Brendan and May stared at Professor Birch, neither of the teens really comprehending what he had said. May eventually spoke up, her voice still a little disbelieving. "You're… actually offering to give us Mudkip and Torchic? Aren't you still studying them, Dad?"

"True, but having them actually get out and experience the world would provide a lot more information about how they behave than just staring at them in a lab all day. I'd also prefer my daughter and my best friend's son don't get torn apart while they go to get a package for me, so let's just say I'm selfish and want you two to stay safe." Birch shrugged as he said the last part, accidently dropping one of his crutches.

Brendan stepped forward to grab the fallen crutch, his brain latching onto one part of Professor Birch's answer. "Wait, best friend? You knew my Mom before we came here?"

Professor Birch laughed. "Angela? No, not really. She's a lovely lady, but I only really met her when she married your dad. Your dad, on the other hand, well I've known him since we were in school. He's actually the one who put me up to giving you a Pokemon in the first place, and your mom went along with it."

"You mean all of yesterday was just a setup to give me a Pokemon? Huh, going to have to thank Dad for that."

Professor Birch winced. "No, the 'getting attacked by Poochyena' bit was definitely unplanned, but it did show me that you have a solid grasp on how to lead and care for a Pokemon. So in the end, yesterday still wound up with the result I wanted. Except now I'm crippled for a few months."

Brendan grimaced at that, while May interjected, still looking somewhat suspicious. "So you're serious about giving us a Pokemon, Dad?"

Birch sighed, getting slightly tired of the disbelief from the two teens. "Yes. I am completely serious about this. I've been watching you work with them for years now, May; You are more than capable of taking care of a Pokemon. And Brendan, while I only saw a little bit of your skills yesterday, you clearly cared for Torchic, and your parents both say you could deal with any Pokemon you've had contact with before you came here. You two are some of the most competent prospective Trainers I have had through here in years, and I have complete faith in you being able to take care of any Pokemon you come across. So, I will ask once again; Do you want a Pokemon of your own?

Brendan replied first. "Of course, Proff-" but was quickly cut off when May dashed by with squeal, slamming into Professor Birch and wrapping her arms around him.

"Thank you, Dad!"

Professor Birch, who had miraculously kept hold of his crutches, gave May a one armed hug back, before glancing at Brendan. " And I assume it's the same for you, Brendan?"

"Uh, yeah, of course. Maybe a bit less huggy, though." With that, May withdrew from her hug with a slight blush and an embarrassed grin, while Professor Birch hobbled over to a table to grab two small cards off it. Moving back to the two, he passed one to each of them.

"Stop by the Pokemon Center in Oldale Town on your way up and hand these off to the Nurse Joy there. She will register you as Trainers and make sure Mudkip and Torchic are officially transferred to you."

Looking over the blank card, Brendan spoke up one more time "So we go up to Route 103, get the package, and then come back?"

"That's right. If you need something to keep your attention during the walk, maybe try thinking up a nickname for your Pokemon. I haven't seen many Torchics or Mudkips around, but giving them a name of their own makes it easier to get their attention when you're around others."

"Alright then. Let's go, guys. See you later, Professor!" Brendan and May left the lab, their soon-to-be Pokemon right beside them. Professor Birch gave them a wave before working his way over to one of his machines and becoming engrossed in its contents.

Brendan and May walked out the north end of Littleroot town, stepping foot on Route 101 once again. Torchic and Mudkip chased each other between the legs of the two teens, while May spoke. " So, Brendan, you have any ideas about what you might want to name Torchic? I'm kind of blanking on anything for Mudkip."

"I've got one that's sticking in my head, but I'm not really sure…"

May patted him on the shoulder. "Well, tell me what it is. Maybe it'll seem better if you sound out your reasoning."

"Well, I was thinking of calling him Spitfire. It's this old fighter plane I saw once, and I was thinking that birds and planes go together. And then he's a Fire type, so that's represented in the name as well. I dunno, seems kinda weird now that I've spelled it out."

