Disclaimer: Blu Rose does not own the Pokémon series. She just owns this little fan story.

Summary: At Bianca's insistence, White goes with her on what was supposed to be a simple walk in Pinwheel Forest. Instead, it turns into a hunt for a thieving Snivy.

X-X-X

~Just a Nature Walk~

Well…here I was. Standing on the outskirts of Nacrene City, glaring at the way into Pinwheel Forest. I was supposed to be meeting Bianca inside, but when I saw the forest's entrance, I couldn't help but remain rooted to the ground in fear of the entrance that looked like a gaping maw. I didn't even pay mind to the fact that I was standing in the middle of a dirt path where I could've been jumped by wild Pokémon and trainers looking for a fight.

"Whatcha looking at?"

"Ah!" I jumped, frightened by a suddenly voice. I looked down and saw that it was Eve, my recently named Eevee. "Wh-what are you doing out of your ball?!"

"I got bored," Eve answered simply before she heard a rustling in the grass. She started walking towards it, but I grabbed hold of her and picked her up off the ground. "Heeey! Put me down! I wanna go look at stuff!"

"You're not gonna just run off into the grass like that! You could get hurt!"

"No, I won't! I'm really careful!" I somehow doubted that. "C'mon, lemme goooo!" She whined like a little kid as she squirmed in my hands. A part of me was worried that she would resort to biting just to get out of my grasp.

"Look, just get inside of your ball."

"Nooooo!"

At this point, Tiny was poking his head out of my bag. "Friend?" He crawled out of the bag and jumped down onto the ground. "Friend?" He repeated, staring up at Eve as his ears twitched.

I sighed. I felt like a mother who had to deal with overly energetic kids. "Look… I'll let you stay out of your ball if you just promise not to wander out of my sight."

Eve stopped squirming in my hands and looked up at me, smiling. "Okay!" She answered cheerfully. I sighed and put her down next to Tiny, who started to rub his cheek against her face, raising her fur with his static electricity.

"Whiiiite~!" I turned around at the sound of Bianca's voice. She was running towards me, waving. "Hey, there! Did I keep you waiting for long?" I shrugged in response. I was so into just glaring at the forest that I didn't even notice how long I was waiting for her. "Well, are you ready?" I wasn't, but I nodded anyway. The blonde girl smiled. "Great! Y'know, I thought I'd have to drag you out here. I'm happy you decided to come on your own!" Well, if I hadn't, it would just make you sad to get blown off for a third time. "Well, here we go!" She walked forward, but suddenly stopped and turned to look at me. She stared at me for a few seconds before she walked up to me, grabbed my arm, and dragged me into the forest.

X-X-X

The moment we set foot inside of Pinwheel Forest, I clung to Bianca like a Joltik clinging to its host. The canopy of tree leaves overhead only allowed a few small rays of light to shine down, though it was still easy to see. Before us was a dirt path where a few people were walking up and down, probably heading to either Nacrene or Castelia City.

"Isn't this amazing, White?" Bianca asked. I gave her a skeptical look. It was just forest. We had a smaller one in Nuvema Town, though I never had the courage to go into it. I'm pretty sure Bianca's parents, overprotective as they were about her, wouldn't let her go off into a forest teeming with wild Pokémon…like we were now.

"Ooooh! What's this?" The sound of Eve's voice gained my attention. I saw her and Tiny standing in front of a sign.

"What do you think you're doing?! I said stay by my side!" I let go of Bianca and ran up to them.

Eve and Tiny looked up at me innocently. "What is this?"

"A sign. …It looks pretty new." I started to read the sign, "Caution: a wild Snivy has been spotted, attacking and stealing from trainers on the road. It is recommended that you be alert. …WHAT?!" I screamed loudly. For a brief moment, the forest fell silent.

"What is it, White?" Bianca asked, walking over to me. "…Ooh, a Snivy! I thought you could only get one from Professor Juniper. Then again, she did say that it was rare, so maybe you could find a few in the wild…"

"That's what caught your attention?! What about the part that says there's a Pokémon that'll jump out of the grass to attack and steal from trainers?!"

"Yeah, like that one there!" Eve spoke up.

"…What?" I looked down and noticed a sight that made my blood run cold. Standing next to my foot was a weird-looking Snivy. Its skin was a bluish shade of green and its brown eyes were glaring right at Eve. One of its vines was inside of my bag while another was inside of Bianca's. How could I not have noticed that?

Before Bianca could give a cry of protest or I could just cry, the Snivy jumped back, each of its vines holding something tightly. I could easily recognize the thing from my bag: a plain old sandwich bought from the cafeteria in the Pokémon Center. The thing from Bianca's bag looked like a snack cake.

"H-hey, you can't take those! Give 'em back! If you're hungry, I'd be willing to share!" Bianca tried to plead with the thieving Pokémon.

