Black meandered west toward the Rusturf Tunnel, keeping a brown eye trained on Electrike. The little Pokémon seemed not to have experienced the outdoors very much. It tended to run all over the place erratically and become startled when it heard a loud noise, only to turn and chase after whatever had made it. This behaviour had Black often apologizing to random townspeople who crossed their path, but he still did not want to return Electrike to its Pokéball. The excitable puppy was having fun and entertaining him as he trekked out of the town.

A few days ago he had decided to go west to Rustboro for the beginning of his journey, wanting to visit the reputed Trainer's School and perhaps challenge Roxanne, the local gym leader. However, now knowing what Pokémon he had to work with, he was considering leaving his challenge for a later date. He had heard somewhere that Roxanne preferred rock and ground types, against which Electrike would have a immense disadvantage. Unless he caught something able to use grass or water-type attacks, he wouldn't have a chance.

A low growl caught Black's attention. Glancing to his left he saw Electrike growling at hedge. "What's up?" he asked the Pokémon, strolling over for a better look.

The hedge was about head-height for Black, who was nearly six feet tall, and perhaps an arm-length deep. It seemed to be the boundary line for an extensive property which he could see bits of if he craned his neck. The more interesting thing about the hedge was that the section which Electrike was now sniffing warily was rustling violently.

"Is it a Pokémon?" Black asked the electric dog, curiously, who simply yapped at the hedge in response.

"I'm not a Pokémon!" the hedge insisted over Electrike's noise. A head covered in tousled chocolate brown hair popped through the hedge at about knee-level, causing Electrike to jump back. "I'm looking for one, though," it continued cheerfully. "You seen a Skitty around here?"

"Uh, I don't think so. What's a Skitty?" he asked, kneeling down next to the sudden arrival.

The head sighed. "It's just that I was looking after it for a friend, see, and she warned me that it liked to wander off but I thought it would be fine with the other Pokémon and now it's gone missing. Well, not missing exactly because it ran into this hedge and if you haven't seen it then there is a high probability of it still being in this hedge- what are you doing? Did you just ask me what a Skitty was? What's that?"

Black had pulled the Pokédex out and flipped back the cover, searching the device's files for something called Skitty. "I'm trying to find out what a Skitty is."

The head blinked its red-brown eyes. "You don't know what a Skitty is? How are you going to look it up if you- OH." He seemed to suddenly come to a realization. "I understand! You must be Black!" A hand thrust its way through the branches, inviting Black to shake it. "I'm Brendan. Brendan Birch. I'm technically a Pokémon professor, but I'm so recently out of university that I don't feel entirely comfortable having the title attributed to me. Besides, whenever anyone says 'Professor Birch' everyone- including me- thinks of my dad first so it's just easier to be Brendan."

Black cautiously shook the proffered hand, though actual motion was made difficult by Brendan's arm being tangled in the hedge. "Nice to meet you. How'd you know who I was?"

"Oh, I'm friends with the Chairman of the Rehabilitation Centre. He called me up and requested that Pokédex you have right there. It was mine, by the way. Back when my dad had me simultaneously doing fieldwork and training. It's pretty old but still works fantastically."

Said Pokédex gave a low beep indicating that its search had been completed, scaring Electrike into growling at it. Black looked at the display, carefully examining the small cat-like creature for any signs of familiarity. "Sorry, can't say I've seen a Skitty around here."

Brendan frowned. "Well damn. Hey, do you mind helping me look for it? Once I find it I have to bring it to my dad. He's out in Rustboro right now. You're headed there, right? I could give you a lift. I'm not nearly as crazy a driver as my dad is so you don't have to worry at all."

"How do you know I'm headed to Rustboro?"

Brendan blinked his oddly-colored eyes. "Well, you're going that direction. Unless you're lost? I could give you a map if you need it."

"No, no, I'm going to Rustboro." Black wasn't quite sure about the offer of a ride, but it would get him to Rustboro faster. Brendan seemed like a good person. His absentminded chatter was occasionally permeated by keen perception, which Black found intriguing. "Alright, sure. I'll help out."

"Excellent!" Brendan was delighted. "There's a gate 'round the corner- just keep follow the hedge west and turn, you can't miss it. I'll meet you over there." His head and arm removed themselves from the hedge as quickly as they had appeared, leaving Black and Electrike alone. The area suddenly seemed empty without the other man's incessant chatter, so Black stood up and looked at Electrike, who cautiously sniffed the hole where Brendan's head had been.

"Well, let's go then."

The gate Brendan had mentioned was not at all far away. Electrike ran up to it first, yapping happily at the black-haired boy on the other side fumbling with a heavy padlock. The gate was a big wrought-iron structure, obviously installed more for looks than keeping things out. Anyone or anything with a burning desire to trespass needed only to crawl through the hedge to have access to the sprawling grounds.

"That's your Electrike, then?" Brendan asked as he managed to wrestle open the lock. Now that Black could see him in full, he realized Brendan was a few inches shorter than him, though stockier and more muscular- probably from years of fieldwork- whereas Black was slim and lanky. His deeply tanned skin and dark brown hair also contrasted with Black's own pale features and light brown- nearly sandy blonde- unruly shock.

"Yeah, he's mine. I think he was an abandoned house pet before he was given to me."

"Oh?" Brendan beckoned them in, eying Electrike curiously. "What makes you think so?"

"Well..." What had made him think that? "I suppose it's because he acts like he's never seen the outdoors before, but he listens pretty well and keeps close by me." He frowned. "That could be just for me, though. Doctor Helen said that he kept his distance from everyone else- what are you doing?"

