"Time to start catching up on my Pokedex," Brendan said, pulling the white cap over his light brown hair. "Thanks again for letting me stay here."
"Oh, it was no problem at all. Stop by any time," Wally's father said, closing the front door.
Brendan stood out front in the beautiful flower garden. He glanced over to his father's gym. A sign hung over the door.
CLOSED. COME BACK LATER.
Not sure when his father would arrive for work today, Brendan decided not to wait. Instead, he made his way further west into town, where the air gradually became salty and humid. He heard light chatter as he approached the edge of town.
Leaving Petalburg and entering Route 104, Brendan realized he was on the shore of a small beach. The forest seemed to have been cleared from this area, offering a view of the waves from a grassy field slightly above sea level. Over the edge of the natural platform, Brendan could see deep, warm sands already crowded with early beachgoers. The humidity was tolerable, and the salinity of Hoenn's oceans was considerably low; the resulting atmosphere was gorgeous.
As tempting as it was to cross the route by way of the sandy beach, he knew he would only encounter Pokemon in the grassy areas closer to the trees, on the opposite side of Route 104.
As he went, though, he found the grass did not rise tall in many places, and no Pokemon dared venture out past the shelter of the forest into the open. He paused, looking around. Flying Pokemon circled far overhead.
"Mudkip, come on out," Brendan commanded, and Mudkip appeared on the ground.
"Look at those Pokemon up there. Try to knock one of them down with a water gun."
Mudkip watched the Pokemon flying for a moment, then fired a shot straight into the air. The blast of water grazed the wing of one of the birds, and it plummeted towards the ground.
It fell a few seconds before Brendan realized it could not regain flight. Quickly, he grabbed a Pokeball from his pocket and threw it at the Pokemon. The Pokeball encased the Pokemon and struck the ground hard, releasing it again and shattering. The little bird, a Taillow, picked itself up and glared at Brendan.
"Mudkip, tackle!" Brendan said, but to no avail. The Taillow took flight again, beyond Mudkip's reach. Brendan tried another Pokeball. It snagged the Taillow and pulled it inside, this time remaining intact after falling. It only shook a few times before going still.
"That one almost got away, buddy."
The ruckus had drawn the attention of the forest dwellers. At least a dozen Pokemon now lined the outskirts of the forest. Brendan spotted a Zigzagoon with its head poking out from a bush right next to him.
"Mudkip, tackle this one," he said, pointing at the striped Pokemon.
Mudkip charged at the bush, and the Zigzagoon took off, running completely into the open towards the shore.
"Mudkip, catch him!" he said.
Mudkip hustled away from the forest in pursuit, spitting water at the Zigzagoon as the wild Pokemon gained more and more ground. Mudkip could not keep up.
Suddenly, at the ledge dropping off onto the beach, the Zigzagoon dragged its feet until it stopped, peering over the edge. Instead of hopping over and into the crowd of people sprawled out on their beach towels, it turned in place and ran for the cover of the forest again. Mudkip intercepted it, tackling it so that it rolled over onto its back.
"Weaken it some more, Mudkip. Water gun!"
Mudkip blasted the opponent with a heavy burst of water. The Zigzagoon lied on its back, out of breath. Brendan threw a Pokeball, catching the Pokemon instantly.
"Alright! Nice job, Mudkip. Return," Brendan said, and Mudkip vanished into its Pokeball.
Aware that finding many more Pokemon like this would be difficult, Brendan gave up on Route 104. He walked without disturbing any Pokemon until he reached a walkway that cut into the forest. An old, fading sign to the side of the path identified the forest as Petalburg Woods.
Brendan remembered reading about Petalburg Woods in travel brochures before moving to Hoenn. It was part of the main southwest Hoenn forest, but was considerably denser, making travel difficult and infrequent. Petalburg Woods is what had previously prevented much development in the Petalburg area.
To Brendan's relief, the forest was crawling with wildlife. He nearly stepped on a Wurmple just a few feet inside the forest.
Determining the insect Pokemon was too weak to battle, he threw a Pokeball at it without sending out a Pokemon first. It shrieked and swatted the Pokeball away with its tail. A rustling sounded in the trees above him, and Brendan looked up to see a horde of cocoon-like Pokemon descending from silk threads from the lower branches of the trees. They loosed a fury of string attacks at him, wrapping his body in the soft but durable substance.
He fumbled around in his pocket for a Pokeball, found one, and tossed it at the ground as the silk began to engulf his arm. Taillow popped out.
"Taillow, help me out! Wing attack these Pokemon," Brendan cried desperately, silk getting into his mouth.
Taillow took flight and lashed at the bug Pokemon, severing the silky strands suspending them.
