Chapter 3

"What do you mean I'm not Treecko's first trainer?" Reid asked as Treecko continued to pound its glowing tail into the steel targets.

"You see the way Treecko swings its tail when it hits that target?" Wally said and Reid turned to see what he was talking about.

As he did, Treecko slammed its glowing tail once more into the steel target, large dents now very evident in it.

"Your Treecko is one, practicing its moves on its own and with so much vigor," Wally said with Reid doubting him.

"What does that have to do with anything? Treecko just likes me and is putting good effort into his strikes," Reid replied, still very skeptical about Wally's theory.

"Ah, a valid point. But do you see the way that it hits that target?" He asked and Reid turned to Treecko again and analyzed its strikes. "His strikes are so similar and on point. There's a pattern to it that wild pokemon don't tend to have," He finished with Reid now starting to believe him.

"Think of Treecko like a boxer. Boxers spend a long time perfecting their jabs and strikes, making sure that each one has similar amounts of power and thrust. Then think of wild pokemon as thugs, people who might be strong, yet have no balance between their blows. After seeing what your Treecko can do out there, I'd say he's along the lines of the boxer," Wally finished with Reid not knowing what to think.

"Hey Treecko!" Reid yelled grabbing his attention. "Can you c'mere for a sec?" Reid yelled again and Treecko sprinted back to him.

As Treecko reached the two trainers, he saw that Reid had a confused and kind of worried look, making Treecko cock its head in confusion too.

"Treecko, did you have a trainer before me?" Reid asked with Treecko's eyes dilating the mere mention of it.

Both Reid and Walley noticed Treecko's mood change and took it as a sign of it being a pretty sensitive subject.

"You want to talk about it?" Walley asked with Treecko not even bothering to answer.

Taking the initiative, Wally walked over to a large backpack in the corner of the Range, pulled out a collar looking device. The only weird thing about the collar was that it looked more like the limiters than a normal collar, but something was off about it. Giving Treecko a questioning glance, Treecko simply nodded and Wally proceed to place the collar on top of the limiter.

"So what happened?" Wally asked, Reid still not knowing what Walley had just placed on Treecko.

"My trainer was killed…" Treecko spoke in a medium voice making Reid jump back, surprised that Treecko was talking "...beedrill swarm" He let out, tears now flowing down its face, stumbling in his speech "I tried to fight. Tried to save her..." Treecko bawled with Reid moving closer to try and comfort him "But I was useless!"

Grabbing Treecko and hugging him to try to help calm him down, Reid looked over to Wally, who had a tear forming in his eyes too. "What did you do to make Treecko talk?"

"I put my talking collar on him," Wally replied with Reid understanding what was going on.

"How could you possibly afford that?" Reid asked, rubbing Treecko's back as he continued to sob into Reid's shoulder.

"Won it in a battle," Wally said with his Ralts joining the group and climbing onto Wally's lap.

"What's the matter?" Philley asked in a light and shy voice with Reid jumping back again not expecting it to talk.

"That Treecko had some bad memories come back," Wally said with Ralts nodding.

It jumped off of Wally's lap and proceeded to walk over to the Treecko. Treecko took its head out of Reid's shoulder as it suddenly felt...something...washing over him and making him feel...at peace…

Reid noticed the pinkish aura radiating from Philley, it was warm, soothing, and kind of felt like he was taking a warm bath. Reid was wondering what was going on and Wally simply replied, "Calm mind."

After a moment of letting the calming aura clear its head, Treecko collected itself and looked towards Reid. "Thank you." with everybody around giving a supportive nod. He continued to gaze off down the range with a distant glare, but he no longer felt the fear and sorrow that he felt before; just a bit of emptiness.

"You want to talk about it a little bit more Treecko?" Reid asked and Treecko turned to face him in the eyes.