The young professor was on his hands and knees examining Electrike, whose eyes were wide and slightly frightened and was inching slowly away. "I'd have to agree with your analysis, Black. He doesn't seem to trust me at all. This type of behaviour is very common in abandoned and released Pokémon, especially those who had been close with a few certain people beforehand. You're lucky he's taken a shine to you, because otherwise you'd have a massive problem on your hands. These kinds of Pokémon can be very sullen and really aggressive if- ow!"

Electrike, unappreciative at being eyeballed, had let loose an uncontrolled burst of static electricity that managed to zap one of Brendan's hands. The man shook feeling back into the numbed appendage with an almost comical expression of hurt on his face while Electrike took refuge behind Black's legs, content to growl softly from there.

"Sorry about that," Black said ruefully. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Brendan waved him off as he stood up. "Shoulda known better. A lifetime of Pokémon and I still get overenthusiastic and forget basic precautions," he laughed.

"Did your dad raise you with Pokémon, then?"

"Yeah! He always had a few Pokémon around the lab, but mostly he does fieldwork. When I was little he would bring me along when his assistants were busy with something else. It's actually pretty rare that he studies Pokémon in his lab, even now. That's why I thought it was really odd when he asked me to bring Skitty to him, but then again-"

Brendan stopped, cheerful face contorting into an expression of slight horror. "Skitty! I completely forgot about it! Come on, Black, help me look for her, she can't have gone too far but she likes to hide so we'll probably have some difficulty finding her, that's why I was looking in the hedge, I saw her run into there-"

Three hours of frantic searching later, Skitty was found curled up in the shade of a young apple tree back near where Black had first encountered Brendan. It was a deeper shade of pink, leaning more towards red, than the 'dex entry for its species had shown, which piqued Black's curiosity.

"Huh? Oh, some Pokémon are born a different color than others." Brendan supplied when Black questioned him as they walked. "It's really rare. A bit like albino humans, I guess. It's a throwback gene to when the species were first evolving- I mean evolving into the forms you see now, not evolving into a new stage. Anyway, it's a throwback to when the species as a whole was trying to find what traits worked best for what it needed. It's technically a bad thing for Pokémon to be alternately colored- think of a Zubat. They're usually purplish and are hard to see in caves and at night, right? Well, an alternately colored Zubat is green. That would be fine if it were a day creature that lived in forests, but that's not what a Zubat is. That green Zubat doesn't blend in very well, and therefore has a much greater chance of being eaten or something."

Brendan paused for breath. He tended to speak as if in a rush to get all the information out, Black noticed. He wondered if people didn't normally pay attention when the boy was talking. He, though, relished the endless stream of information. He knew so little that knowing anything was comforting to him. "So what about this Skitty? It's not too far off from its natural color."

Brendan glanced up, going cross-eyed in an attempt to look at the Skitty currently snoozing on his head. "There are some odd species like that. There's a theory says the species simply collectively chose the common color as the most beneficial, and another that says that there were once two sub-species of the Pokémon that interbred and that this color is a recessive gene in the species. Er," he interrupted himself guiltily. "Am I annoying you? My friend May say I talk too much."

"No, no, not at all." Black grinned. "I like listening to you. I don't really know much right now, so I'm absorbing information like a sponge."

"Oh, that's a relief!" Brendan brightened up again. "But... you don't remember anything?"

"Well... I'm pretty sure my name is Black. And I remember basic things, like how to eat, what I like and what most words mean. I think I was a trainer, even though I don't recognize most Pokémon. Doctor Helen says that's probably because I'm not from this region."

"Hmm. Nothing else?"

"There's one thing, I suppose. I was in a coma for three months, you know. Doctor Helen says that when I first came out of it I mentioned "N Harmonia". I don't know what- of who, I guess- it is, but I feel like I have to find it. Or them." Black shrugged. "I suppose I'll keep an eye and ear out as I travel for any clues to that."

The duo strolled deeper into the property in silence for once, toward a structure too big to be thought of as a house but too small to be called a mansion. Black pet Electrike absentmindedly as the little Pokémon dozed in his arms, worn out from running around all morning. "Is that your house up there?" he asked.

"What? Oh, no. It's a friend's, he lets me stay here when I'm in Verdanturf. It used to belong to one of his relatives who had a rather big family, but when their children left the nest so to speak, they didn't need it anymore. He bought it from them pretty cheap, though of course money wouldn't have been a concern anyway. I think he lived here for a while as a kid and grew really fond of the place. He keeps it in good repair but mostly uses it for storing all his belongings in."

Brendan's friend seemed interesting. Black wanted to know more but didn't want to pry- though Brendan was likely to tell him everything about the guy in a heartbeat.

"Hey, Black, are you hungry? Do you want to grab some lunch before we leave? It's gonna take a while to get to Rustboro since there's not technically a road that goes directly to it."

"Lunch sounds good, yeah. Wait- what do you mean there's not a road? How are we getting there?"

"We'll just take the jeep along one of the forest trails." Catching Black's worried expression, he grinned. "Don't worry! I've been driving that route since I was twelve. And I'm not a reckless driver like Dad is. It's fine. As long as you keep your head down in case of low branches. It's not that dangerous."

Black somehow didn't find that very comforting.

Notes

I don't own anything.

I don't have a beta, feel free to point out any mistakes so I can correct them.

Good god does Brendan talk a lot. Sorry about that, he just kind of took over and wouldn't stop. Don't worry though, most of what he says is important!

Thanks for reading~