Alex sat in an open field, looking over a regional map that he had gotten from the old captain. Apparently he had spent the night in a place called Petalburg, with the first Gym in a city not far from there. Skip waddled up to him and began to chew on the edge of the map.

"Stop it, Skip! We're going to need this if we expect to get anywhere.", said Alex, pushing his pokemon away.

"Woooop?", the creature asked, as if it was begging.

"Yeah, here you go...", said Alex, throwing him a bag of nacho-flavored chips.

As Skip happily ate the junk food, Alex took out the pokeball he had found earlier that day. The letters that made up "Fae" were large and sharp, as though a child had etched it in. His thumb lingered over the lock, curious as to what kind of pokemon it held but also apprehensive to find out what. For all he knew, it could be a Gyarados that would eat him as soon as he let it out, or Typhlosion that would burn him to crisp.

"Don't be stupid", he said to himself, "It's probably just a Pidgey or a Ledyba..."

Holding his breath, he threw the pokeball and was relieved to see a very small pokemon, though one he had never seen before. It looked like a small child, its eyes covered by what could be hair along with two flat horn-like plates sticking out the front and back. It looked up at him, showing off a pair of bright, orange-red eyes. It just stood there, unusually calm, floating a few inches from the ground. Alex quickly got out his textbook and followed the taxonomy chart, which eventually lead him to an entry.

Ralts: The Embrace Pokemon

Type: Psychic

This pokemon has the ability to sense the emotions of people. If its trainer is in a cheerful mood, this pokemon grows cheerful and joyous in the same way...

"Oh wow, awesome, a psychic type!", Alex exclaimed. He had always wanted a psychic pokemon, since he heard they make powerful additions to any team.

He looked at his Ralts and then the picture in the text. Instead of the red/green color scheme in the picture, this one had a blue/orange color scheme. He looked up "color" in the index and found an entry.

Alternative Coloration

Occasionally Pokemon will deviate from its species' typical pigmentation. This is called alternative coloration, or more commonly known as "Shiny". Scientists have yet to discover what controls this variation. Originally, genetics were thought to determine alternative coloration, but no research as of yet supports this claim. In fact, very little is known about the nature of alternative coloration and if/how it affects behavior...

Alex was beside himself. Not only had he found a free psychic pokemon, it was also a shiny! He couldn't believe his luck. Neither his dad nor his brother ever had a shiny!

"Hey there, little guy!", Alex said to the pokemon in a sickeningly sweet voice.

It stared coldly in response.

"I'm your new trainer, but don't worry, I won't lose you like your last one did!", he smiled, a feeling only a little embarrassed by his cutesy behavior.

Skip took notice of the new pokemon and waddled over to greet it, carrying the bag of chips in his mouth. His orange-stained grin grew wide, uttering various "woos" and "woops". He skillfully picked up a chip with its mouth and attempted to feed the Ralts, but it remained stoic and unmoving as cheese flavoring was smeared on its face.

"Come on, Skip, cut it out", Alex groaned, pushing aside the over-zealous Wooper, "It probably doesn't like chips".

Skip looked as though he was about to express disappointment, but then happily ate the rest of the bag. Alex wiped away the powder from the Ralt's face then picked it up.

"You need a name, don't you?", said Alex, looking his pokemon over. He liked to give pokemon gender appropriate names, but most of this was based on guessing. While he had an idea of how he could sex a pokemon, it just grossed him out way too much. Something about it though, made him think it was female.

"Well, for all I know the name on the pokeball could be yours, so I guess we'll go with Fae.", he said, cradling the little pokemon in his arms.

A tiny smile slowly spread across the Ralts's face.

"Master..."

Alex immediately dropped Fae onto the ground.