The more I followed it, the less aware I was of my surroundings. How long had I been walking? Was I still in Argus, or was I miles away in a desert or jungle? Were my Pokemon still with me? I couldn't have answered. I was no longer in control of my movements, I couldn't have stopped if I wanted to. And just as I started to collapse from exhaustion, I started floating.

I was in empty space, nothing to look at but stars in the distance. I felt small. So very, very small. I was nothing in this galaxy, it didn't care for me or even recognize my existence. I suddenly felt as though everything was pointless. Who cared if I just won a gym badge? Who cared if I became Champion? Who cared if I died? In the grand scale of things, nothing anyone could do mattered. It was cold and dark, the natural state of the universe. I felt something round in my hand. Could it be a Pokeball? I opened my fist and stared in horror. It was Earth. I was holding the planet in my hands. Could this be a vision, telling me the fate of the world was in my…

No! I wanted to throw the planet away, I didn't want the responsibility of saving the world! Yet I held on to it still, too afraid of what might happen if I didn't. All of those questions that every reluctant hero has passed through my mind. Why me? What made me special? But those thoughts were quickly replaced with anger. Something was using me. I didn't ask for this, I never wanted this. Whatever was doing all of this was ruining my life!

A bright yellow light shone from every direction. It should have blinded me, yet it didn't hurt my eyes at all. It couldn't have been the sun, this was brighter and much more powerful. I saw a shadow of three figures swimming as though the light was a liquid. All I could make out was that each of them had two tails and a refraction of red shining from their heads before the light enveloped me completely and I stood in an empty expanse of white.

There was something else there in the distance, its breaths heavy and pained. I knew it was a Pokemon, but it had been so mangled and deformed that no one would have been able to tell what it was. It looked at me pitifully, moaning in pain. I started running over to it, it needed help, it was dying! But what could I do? I didn't have any equipment, and I wasn't a doctor. I dismissed my doubts and ran anyway. I might not be able to do anything, but I had to try. I had to do all that I could for it, even if it was just comforting it in its final moments. I felt myself fading the closer I got to it until all went to black. A thought that wasn't my own passed through me, the warmth of a smile.

I awoke underneath a canopy of trees. Was "awoke" the right word? I never felt as though I fell asleep, did I reappear here? Snivy was shaking my arm, looking at me worriedly. Nincada was on its back sleeping next to me. I sat up and held Snivy in my lap, comforting it. It returned the gesture by nuzzling close to me, making soft cries. I was in some kind of forest, that was made obvious by the trees and foliage. I pulled out my Pokedex and looked at the GPS, still petting Snivy's arched back with my other hand. Apparently my dazed walk took me outside the boundaries of Route B and into open forest. It would take half an hour to even enter the vicinity of the town. I gently set Snivy beside me, stood up and brushed myself off. There was no time to waste, I had to get back. I returned Nincada to its Pokeball, and was about to do the same with Snivy, but it avoided the Pokeball's beam.

"Come on," I said, "you don't want to walk with me the whole way, do you?"

Snivy slid through the grass, stood beside me, and grunted, head raised high, as though what I suggested was exactly what it was going to do.

I sighed. "All right, but we're avoiding any Pokemon along the way. I'm trying to get back as fast as possible."

Snivy nodded and began to run through the forest, its body moving as though it was slithering rather than using its legs.

"Hey, wait up!" I called, struggling to catch up. Snivy stood and turned to watch me until I approached, then followed behind me closely for the rest of the trip.

What could have caused this change in Snivy's behavior? It wasn't that long ago that it didn't want much to do with me, yet now it didn't seem to want to leave me alone in the forest. I wished I could ask it what had happened and what I had done. Maybe it was scared after seeing me so out of it, or perhaps something dangerous happened that I wasn't aware enough to handle. I might never find out. My thoughts drifted to Alan. I had told him I would watch his Gym battle, but it was surely over by now. He was probably wondering where I was, but hopefully he wasn't too worried.

The walk back was uneventful, but Snivy remained alert the whole time, constantly looking around for danger. After some time had passed, we came across the path we were looking for. This wasn't the dirt trail that we had followed to get here, this was paved with white stones and wide enough to handle many people on it at once. A man who was driving a carriage led by Rapidash noticed me, paused, and looked at me strangely before continuing. I looked down at my clothes, which were dirty and tattered. They would need to be cleaned once I got back to the motel, that was for sure. I had made it to Route C, the main Route that connected Euthalia to Argus. If I ever needed to go back to Euthalia, this would be the quickest way.

I went onto the path and came back to Argus, Snivy guarding me all the way. When we arrived, it was in a portion of the town I hadn't seen, but it wouldn't be hard to look at my Pokedex GPS and follow it to the motel, where I hoped Alan would be. I was nervous as I went down the roads, the memory of what happened the last time I was in this town alone still strong in my mind. Yet having Snivy there comforted me a little. Several people passed me by with their greetings, but I didn't bother to answer them. They weren't being sincere, and now that I knew that I didn't want to concern myself with them.

