Later that morning, James had been informed as to what was planned. He looked at Kelsie and his mother in disbelief, this was a joke surely? His mother was actually allowing him to go off and become a trainer? On the condition he had to look after Kelsie, but that was just a minor downside.

Liana said she had a surprise for the both of them and told them to wait in the kitchen. Pedro stared up at his brother in awe. His brother was leaving? "I'll miss you." He whimpered quietly, rushing over to his elder brother and hugging him tight. James tried to act cool, but he hugged back just as tight, tears forming in his eyes.

"And I'll miss you Kelsie." Pedro gave her a watery smile and a hug also. Kelsie was touched. She ruffled Pedro's hair and promised she would write. The vulpix padded over too and Kelsie made a fuss of her as well. She really would miss this family.

"Cheer up." James elbowed them both. "We're staying here for a few days still, we've got to wait for your stuff, remember?" This cheered Pedro up no end. He vowed they would spend all of their remaining time together. Kelsie giggled, James groaned, he wished he hadn't said anything.

"Close your eyes…" Liana's voice floated in the kitchen. James and Kelsie glanced at each other, bewildered. "…I'm not coming in till you do!" Kelsie shut her eyes immediately. James followed suit, but reluctantly. Liana winked at her youngest son and put a finger to her lips to shush him. He had gone to squeal in delight at the surprise.

James felt something nudge his feet. He squinted down and spotted a small black dog with pointy ears. On its back were two silver stripes, like 3-D metal bands. There were also four similar silver bands, like shackles, wrapped around each of the ankles. Its face was half covered by a skull-like silver mask. Its muzzle and underbelly were an orange-brownish colour. It was one of the baby houndours.

"It's yours!" Liana beamed, as James knelt down to stroke it. "He's a he."

James was speechless. "Mine… my own…?"

"You'll need a pokemon for your quest. I thought it would be better if you had a younger one. It will listen to you better till you get some badges."

"Aww…" Kelsie had finally opened her eyes and was smiling down at James and his brand new pokemon- houndour. "Are you going to name him?"

"No." James scoffed. "He's not a pet. What would I call him? Rover? Spot? Fido? Rex?"

"Actually, I quite like those last two names…" Liana chuckled, Kelsie agreed.

"Hello little Rexy." Pedro patted the houndour on the head, quite like a puppy he licked the little boy's knee. He seemed friendly enough.

"He is not called Rex!" Houndour looked up at the use of the name Rex. He wagged his tail.

"Your pokemon disagrees." Kelsie tittered, as James picked the houndour up. He had taken to him already. "He likes the name Rex."

"Do you?"

"…Houndour." His tail wagged again. James took that as a yes. He was disgruntled, but he couldn't argue.

All this time Kelsie and James hadn't noticed Liana's choice of pokemon for Kelsie. It was sat at Kelsie's feet, waiting patiently. It looked like a small sheep. Its head and legs were blue and its wool was yellowy-cream. It had black and yellow striped ears and tail, with an orange sphere placed on the end of its tail. It was a mareep, one of the farm pokemon Kelsie had been so fond of.

Liana cleared her throat and nodded at the mareep. Kelsie and James' eyes followed. "Oh!" Kelsie cried. She slowly bent down and reached out to stroke the little mareep. It timidly came closer. "Its such a shy little thing! So cute!"

"She is a she."

"She…" Kelsie repeated. She brushed her wool, cooing over her.

"What are you going to name her?" James mocked.

"Don't be daft, I'm not naming her!"

"What!?! After all the teasing you all gave me?!?"

"Now, now, you two." Liana handed them each a pokeball for their pokemon. "James, we didn't tease you, you came up with Rex yourself. Kelsie has every right not to name her pokemon, if she doesn't want to." Kelsie stuck her tongue out, James sulked.

Kelsie's supplies from her parents took two days to arrive. On the Friday morning, just after a week since Kelsie first washed up on the shore, a portly man appeared at the Roses' farm, accompanied by a rather tall dragon. Taller than the man even. The dragon was orange in colour, a cream underbelly, and had greenish-blue wings. It had a horn on the top of its head, along with two antennae. A dragonite.

The man, who was balding, but had tufts of light brown hair behind each ear, smiled when Liana had opened the door, and handed her a backpack, along with a small brown package. "For Miss Knight." He had said, before climbing up onto the dragonite and flying away.

Still rather startled, Liana called Kelsie into the living room and handed her her belongings. There was a letter attached to the front of the package, from her parents. Kelsie tore it open and read it:

Dearest Kelsie,

You do not need to know how much worry we went through when we first heard of the storm and of your disappearance, as it matters no more, but we are so relieved to hear you are safe. Ms. Rose informed us of everything and we are extremely grateful to her and her son, for accompanying you on your journey. We understand that you would want to find your pokemon personally, we know how close the both of you are, but I cannot help but worry. Your father says I fret far too much. I just worry about my only child.

We wish you the best on your journey and hope that you find your typhlosion soon. We will be eagerly awaiting your return. We have given you and James something that we hope will assist you on your travels, courtesy of Professor Elm, a close friend of your father's. Also, in your bag is a brand new mobile phone, our number already stored. Please keep in touch.

Lots of love, Mum and Dad.

