and the Snorunt disappearing inside, a purple balloon with an "x" for a mouth popped out in a flash of red light.

"Floon!" it cried.