I finally made it to the motel, a two story building that looked just like every other building near it. I went into the lobby where the receptionist greeted me like everyone else. I signed her paper and went to mine and Alan's room. Inside Alan was sitting on my bed, looking out the one window nervously. When he heard the door open he jumped up and smiled.

"Hey, you're back! Where did you go? I thought Team Rocket got you again!" he looked at my clothes and his tone shifted, "did they?"

"No, it's a little more complicated than that, but I'm fine," I said.

Alan sighed, "That's good. I was about to call the police right before you got here."

Sure you were, it's not like you had hours to do it, I thought cruelly. I shook off the idea.

"Anyway, I got the badge!" Alan proudly showed me his Mountain badge whose appearance was identical to mine. "It was really close, but my Kakuna evolved into a Beedrill right in the middle of the match and I won! Can you believe that?"

I shook my head, "That sounds amazing. I wish I could have seen it."

"Yeah, it was awesome. I was scared when I saw a crack open on Kakuna's back, but then a Beedrill came out and I was like, 'woah!' Pokemon battles are so cool, I can't wait to get my next badge!" Alan's hands moved energetically as he spoke and his eyes sparkled.

I smiled, a little overwhelmed by his eagerness, "Yeah, me too. We'll have to wait until tomorrow, I think, because I need to get these cleaned," I pulled at my shirt, "and we can buy some stuff at the Pokemart."

"Oh yeah, what happened to you?" Alan asked, "Did you go off to train or something?"

Now it was my turn to sigh. I didn't really know how to describe what happened or why I went along with it, but since I had already trusted him with everything else he probably wouldn't judge me too much.

"Well, I had another one of those dreams like I told you about before, but I can remember this one."

"Really? What was in it?" Alan's curiously pressed for more. So I described the dream to the best of my ability. I had to stop several times during the retelling as I struggled to put my experience accurately into words. Once I finished I didn't feel satisfied with how I had put it, but at least I had managed to get it out.

"That's weird," Alan remarked, "so you were sleepwalking or something?"

"I guess so," I responded, "I don't really understand any of it."

"Well if you've got to save the world or something than you need to be prepared. Get those clothes off and let's go shopping!"

"Could you not make it sound like I'm some sort of chosen one? I really don't think I am," I cringed at the idea.

"That's what they all say," Alan grinned, "but you'll get used to it. They always do on TV."

I laughed halfheartedly. "You and that stupid television." Alan smiled back and left the room to let me change. He was being ridiculous, there was no way I could be "The One" in some big prophecy. I mean, who even makes those dumb things anyway? The only "prophecy" I believed was that Jirachi would awaken in the next three hundred and thirty-five years, and that was because it's a fact. Those dreams didn't mean anything like that, it's probably just some highly intelligent Pokemon that really wants to mess with me. I couldn't be expected to save the world. Right?

I finished changing and prepared to leave once again. Snivy was more than willing to return to its Pokeball now that it felt I was safe, which I was happy about. As much as I enjoyed Snivy's company I didn't think it would be very safe to have it out all the time. Alan and I went outside the hotel, heading to the Pokemart. There were two Pokemarts in town, and we decided to choose the one that was the closest, though it was smaller than the other.

"You know, I'm kind of glad we're going to leave this place soon," I said casually.

"Why's that? It's not too bad here," Alan replied.

"It just feels kind of bland, you know? Everyone acts the same, everything looks the same, it's not as great as I thought at first."

Alan looked around us as we walked. "Yeah, you may have a point there. But now that we're Trainers we can go and leave whenever we want. Wait, I think we just passed the Pokemart."

"Really? I wonder how that happened. It's not like it looks like every other building," I said sarcastically. The Pokemart, like most other things in this town, was only distinguished by the sign in its window. There was the added feature of the building's blue roof, but it's not like we were looking up at them. We backtracked a few steps and went inside.

"Kinda cramped in here, don't you think?" Alan commented, grabbing a shopping basket at the entrance. There were shelves up to the ceiling throughout the store, the hallways between them narrow. This seemed entirely unnecessary as there were only products placed at levels that people could actually reach, and some shelves were empty altogether. We couldn't see if there was anyone inside the store, including the register, as the shelves blocked our view.

"It might be hard to find anything in here without getting lost," I said, "but at least their stuff is cheap."

"Yeah. But I'm already getting half off since we're splitting the cost," Alan pulled some canned Pokefood off a shelf, then immediately put it back. "That expired three months ago."

"Do you think they get there food secondhand?" I wondered.

A woman walked into the store and came up behind us. "Excuse me," she said pleasantly, "I need to get past you, do you mind?"

"Yeah, just a sec," Alan said. The shelves were packed so tightly together that we had to back out of the aisle entirely in order to give her enough room to pass through. She thanked us and went on her way.