"My name is Sia," Treecko spoke, taking pride in saying his name. "It was givin to me by my previous trainer Sheila when we started our journey a couple months ago," He spoke with Philly jumping up onto Reid's lap as well, putting his arm around Sia to help comfort him. "We ended up getting lost on route 102 and after a couple days, we accidently stumbled into beedrill nesting grounds...we were ambushed…" Sia choked, yet continued with the rest listening in. "We ran forever...but we ended up being blocked by some rapids...she threw me in at the last second...and the last thing I saw before I hit the water…" He choked again with Ralts now struggling to keep him calm. "Was a stinger stabbed through her stomach!" He cried out with looks of horror on everybody's' faces. For a few moments, the only sound was Sia letting out a few last weeps into Reid's shoulder.

"How long were you alone for?" Reid asked with Sia not bothering to look up.

"Probably more a month," Sia replied feeling a bit more calm as Philly's move soothed him over again.

"So…" Reid contemplated, "Why is it that you're so attached to me?" He asked with Sia glaring at him like he had just said something mental.

"I was dying and in the worst possible pain I'll ever be in. You saved my life. That reason enough for you?" Sia asked with Reid simply nodding. "Plus your hair reminds me of hers…"

"But how come you're so determined to compete in that tournament?" Reid asked with Treecko giving him the same glare as before.

"You think that because Sheila died that I'm going to give up on my dream?" He said sounding a bit cynical.

Reid simply nodded with Wally seeming a bit more curious in them.

"What tournament are you going to again?" He asked them, wondering if it was the same one he was going to attend.

"The one in Rustboro that's a couple weeks away," Reid replied with Wally getting and excited look.

"Wow really?!" Wally yelled, seeming a bit excited. "We were planning on headed there too!"

"Huh, what a weird coincidence." Reid said with Wally seeming way more pumped about this than what should be considered normal.

"YES!" Wally screamed with everybody jumping at his sudden burst. "I'VE FINALLY FOUND MY RIVAL!"

"Oy…" Reid groaned as he looked back down to Sia, getting resettled in his lap. "You feeling better after talking about it?" Reid asked with Sia nodding slightly.

"After being alone for that long...it is definitely nice to get it out of my system," Sia replied and turned to Philly who was still sitting on Reid's lap with him. "And thanks for keeping me sane with that, it really helped," He finished with Philly giving him a thumbs up with its little arms.

"Hey," Wally interrupted gaining everybody's attention "Why don't we all travel to Rustboro together?" Wally asked and Reid started to consider his offer. "We could camp out, train together, it'll be great!" He yelled seeming a bit hyper.

"Well that's a bit sudden," Reid said, feeling a bit nervous about traveling with a character like Wally. "I mean it'd probably be safer, and it'd be a lot less boring," Reid contemplated. "When are you guys even planning on leaving?"

"Philly and I were planning on leaving tomorrow at...noonish…" Wally replied with Reid deadpanning a bit.

"Well that's a bit sudden isn't it?" Reid asked as he started to pet Sia's tail (which still felt like he was petting an eggplant) "I've got to tell my landlord that I'm leaving...I've got to get supplies, probably need clothes and a bunch of other equipment."

"Well it's only like…" Wally trailed as he glared down at his poketch "4:30. You've got plenty of time before most stores close."

"I guess you're right, here add me to your contacts," Reid said as he pulled out his flip phone.

He had to admit, even though his phone wasn't snazzy like the poketch, but it certainly did do its job. Plus the fact that it had survived being dropped about 3 dozen times and managed to stay together after he had thrown it at a brick wall after he'd received a call from his mother.

"And what's your number?" Wally asked him as he was about to finish Reid's info.

"Sure. It's 824-"

"824" Wally said aloud.

"867"

"867" Wally read out again.

"5309" Reid finished.

"5309" Wally read back for the third time; but after thinking for a moment he chuckled and looked back to Reid. "Okay ha ha now what's your real number?"

"What do you mean?" Reid asked not sure what was funny about his number. "What's so funny about my number?"

