Chapter 2: The Reluctant Trainer

It didn't take long to reach Oldale. Really, Littleroot was more or less an extension of the town. A suburb. The burg of Oldale was just as tiny as my new home, but it had two major differences: a large red-roofed building with the letters PC painted on the door, and a similar blue-roofed building labeled MART. What were these places?

I passed them by and continued through town, reaching the far side in just a few minutes. A large sign informed me that I was entering Route 103. I hoped to find Brendan here—Professor Birch had tasked me with locating him. Sure enough, Brendan's slim black form appeared just over a nearby ledge. I hustled up.

"Brendan," I said. "Your dad wants you to come back home. He sent me to find you."

"Yeah, yeah, just a minute," Brendan said, waving his hand as though brushing off a fly. He was studying some kind of handheld computer. "Right-o." He snapped it shut and turned. "But before we go… how about a battle? My dad gave you a Pokémon—I can see it on your belt."

My heart leapt to my throat. "A battle?" I stammered. "Are… are you sure?"

"What, are you scared? C'mon!" Brendan's Pokéball was already off his belt. "Let's see what your Pokémon can do!" He released his Pokémon with a cry: "Go, Mudkip!" A squat little blue creature emerged.

No choice. I did my best to hide the nervous shaking in my hand and voice as I shouted, "Hotwings, I choose you!" Out came my adorable bird friend, eager to please. Not knowing quite what else to do, I ordered, "Hotwings, attack!"

Hotwings just stood there. He looked at me with a sort of bewildered curiosity, and said, "Chic?"

WHAM! Mudkip slammed into Hotwings, sending them both tumbling over each other. I let out a cry of pain, as though the Pokémon had hit me instead of my Torchic.

"You've got to order it to scratch," Brendan informed me, condescension dripping from every word. "That's the only attack it knows right now."

"Hotwings, s-scratch!" I hollered unsteadily. Hotwings chirped and slashed with his talons. Wow! A critical hit! Mudkip let out a grunt and staggered back. Hotwings scratched again, and Mudkip stumbled further. Hotwings stood poised over the fallen foe.

"Enough!" Brendan called. He used the Pokéball on Mudkip, returning the creature to wherever it was they went when they were inside the ball. Never came upon a clear explanation for that. "You got lucky this time," Brendan scowled. "See you back at the lab." With that, he shuffled past me—bumping my shoulder as he went—and was gone down the trail.

I stepped up beside Hotwings. "Great job!" I exclaimed, patting his fluffy little head. When I pulled my hand back, I felt something wet on it. Blood. "H-hotwings?"

"Chic!" the little bird squeaked, looking up at me as though nothing were wrong. I returned Hotwings to his ball and hustled back to Oldale. PC… Pokémon something? I hurried through the door, and found myself in the one safe haven I'd encounter for the remainder of my journey to the League: a Pokémon Center.

The friendly blonde nurse at the counter beckoned me over. "This your first time sweetie?" she asked in an unplaceable, drawling accent. Unovan maybe? I nodded.

"Can you fix him?" I asked, handing her the Pokéball. "He was bleeding when I put him in there."

"Sure thing hon, you just wait right here." She turned around and put the ball in some kind of machine. I heard a low hum, and five seconds later the ball was in my hand again. "Good as new! Y'all come back now, hear?" The nurse gave me a bow and a smile.

Pokémon Centers. The only sanctuary in this world of conflict. I would come to love the sight of a PC on the horizon as I entered a new town. But for now, all I had was one Pokémon and zero idea what I was getting myself into.

I left the PC and made my way back to Birch's lab. It was evening when I arrived. "Ah, Lidya! Good of you to join us," the professor said as I entered. He explained that he'd just commissioned Brendan to use a device called a Pokédex to catalog the Pokémon in the region, and that he wanted me to take one as well.

Brendan, naturally, had something smarmy to say about this: "Yeah, Lidya is a good choice to take a Pokédex. She'll do a great job… for a girl."

I walked out of the lab with my new device in hand. The letters D3X were emblazoned on the plastic shell that covered the screen. As I opened the machine, a female voice asked, "NAME AND TRAINER ID?"

"Lidya Pine," I said. "And I don't have an ID."

"REGISTERING NEW USER. ID NUMBER GENERATING… COMPLETE. ID IS 44106." D3X pinged and a new screen appeared. "INFORMATION REGARDING POKÉMON CAPTURE: LOCAL ORDINANCE REQUIRES THAT TRAINERS CAPTURE ONLY ONE POKÉMON PER AREA."

"Um, what?" I said. There was a paragraph of text on the screen, which I skimmed. Hm. Something about scarcity… poaching… illegal battle rings… Hoenn police… I was only allowed to capture one Pokémon on each route? It had to be the first I encountered… D3X would be tracking my information, and if I broke the rules my trainer ID would be sent to the authorities… huh. According to the text, the penalty for breaking this rule was the loss of my license to train. Yikes.

I didn't know it at the time, but this legislation would prove to be a major source of suffering in the months to come.

I stopped by my house on my way out of the lab, unsure of what to do next. "Mom?" I called as I walked in. I'd been gone most of the day.

Mom was sitting in the kitchen. Her eyes were red, and there were tearstains on her cheeks. She appeared to be holding something pink in her hands, but as I approached she slipped it behind her back. "Oh… hi sweetie."

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"Nothing. Nothing honey." After a moment, Mom rummaged in a bag on the table and produced a shoebox. "I bought you a gift before we left Johto. A pair of running shoes. I thought you might need them for your journey someday. I just didn't realize that day would come so soon."

"My… journey?"

"I always knew this would happen, Lidya," Mom said with a sigh. "You have a Pokémon and a trainer ID and everything now… you're ready, at least on paper."

"Ready for what?" I demanded.

Mom looked at me with a curious expression. "Ready to start making your way in the world of Pokémon," she said simply. "Isn't that what you want to do? Isn't that why you went out this morning?"

I gaped at her. "What? No! I just wanted to see the neighborhood! I got wrapped up in all of this by mistake."

Mom looked down and shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. You have to begin your journey." Suddenly her head snapped up, and she stared deeply into my eyes. I could see the stress lines around her cheekbones and eyelids. She looked inexplicably old. "Go, Lidya. Travel around Hoenn. Earn badges. Become lifelong friends with your Pokémon and others you meet along the way." Her hand came up, and she very gently clutched my shirt. "And when you are strong enough, I want you to go to your father's Gym, and I want you to beat him. Do you hear me? I want to you destroy him, and his Pokémon. I want you to make him feel so low…" she trailed off. She'd taken the pink object from behind her back, and was clutching it at her side, just barely out of my view. Were those… panties?

"All right mom," I said, feeling more overwhelmed than anything else. "I'll do it. I'll make you proud."

"That's my girl," Mom said, smiling for the first time since we'd started talking.

I spent one more fitful night there. What lay in store for me? I knew many kids went out on journeys with Pokémon, but I'd never really expected to be one of those people. After all, wouldn't my dad have told me something about Pokémon if I were destined to be a trainer? I had no idea.

The next day, mom surprised me with more items. Now I sported a pop-up tent for one, a sleeping bag and pillow, ample supplies, and best of all, a credit card that she said she'd keep a steady balance in. "You'll need to buy supplies in the towns you visit," she explained. "Now scoot along. You can always come home for a hot meal, but I won't wait up. I know you can do it." She smiled widely, bits of tears forming at the edges of her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too," I said. Then I was off, on the trail to Oldale.

My life as the reluctant trainer had begun.