"Ah! I-it doesn't matter, Bianca. They're just sandwiches! There's no reason to risk our lives over them!" The Snivy said nothing, nor did it make an attempt to give our food back. It just glared at us as a thick pink mist began to rise from it. It wafted towards us with its intense, sweet-smelling scent and my fears and worries seemed to drift away. I didn't care that we were being attacked by a wild Pokémon. I felt unusually relaxed. Unnaturally so. And yet… "That…smells nice…"

"Yeah…! Reeeeally nice~!" Bianca swooned.

"Nice…!" Tiny parroted.

"It smells like flowers!" Eve exclaimed.

"Yeah…" I agreed, taking a deep breath. We stood there in total bliss and sweet-smelling mist until I heard a voice.

"Hey! What the heck do you weirdoes think you're doing?! You're blocking the road!" A very irritated voice that spoke with a hint of an accent.

"Mmm… What? I…" I blinked. When did I get on my knees? Better question: when did this angry-looking girl show up? I was in such a daze, all I could do was stare at her and take in her features: her long brown hair kept in place by her white hat with the red Poké Ball symbol, her irritated-looking brown eyes, her sleeveless aqua blue shirt, her red skirt, her white and red sneakers with the baggy blue socks…

"Hey! My face is up here! You weirdo…!" I blinked as my head started to clear up. "Geez, you reek of Sweet Scent! It's a wonder you haven't been assaulted by some wild Pokémon."

"Wh…What? Sweet Scent?" I heard Bianca speak up. She was also on her knees, her eyes wide with surprise about our position.

"You don't know what Sweet Scent is? What losers…" I heard her mutter under her breath. I stared up at her, but she didn't seem to care about paying attention to me just then. The brunette girl simply folded her arms across her chest and explained, "Sweet Scent is a Pokémon move that makes anyone who smells it become relaxed to the point where they don't notice anything." The way she spoke was as if she considered us little kids. "Meaning you idiots were dumb enough to smell it."

"Hey! It's not like we knew we shouldn't smell it!" I snapped, suddenly annoyed with this girl. "And it's not like we just happened upon it, either! We were attacked…by…that Snivy!" I suddenly remembered the Grass Snake Pokémon and started to look around in a frantic panic. "Oh my gosh! I-is it still here?! Please don't let it be here!"

I heard the girl mumble something and suddenly fall silent. I looked up and was surprised to find a Pokédex in her hands. She turned the Pokédex around and showed me the electronic image of a typical, normal-looking Snivy with a smug expression on its face. "This it?"

Before I could question her, Bianca spoke up, "Um, the one we met looked a little different, but yeah… Is that a Pokédex?"

The brunette girl smirked. "Ya like it? I bet this is the first time you've ever seen one up close."

"Actually, I have one. We both do, actually." Yeah, so take that, little miss uppity trainer! "We got ours a couple of days ago from Professor Juniper."

She looked surprised. "Seriously?" She started smirking again. "It figures you're only newbies." Before I could open my mouth, she continued, "Well, I don't know what you two are gonna do, but I'm going to go catch me a Snivy! Ciao, losers!" She then ran down the road, leaving us alone.

"…What an unpleasant person," I muttered.

"She was pretty rude, wasn't she?" Bianca mumbled. "I thought we could be friends, y'know, since we all had Pokédexes…" She sighed as we stood up. "This was supposed to be a pleasant walk through the forest. Instead, we got attacked by a Pokémon and had our food stolen!"

"You see? I knew this was a bad idea." I looked down at Tiny and Eve, but I didn't find them in there. I looked inside of my bag, expecting to find them both in there, but I only found Eve fast asleep. I suddenly got worried. I looked around, trying to find a sign of yellow fur. "Where is he? Where is he? Where could he have gone?!" I started to shake the Eevee in my bag. "Eve! Eve!"

Eve woke up and yawned. "What? What is it?"

"Where's Tiny?"

"Tiny…? Um… Oh! I think he ran off…" She paused to yawn again. "…after that Pokémon…"

"So he's gone?!" I cried out. "He's just a baby! He could get hurt! He could get killed!" I had to find him. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something bad happened to him. Bianca had to grab me to stop me from running off like a crazy person.

"C-calm down, White! I'll help you—we'll find him together!" She tried to calm me down. "Let's… Let's see if anyone saw him! Pichu isn't a Pokémon that you find in Unova, so he's sure to stick out!"

"I hope so. I really hope so…" I said as I wrung my hands in a worried manner.

X-X-X

We walked down the dirt path in search of Tiny and the Snivy until we came across a pair of little girls. They were identical in every way: their little brown pigtails and bright green jumper dresses. The twin girls were whispering to each other until they noticed us and ran right up to us.

"Hey, hey! Are you trainers?"

"Hey, hey! You wanna battle?"