May shrugged. "Well, if you like it, and Torchic likes it, I don't think you really need to care about what anyone else says. Besides, it'll probably grow on you."

"You've got a point. Hey, Torchic!" The Fire type stopped his game of tag to look at Brendan. "What do you think about the name Spitfire?" Torchic thought for a moment, before nodding and chirping several times in what seemed like an affirmative. He then charged off after Mudkip again, who had tagged him while he had been thinking.

May looked at Brendan with an amused expression. "Congratulations, Brendan. You've just named your first Pokemon."

Brendan looked mildly surprised. "Huh. That was easier than expected." The two walked on in silence for a time, cutting east around a stand of trees when May pointed out that continuing north would run them into some rather tall cliffs in the road. May spoke up again just before the two reached an unkempt part of the Route; the grass was tall and shaggy, capable of hiding all sorts of surprises.

"Hey Brendan, what do you have in your bag? Anything you think might be useful?"

Brendan jolted a little as he remembered he was actually carrying his backpack. "Oh yeah! Mom said she had packed some stuff for me, but I never took a look." Sliding the bag off, he opened it up and peered inside. He saw a collection of Pokeballs and a few Potions, bundled in a wrapping of Arachne's silk to keep the bottles from breaking. Alongside that, there was several packets of travel rations and Pokemon food. Standing up and sliding the bag back on, he caught May's attention.

"I've got some Pokeballs and Potions, a bit of food, nothing major. Mom did seem rather sure that Professor Birch was going to ask me to do something this morning, though."

May nodded. "Yeah, I have the same from my Mom. I'm starting to think all of our parents were in on this. Let's keep moving."

Readjusting their bags, the two would-be Trainers stood at the edge of the tall grass, calling their Pokemon to their sides. Brendan glanced at May and spoke. "So. Our first steps into the dangerous world of Pokemon as Trainers. You ready, May?"

"I've been through worse working with Dad before. You actually sounded just like him then. Let's go!" And with that, May rushed into the grass, Brendan a second behind.

Nothing happened.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Brendan said, making his way to May's side. "I could have sworn something would have tried jumping us as soon as we stepped in."

May didn't respond. She seemed to have gone totally still and silent, though Brendan was sure there was a high pitched noise going through the air that he hadn't heard before. He moved up and tapped her on the shoulder, but that seemed to have no effect. Brendan could hear Mudkip and Spitfire pushing through the grass behind them, so he stepped in front of his friend and waved a hand in front of her face.

"Earth to May. Earth to May! You alright May?"

When his hand stopped, Brendan got a closer look at May's face. Her teeth were clenched and her face seemed to be frozen in a look of horror; Brendan realized that the high pitched noise he had been hearing seemed to be a muffled shriek coming from May's mouth. Her eyes seemed to be shifting looking at him and looking at the ground, and Brendan's head followed them on their next downwards motion.

A large, red caterpillar had attached itself to May's leg and was slowly working its way upwards. Brendan let out an "ahh" of recognition and reached out to pull the Bug off of May. When his hand got close, the caterpillar suddenly reared back and hissed at him. The Bug releasing some of its suckers off of May's leg seemed to spur her into action, and she kicked out, shaking the Bug off of her leg. It flew through the air for a few feet before crashing down in front of Spitfire and Mudkip, who jumped back with cries of shock.

May was rubbing at her leg with her hands, alternating between shouts of disgust and rage, while Brendan prepared to direct his Pokemon in battle. Before he could order Spitfire to do anything, however, May got in one last venomous shout.

"Beat that Wurmple to a pulp, Brendan!"

"Ooooooookay then. At least I know what it's called now. Spitfire, use Scratch!" Spitfire did as he was commanded, charging at the Wurmple before hopping over it, lashing out with a claw as he flew over Wurmple's head. The Bug let out a pained hiss, before wheeling around and spitting a line of white goo at Spitfire. Unable to change direction in the air, the Torchic was hit with the full force of the String Shot, sticky strands of silk tangling up his legs as he landed and sending him to the ground.

