Anjali quickly realized she was still carrying her Togepi rather than it being in its Pokéball. "I should probably put Hatch in the Pokéball, shouldn't I?" Anjali asked.

"Yes, you should," Melanie said.

"Alright, Hatch, get in the ball now," Anjali said, holding it open.

"Togepiiiii," it protested, shaking its head.

"You don't want to go in?" she asked. It shook its head again. "Well, alright. I'm not gonna force you."

"That's strange," Melanie commented. Anjali and Melanie entered the forest and looked at the map they got.

"What's strange?"

"Gastly went in the ball as soon as I asked."

"That is kind of weird. Oh well! I guess Hatch is unique, aren't you?" she ended the sentence while snuggling it. It cuddled with her and Anjali was happy.

They tried to follow the map but got distracted by all the Pokémon that were wandering the forest.

"Ooh, Melanie, look, an Oddish!" Anjali exclaimed.

"You want it, don't you?" Melanie asked.

"Yes!" Anjali replied excitedly.

"Get it."

"Ready for your first battle, Hatch?" Anjali asked.

"Togepi," it nodded slightly. She let it down and the Oddish turned to face them.

"Hatch, Metronome!" Anjali ordered.

Togepi used Lovely Kiss and the Oddish fell asleep. Anjali used a Pokéball to capture the Oddish.

They continued through, following the map as closely as possible. They finally saw Viridian City in the far distance!

"Yay!" they exclaimed. They stopped walking for a few minutes to drink water and eat some snacks, they had been walking for a while now. Anjali brought out the Oddish she had recently captured. It was awake now.

"Hello there," she said, smiling. It smiled back tentatively. She pet it slowly. "Will you be my friend?" It nodded shyly. Anjali smiled.

"Can I hold Hatch?" Melanie asked.

"Sure," Anjali said and handed the Togepi to her.

"Togepi," it smiled up at Melanie.

"Aww," she said.

"What would we do if we got separated while journeying somewhere?" Anjali asked.

"What do you mean?" Melanie asked.

"If we got separated on the way to, say, even Viridian, how would we meet up?" Anjali rephrased the question.

"Hmm. What if... we met at the police station in the city we're headed to?" Melanie suggested.

"Alright. And if either of us needs something from outside the station, we'll just tell an officer about the situation and they can convey the message to the other person," Anjali added.

Melanie nodded. She stood up. "We should probably get going now and head to Viridian."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Anjali said, standing up as well.

Suddenly, the Togepi was snatched from Melanie's arms by a Meowth in a hot air balloon!

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Anjali yelled as Melanie jumped as high as she could to try to hold on to the edge of the wood. She succeeded in this.

"MELANIE?" Anjali exclaimed.

"I WAS HOLDING TOGEPI, SO I'LL GET IT! JUST FOLLOW THE PLAN!" Melanie shouted back.

"OKAY!" Anjali replied. After calming down, she continued on the path to Viridian City. "Oddish, do you like the name Demeter?"

Melanie lifted herself up over the edge to be greeted by the sight of a man with lavender hair and green eyes and a woman with magenta hair and blue eyes, as well as the Meowth.

"You better give back that Togepi," Melanie threatened.

"No way. Togepi are fairly rare and that's what our job is: to steal rare Pokémon!" Meowth said.

Melanie grinned wickedly and reached for the single Pokéball that contained a Pokémon.

Anjali smiled as Demeter accepted its new nickname. She had named it after the goddess of harvest and agriculture, yes. "Demeter, would you like to go back in the Pokéball for the remainder of the journey or would you like me to carry you?"

"Oddish oddish," it said, snuggling into Anjali's arms.

"Alright. I'll probably have to put you in the Pokéball when we get there, though, so I don't look like I'm kidnapping you or something."

The man and woman fell backwards at the sight of the Gastly. "Zeref, Lick Meowth."

"GASTLY," it said before performing Lick. Meowth was paralyzed and Hatch escaped from the Meowth. Melanie grabbed Hatch and told Zeref to become as solid as possible.

Zeref formed hands that were solid and Melanie handed Hatch to it before jumping out. She landed on her hands and knees a bit painfully. Her hands were bruised. Zeref floated down with Hatch in its arms. The arms failed just then, but Melanie caught the Togepi in her arms.

"Thank you, Gastly."