"It's the number from that song that...God who sang it? Well I'll tell you when I remember but that is too funny dude." Wally laughed out making Reid feel slightly insecure.

"I have no idea what you're talking about dude…" Reid said as Philly jumped down from his lap and started walking over to Wally.

"You seriously don't?" Wally said with tears starting to form in his eyes as he burst into laughter. "It goes like 867-5-3-o-nieeeinee over and over again, how have you never noticed!" He laughed rolling around on the ground with Reid at a loss for words.

"Oy...can we please move on from this…" Reid asked with Wally still laughing at him.

Philly let out a sigh, slightly annoyed that it had to do this to Wally again, but once he was like this, it would take a solid half hour for him to calm down again. Philly let off a quick chant and began to glow a pinkish aura. Wanting to keep the damage to Wally at a minimal, Philly let out a small psybeam attack that hit him directly in the back.

Reid wasn't sure how to react at the display with Sia having the exact same look. Wally screamed out as he was sent back flying from the nearly point blank attack. At least he wasn't dying of laughter anymore right?

"Thanks Philly..." Reid said as Philly walked over to its trainer and started prodding him to make sure his brain hadn't been fried...not that the difference would have been noticeable…

"You really have to keep doing that?" Wally asked as he got up and cracked his back into place.

"Yes. Because once you start laughing you don't stop...it never stops…" Philly spoke back coldly sending a shiver down Reid's back.

"Okay can we please move on? I kind of have no idea what sort of supplies I'd need for a trip like this." Reid begged and Wally walked back over to him.

"Well first thing you'll definitely need is food. The path to Rustboro has a couple of stops along the way so dried food isn't 100% necessary. I do recommend it though," Wally said changing his focus rather quickly.

"Should I be writing this down?" Reid asked.

"It wouldn't hurt to," Wally said as Reid went to the notes section on his phone and started to make the list. "Okay, what else?"

"A water pouch is very important. Always make sure you have enough water for a trip and a few days extra in case you get held up or lost," Wally spoke seriously with Reid feeling slightly intimidated.

"You'll need shelter so a quick pack tent is something I would recommend," Wally spoke. "Also a sleeping bag that's built for winter time use, it can get pretty cold at night so you'll want it. And I would say to get a portable stove but since we're traveling together, I can use it for the both of us."

"Mmkay, anything else?" Reid asked.

"Medical supplies up the wazoo. Enough potions is never enough. It's a good idea to get the super potions instead of the normal ones because those never seem to have enough in them to get the job done. Another thing, how many pokeballs do you have?" Wally asked as Reid looked down at his belt.

"I've got three empty ones." Reid replied.

"That should be enough then. I don't think you'll be catching hordes of Wurmple." Wally chuckled as Reid finished writing all of it down.

"Ohh and one last thing, pack some clothes for multiple occasions, like formal, casual, some winter clothes, jackets, spare underwear, and another set of shoes never hurt anybody," Wally finished.

"Okay wow…" Reid spoke as he looked at the massive list of things that he needed to get. "And exactly do I carry all of this stuff?"

"Just get what I got." Wally said pointing over to his large backpack. "It's military surplus, so it's efficient as well as being pretty cheap," Wally finished.

"And how much would you say all that stuff weighs?" Reid asked already feeling cramps in his back imagining how heavy his pack would be.

"It actually only really weighs a bit more than twenty pounds if you pack everything right. And that's with a portable stove." Wally spoke making Reid feel slightly better about the journey ahead of him.

"Well, looks like I have some shopping to do," Reid said as he closed his phone, stood up, and started to head for the door with Sia on his shoulder. "I'll call you when I've got everything and we can plan out where to meet before we head off."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Wally hollered. "Philly and I are going to finish up training, so see you tomorrow Reid!"

Reid simply gave his signature three fingered wave using his middle, index, and thumb. It was something that he'd always done for some reason whenever he waved, it just felt natural. As he exited the range and out of the training complex, he began to contemplate what had just happened to him. To think, his whole life had changed in less than a day.