"Crap. Spitfire, try using Ember on the silk!" A small ball of fire built up in Spitfire's beak in response, and he spat it out, burning the silk strands away from his legs. He got back on his feet and turned to face the Wurmple, which had been slowly crawling towards him while he dealt with the String Shot.

"Use Ember again! Hit the Wurmple this time!" Another ball of fire flew from Spitfire's mouth, which slammed into the slow moving Bug. Another, louder hiss came from it, but it continued forging ahead, trying to get into range to hit Spitfire. Spitfire took the initiative and simply spat out a third Ember. One last wave of fire proved to be too much for the Wurmple to handle, and it crumpled over unconscious

Brendan stepped around the smoking Wurmple and patted Spitfire on the head. "Nice job, buddy. We protected May from the big, scary Bug."

May glared at Brendan, before brushing her legs one last time with a shudder. "Hey! I am fine with Bugs. What I am not fine with is creatures latching onto my leg while I can't see them. Have you ever had something start crawling up you when you can't see? It's freaky!"

"I've lived with the most touchy-feely Spinarak ever for ten years, May. I got used to it when I was about five years old."

May closed her eyes and let out a huff. "Of course you have. Alright, let's keep moving. I'd rather not have another Wurmple start trying to climb me, or a Poochyena trying to gnaw my legs off." She stepped behind Brendan and began pushing him forward, his halfhearted complaints, "C'mon May, I can walk by myself," floating through the air as they cleared the grass patch. Emerging back onto a relatively maintained portion of the Route, May stopped pushing her friend and began walking beside him again. Brendan nudged her when she got next to him.

"So, you having fun yet, May?"

"Brendan, I will have Mudkip spray you."

"Silence it is, then!"

The two walked up the path in silence, Spitfire and Mudkip resuming their game of Tag between the legs of their Trainers. After thirty minutes of walking, the northern path they had been walking up cut west again, leading into another patch of grass. May stepped behind Brendan as they approached the tall vegetation. "You get to go first this time, Mr. ' Not Scared of Random Things Crawling up my Leg.'"

Brendan rolled his eyes and stepped into the grass, calling Spitfire to his side as he did. When, once again, nothing happened, he spun on his heels and looked back at May, his arms held wide. As he made the turn, however, he noticed something strange out of the corner of his eye; There seemed to be steam rising up out of the grass under the northern trees. He turned back to look at it and called out to May. "May, do you see steam or something coming up from under those trees?"

May shaded her eyes and looked into the shadowed grass. "Yeah, I see it. What do you think it is?"

"Dunno. Let's go see." Brendan pushed his way through the grass, May doing the same from her position outside the patch. As the two converged near the trees, Brendan pulled out his phone, turning on the flashlight and aiming it at the point the steam was floating up from.

The light revealed the huddled form of a Poochyena. The small canine was curled up in a ball, and appeared to be shivering rather badly. When it raised its head to look at the intruders, Brendan noticed that the usual white fangs of the species were instead an icy looking blue, clouds of steam flowing out of the Poochyena's mouth with every breath. The Poochyena let out a half hearted growl, before flopping its head back to the ground and letting the growl turn into a mournful whine.

"Is that Ice Fang? I thought Poochyena couldn't learn that normally." Brendan whispered, trying not to provoke the canine into attacking. He wasn't sure if he needed to worry, however; the Poochyena didn't look like it wanted to do much of anything, and actually looked somewhat thin when Brendan focused on its body. Its coat was also dirty and unkempt; clearly no one had cleaned it in a while.

"It might be." May whispered back. "My Dad told me about some Breeders and Trainers that will just keep making their Pokemon have Eggs until they get a baby that is 'strong enough' for them. All the other Pokemon just get tossed out; I think he said the term that was used by those monsters was 'breedjects'." May practically spat out the last word, anger clear on her face.

Brendan slid his bag off his back and reached in, pulling out one of the packets of Pokemon food Angela had put inside. "He looks pretty hungry. Why hasn't he gone after some food by now?"