Tears welled up in Kelsie's eyes and she hastily turned her attention to the brown package. Inside were two pokedex and two trainer id cards, one for Kelsie and another for James. Realization flooded Kelsie's body, this was really happening. She was becoming a trainer, something she had never wanted to be, to try and find her best friend.

"Awesome!" James' shout made her jump. He had spotted the pokedex and was examining it with keen interest. "I'm officially a trainer! Rex, come here!" Rex, the houndour, padded over, staring at his trainer in confusion. James pointed the pokedex at him.

'Houndour, the dark pokemon. Houndour travel in packs and communicate through barks in order to surround their prey. This houndour's level is five and is a male. The moves known are; leer, ember and howl.' The pokedex stated, in a cool male voice.

"Awesome!" James cheered, again. Rex barked in response. "Are you not going to scan your pokemon?"

"Wha- Oh…" Kelsie looked up. The tears had been pushed back and she was now trying to join in with James' enthusiasm. "…Yeah."

'Mareep…' Kelsie's pokedex rang out, as she pointed it at her new pokemon. '…the wool pokemon. Mareep store static electricity in their wooly coat. They avoid battle and have mild dispositions. This mareep's level is six and is a female. The moves known are; tackle and growl.'

"Ha, ha!" James was practically rolling around the floor in hysterics. "Trust you to have a weak pokemon who doesn't want to fight." He snorted with more laughter, Kelsie waited. "Hey!" James exclaimed, sobering up, a few minutes after. "Your pokemon is a higher level than mine!"

It had been decided that Kelsie and James would leave early the next day. They would head into the town and catch a ferry to Johto. After finally speaking to Doctor Fletcher, he and Kelsie had decided it would be best to start there. James had happily agreed, he was eager to try both Johto's and Kanto's gyms.

Liana had busied herself preparing a goodbye dinner, many of the villagers had been invited, Doctor Fletcher especially. Pedro had tried his best to help too. James had gone to say goodbye to the boys he had bribed to help him get a pokemon and to show them Rex. Leaving Kelsie to wander down to the beach for one last piece of tranquility.

The sea air was calming, easing the buzzing of her mind, sedating some of the excitement and nerves. Out of the many trips she had taken, she had never taken one quite as big nor as important as this one. And this time she was without her trusted pokemon, her best friend. It was completely different.

She had mixed feelings about training and caring for other pokemon. Would her typhlosion see it as a sign of betrayal? Or would he understand that, in order to help him, it had to be done? Kelsie was unsure, she hoped it was the latter.

She sighed, sitting down on the warm sand. The sea glistened, sparkling, in the sun, just as it did in her dream. It was calm, but in the distance, Kelsie could see it was rougher, just like the night of the storm.

She had awoken, lying on the sun deck, having fallen asleep during the day. Judging by her watch, it had just turned evening, yet it was very dark. And cold. Rain had just started to drop from the sky, the source of her disturbance.

Her typhlosion growled in discomfort, glaring up into the sky, up at the rapidly falling drops. Increase in speed, increase in size.

"Come on." She muttered, heading back to her cabin. Typhlosion followed.

Not long after, the waves had started to rock the ship. Stewards and the crew alike informed their passengers that it was nothing to worry about, just a minor storm. She was not convinced. From her porthole she could see how big the waves were getting. The sea was no longer glistening, it was dark, an evil source, wanting to swallow the ship and passengers whole.

She headed out on deck, ignoring the cabin crew's advice. Rain didn't bother her. Darkness didn't bother her. The lightning did, though.

As soon as it started, she turned to go back inside, straight away. Booms of thunder sounded overhead, like two cymbals clashing together. One, two… A flash of lightning, the ship rocked violently, overturning. The last she heard was the deafening roar of her typhlosion, before the roars of the waves engulfed her mind and filled her ears. She struggled to the surface, scanning the darkness for typhlosion. Nothing. She tried to call, but salty water filled her throat and caused her to choke. She tread water for a few seconds, the shrieks and cries piercing her mind. Her body was screaming protests, but she forced herself to try to swim. Something pulled at her legs- tentacool. Their menacing eyes glaring at her as their tentacles stung her. She jerked away, causing her to collide head- first into some debris.

She blackened out.

Kelsie awoke, panting and sweating at the horror. She wasn't aware that she had drifted off, but the final piece of her missing memory had slid into place. Truth be told, she had been expecting something a lot more worse than that, yet it still terrified her. Gasping, she forced herself to her feet and stared at the sea. She had a feeling that for a long while she would be pretty hesitant of deep water.

Doctor Fletcher waved goodbye to Liana, promising he would be round later to say goodbye to Kelsie and James, before they left for their journey.

Once she had left, he returned to pondering his thoughts. Before Liana had popped round, Doctor Fletcher, whose first name was Scott, had received a phone call from a group of trainers from his home town, offering a business proposition. Scott was clearly intrigued by what they had proposed, but he had a feeling they were just pulling his leg. The trainers insisted they weren't. In fact, they suggested the doctor should meet with them. They had their first client for him. If he was still interested.

After much deliberation, Scott sighed and picked up his phone. He hit the redial button and waited.

"Very well…" He said, once the phone had been picked up. "…I'm in."

"Excellent." An oily voice could be heard on the other end. "We will be expecting you here by next week. I'm sure you will be delighted with your first…ah…client." A small cackle, then a click. The call had been cut off.