"Nice work, Taillow. Now, come cut me out of this mess."
Taillow used its beak to break the silk tied around Brendan's arms, and he helped the Taillow clear the rest from his body and legs. Cleaned up, he looked at the fainted Pokemon, a group of Silcoon and Cascoon. The Wurmple inched along the ground between them.
Brendan threw another Pokeball at the distracted Wurmple, this time catching it. Next, he turned to one of the Cascoon, catching it with ease, and then threw a Pokeball at a Silcoon. The Pokeball shook once, stopped, and then vanished completely.
"Wait," Brendan said. "What?"
He fell to his hands and knees and patted at the ground where the Pokeball had been.
"Where did it go?"
Behind him, a man laughed loudly. He turned and watched a figure appear from the shadows of the trees. It was an elderly man with a round-brimmed straw hat holding a large net in his right hand.
"You a new trainer, fella'?" he asked, still laughing.
"Yeah," Brendan said shyly.
"You should know that fancy technology limits trainers to six Pokemon at a time," the old man explained.
"So where did the Silcoon go? Is it just gone?"
"No, no. It gets stored in your PC. You can switch one of your Pokemon out with it at any Pokemon Center. You just can't have more than six with you."
"Wow. And it can teleport Pokemon, just like that?" Brendan asked, amazed.
"Yep. Back in my day, no one could tell you how many Pokemon you kept with you at one time. Then again, without Pokeballs it was impossible to keep track of more than six Pokemon at a time, so I guess that doesn't make much of a difference, now, does it?"
"Oh. Well, thanks for letting me know," Brendan said, hurrying away to hide his embarrassment.
"Ah, you'll learn, kid. Don't let it get to you," the man said while Brendan left.
Though numerous Pokemon ran about the forest and lingered in the trees, there was little variety. Brendan carefully examined the ground as he went, hoping to spot one he had not already caught, but found only Zigzagoon, Wurmple, and the cocoon Pokemon.
He spent twenty minutes working his way through the forest. The end came in sight without a single new encounter.
Stood a little short of the exit, Brendan found a man dressed in a plain brown suit and nice dress shoes. He wandered around the trees, looking through the bushes and tall grass.
"Excuse me," Brendan said. "Do you need any help?"
The man looked up at Brendan.
"What makes you think I need help?" the man asked, standing upright and dusting off his suit.
"You don't look dressed for going through a forest," Brendan pointed out. "It looks like you've lost something. Can I help you find it?"
"Well, actually, I've not lost anything. But I am looking for something. Supposedly, wild Shroomish live around here. I need one for a project I'm working on."
"Well, I'm a trainer. I wouldn't mind catching one, too," Brendan said, and he started peering into cavities at the bases of old trees for signs of Pokemon.
"What kind of project are you working on?" Brendan finally asked.
"I'm a researcher for Devon Corporation. I'm trying to—hey, what do you think you're doing?"
Brendan looked up. A man dressed in orange-red approached the researcher, a snarling Poochyena at his side. He bore a red "M" on the front of a hood that concealed most of his face.
"Hand over that research," the man demanded, his voice rumbling.
"What research? I don't know what you're talking about," the researcher replied.
"You know what research, don't mess around. Pooch, show him we aren't kidding."
The Poochyena lunged at the researcher, but Brendan stepped in between the two, blocking it.
"Out of the way, brat. You don't want to get involved," the man in red warned.
"Try me. Mudkip, go," Brendan said, releasing his Pokemon.
The intimidating man glared at Brendan.
"Poochyena, bite that little water rat and teach that kid a lesson."
Poochyena opened its jaws wide, snapping at Mudkip's throat, but missing.
"Hey, you can't do that! What, are you trying to do, kill him?" Brendan asked.
"We don't play by the rules, kid. I'll kill you, too, if you don't get out of my way. Poochyena!"
Poochyena went for Mudkip's throat again.
"Mudkip, water gun!" Brendan yelled.
Water poured into the Poochyena's open mouth. It fell over, choking.
"Quit that coughing and get them, you useless Pokemon!" the man insisted, nudging Poochyena with his foot. Nonetheless, it couldn't stop coughing, so he returned it to its Pokeball.
"You dumb kid. Don't think this is over," the man said, and he departed, past the exit of the forest and out of sight.
"Young man, that was very brave of you. Foolish, but brave. I can't thank you enough. Please, come by the Devon building when you get the chance, and don't even talk to another one of those thugs. I must be going quickly, my boss needs to know about this."
The researcher jogged in place as he spoke, then ran as fast as his freshly shined business shoes would allow, following the direction the aggressor had taken.
"What was that all about, Mudkip?" he asked. His Pokemon just looked at him, shaking uncontrollably.