I grimaced. "Maybe we should have went to the other store."

"No! We must stay determined! This store shall not defeat us!" Alan puffed out his chest and tried to sound heroic, "the power of discounts compels you!"

"Yeah, okay," I shook my head, "whatever you say."

After thirty minutes of searching we found enough Pokeballs and various medicines to last us until the next town. We put a few extra poison antidotes in our basket so we wouldn't find ourselves in the same situation Alan and his Tepig were before. Finding nonperishable food for our Pokemon took the longest, as most of the containers were bent or already opened and half-empty. Once finished it took a few more minutes to find the checkout. There was an old man sleeping at the register. A pin on his plaid jacket informed that he was the manager.

"Now what are we going to do? We can't just wake him up." I said.

"Oh yeah? Watch me," Alan walked up to the table and pressed the bell. It made a small ring and the man shot up with a snort.

"Huh? Who's there?" he pushed his glasses closer to his eyes.

"We want to check out," I said, showing him our basket of items.

"Oh really? Why didn't ya just steal it and save me the trouble of wakin' up?" he grumbled.

"What do you mean?" I asked. There's no way the manager of a store would encourage stealing. One hundred percent off sales wouldn't go well for the stores that held them.

"This store's closing anyway. Just another part of this town that's falling apart. Not that we're allowed to say anything about it, eh? Just put on a happy face and all your problems will go away. Give me that," he took the basket from my hands and grudgingly rung up the items.

"The town? What's wrong with it?" Alan suddenly became curious.

He sighed. "Outsiders. I should have known."

The manager waited until he had scanned all the items before saying anything else. "Well, if you don't know anything about it, I can't tell you. Just take this junk and leave," he shoved the basket back into my hands just as forcefully as he took it, "that'll be 800 Pokedollars.

I took out my Pokedex and handed it to him, where he took one look at it and punched in some numbers.

"You can't just drop hints and not expect me to be curious. I won't tell anyone, I promise. Maybe we can help," Alan persisted, looking around to make sure no one else was in earshot.

The old man laughed, "yeh've got spunk, kid. Do yourself a favor and get out of this town before it's too late. Maybe there's some other place that'll let you live up to your potential, but it's not here."

"But-"

"Just get out or I'll call the cops on ya," he said, handing me my Pokedex and bag of purchased items. I don't think I've ever heard such an empty threat, but we obeyed.

"That's going to bother me for ages," Alan said, "I hate unsolved mysteries."

"It's not really our place, is it?" I swung the grocery bag as I walked. The wind was blowing gently, the sun shining brightly, the buildings casting shadows on the road. I suppose Argus did have charm once you looked past its flaws. "This isn't our town, and we couldn't change anything if we wanted to."

"If you want to be a hero, you need to do what you can and then some more. That's what Bidoof Man says, and I always thought he was the strongest of the Master Team. He may not have a bunch of cool powers, but he's determined." Alan said.

"Everything you learn seems to have come from some TV show or movie. You're just as much of a nerd as my best friend," I teased.

"No, I'm more of an outdoor person, if you couldn't guess. I just like superheroes is all," Alan combed a hand through his brown hair, a little embarrassed.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter much since we're leaving tomorrow," I got back on subject.

"Why wait until tomorrow? We have plenty of time left today," Alan pointed at the sky.

"But if we wait it'll be one less night that we have to sleep in a tent," I argued. I looked up. The sun was on the verge of setting. The shadows of the buildings around us getting longer. Of the things I didn't like about living outdoors, sleeping bags were at the top of the list.

"You plan too much. Sometimes you just gotta do stuff, you know?" Alan told me, "So let's just do it. Let's go," he headed towards the entrance to Route D.

"Wait, we left our stuff at the motel!" I said. Alan promptly turned around and headed back into town.

"Okay, we'll get our things and then we'll go."

With our backpacks on and the sun to our backs, it was time to enter the next step in our journey. I had never been past Argus before, and now I was going to experience the rest of the region firsthand. Route D connected Argus with a town called Parnassian, which was a trading town. There wasn't anything of particular interest there, so we would probably bypass it altogether. After that we could go to either Swallowtail or the region capital, Monarch. Since we didn't want too much too fast, and to save on backtracking it would be best to…

"Hey, you coming?" Alan waved. While I was recapping the plan to myself he had already gone ahead of me.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I called, running after him. He laughed and started to run away from me. I ran harder, my feet pounding the stone path, kicking up pebbles. Alan almost ran into another person, who shook their fist and spouted obscenities as I dashed past them, still racing.

I could do to learn a few things from Alan. His carefree nature was something I envied. Due to all that had happened to me in the past, I felt anxious whenever I didn't know every aspect of what I was about to do, which might not be the best way of thinking for a Trainer. The air rushed past me as I ran, falling behind Alan despite my greatest efforts. It was time I lived in the moment, that I got out of my head and didn't fear taking action. Right then I promised myself that one day I would catch up to Alan.