"His old Trainer probably told him to wait here and then never came back. Or maybe this is just some random, wild, depressed looking, half starved Poochyena that is using a move they have never been documented using without assisted breeding, but I think I'll stick with the simpler explanation." May was almost shaking with rage now, Mudkip rubbing against her legs and "speaking" in soft tones, attempting to calm her down.

Brendan, who had taken some pieces of food out of the packet, had crouched down and was creeping closer to the Poochyena, Spitfire following close behind him, ready to defend his Trainer. Poochyena sniffed and looked up, its dull looking eyes slightly hidden behind the cloud of steam still rising from its mouth. Brendan spoke in a soft voice. "Hey, Poochyena. I got some food for you. You're looking pretty hungry, you really need to eat."

Poochyena gave a short bark and put its head on the ground once again, obviously not wanting to take food from someone who wasn't its Trainer. Brendan persisted, moving ever closer, speaking to Spitfire out of the corner of his mouth. "Spitfire, can you try to convince him, too? He might listen to another Pokemon."

"'Chic-chic." came the quiet response from Spitfire, who added his own voice to Brendan's pleas for the small canine to eat. May watched as this continued, until Poochyena let out a harsher bark when Brendan got within a few feet. Spitfire had apparently had enough of the soft approach at this point, and broke out into a long winded rant of chirps and squawks. Neither May nor Brendan understood what was being said, but Mudkip looked taken aback by what her friend was saying, and Poochyena looked completely stunned. Spitfire stood there breathing for a moment, before recognition of what he had done caught up with him, and he drew back behind Brendan, embarrassed about his loss of composure.

Poochyena sniffed a few more times, and Brendan was sure he could see a few tears welling up in his eyes. Poochyena slowly uncurled and stood up, looking very stiff; Brendan wondered just how long he had been lying there. After a brief shake that seemed more like a shudder, the Dark type hobbled over to Brendan and smelled the food in his hand. Apparently satisfied that Brendan wasn't trying to fool, poison, or otherwise hurt him, Poochyena dug into the food. Brendan winced as the canine's extremely cold breath washed over his hand, but he held out until Poochyena had eaten every piece of food from his hand.

Poochyena seemed to have slightly more energy now, and let out a yip, hungry for more food. Brendan tore the bag wide open and set it in front of the Dark type, who dove for the bag with his mouth wide open. Brendan then reached behind him and picked up Spitfire, much to the Torchic's surprise, and let out a sigh as his hand warmed back up. May moved up next to Brendan and looked down at the eating Poochyena, her trained eye wandering over his body. "He was definitely hungry, though we've taken care of that. He's going to need a bath to clean up, but otherwise he looks in decent shape. At least whoever had him before got that right, though he might have to get used to moving around again."

Brendan nodded and stood back up, letting Spitfire jump to the ground and shaking out his re-warmed hand. "Do you want to come with us for now, Poochyena? We can get you to the Pokemon Center and get you cleaned up, and then you could decide what you want to do."

Finishing his food, Poochyena let out the happiest sounding bark Brendan had heard from him yet. He trotted over to Brendan's side, stiff legs putting a bit of a limp in his stride. The little canine seemed to be shivering slightly less, the food having put a little warmth in him. May let out a relieved sigh at the Pokemon being able to move, while Brendan leaned down and rubbed his head, getting a happy whine out of the Pokemon. "I'll take that as a yes. Let's get moving then, we could probably get to Route 103 before it gets too late if we hurry." The small party set off at a quick walk, moving out of the grass patch and reaching an opening in the woods that led to Oldale Town.

May took the front of the group, spinning on her heel to indicate the town as she crossed backwards over the boundary. "Welcome to Oldale Town, Brendan. I'd say it's slightly less backwoodsy than Littleroot, but we're the ones with a lab, so I'm not really sure how that works out."

Brendan was about to reply, when a cruel sounding voice burst out from outside the Pokemon Center.

"Where did you find that wretched little beast?"

I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.