"No," I answered bluntly. The twin girls pouted.

"Pleeeease?" They pleaded.

"We're busy!" I snapped, too irritated by the circumstances to

Bianca stepped forward and bent over to speak with them. "Don't mind her. We're just looking for a certain Pokémon that may have passed by here. Have you seen a Pichu?"

The twins looked at each other before looking up at Bianca with confused expressions. "What's a Pichu?" They both asked.

Quickly, I took out my Pokédex and pulled up the entry on Pichu. I held it out in front of the girls. "This. Now have you seen one run by here?"

One of the twins opened her mouth to speak, but the other clapped her hand over her sister's mouth. "We'll tell you if you battle us!"

I frowned and started to glare at the two girls. "This is serious! It's my Pichu we're looking for and need to find him now!"

One of the twins was now whimpering while the other was pouting with her arms folded across her chest. "Nuh-uh! My daddy told me that when trainers look each other in the eye, they have to do battle!" Your daddy sounds like an idiot.

Bianca laughed sheepishly and took me aside. "Now, White," she whispered, "They're only kids. Humor them a little and battle them."

"I don't want to humor them. I want to spank those little brats until they tell me where Tiny went!"

Bianca turned around to face the twins. "Alright! She'll battle you, but only a one-on-one match!" I gave the blonde an angry look. I didn't have time for a battle! I needed to find my Pokémon before the worst could happen!

"Nuh-uh! We always fight in double battles, right Maya?" Said one twin.

The twin named Maya looked at me and started to shake. "U-um…! M-maybe we shouldn't try to make the scary lady angrier, Mayo… We should just tell her where the Pokémon went."

"Noooo…!" Mayo whined, flailing her arms like an angry Maractus.

Maya looked at us. "We tried to catch the Pichu because it looked cute. We almost caught it, but it broke out of the Poké Ball." She pointed further down the dirt path. "It went down the road. We would've chased it, but we don't have any more Poké Balls…"

That was all I needed to hear. I started running down the road, barely listening to one of the twins berating the other and Bianca yelling for me to wait up. The only thought on my mind was finding Tiny and making sure that he was safe. I didn't stop until I reached a crossroad that divided into two paths, out of breath and not knowing which way I should go. I felt something clap onto my shoulder, but I didn't have the energy to jump or shout in surprise. I looked over my shoulder and saw Bianca, panting from exhaustion.

"D-don't just run off like that! How am I gonna protect you if you keep running away from me?" She panted as she bent over to catch her breath. "You could've at least thanked those little girls…" Bianca stood up straight and looked at me. "Well, I guess we've got to choose a way… Oh! There's someone down there!" She pointed down the left path at a young boy in a straw hat. We approached him as he stepped into the tall grass, looking down at the ground and holding a net in his hands. "Hello there!"

"Sssshhh! You'll scare 'em away!" The boy complained.

Bianca blinked and looked around. "Um… Scare who?"

"The bug Pokémon hiding in the grass, of course!" The boy adjusted his hat as he continued staring at the ground.

"Oh. Then I guess you wouldn't have noticed a strange-looking Pokémon coming down this way…"

The bug catcher gave a disgruntled sigh. "You mean that funny-lookin' snake? It popped up, ate the berries I was planning to use as bait for the bug Pokémon, and then used some sort of attack to distract me! Now I gotta catch bugs the old-fashioned way!" A funny-looking snake? It must have been that thieving Snivy! And if Tiny was chasing after it, then…

"Hey, was that all you saw? You didn't see any other weird-looking Pokémon?" I asked.

"When I hunt for Bug type Pokémon, I never notice any other kind. All I saw after that was some girl asking where that thievin' snake went." He pointed his net towards the trees. "I told her it went off the path and ran off into the woods—with my bait! She took off right after it. Guess it stole somethin' off of her, too."

"Oh… Well, I guess we'll have to go off the path to find him," said Bianca.

As the boy wandered off to do more bug-catching, I gulped as I stared out into the trees. It didn't look as inviting as the manmade path, especially when the increased likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon crossed my mind. I wish I could've maintained my hardheadedness from before so I could just barrel right through. If I didn't want to be a good trainer, I would've been adamant about not going anywhere. But I had to do it. I had to be brave, for Tiny's sake. Taking a deep breath, I stepped off the dirt road and into the tall grass. I kept repeating in my mind that what I was feeling brush up against my leg was grass and not some Pokémon trying to stealthily attack me as Bianca hooked her arm onto mine and helped me walk.

X-X-X

"HI-YAH!" Shion exclaimed as she used her scalchop to cut down the grass in front of us. Amongst the shreds of grass and flowers, a wild sleeping Pansear woke up and growled. It spat out embers of fire at her, but the ones that she couldn't block with her shell didn't faze her. She flung her shell at the Pansear and hit in square on its nose. The Pansear cried out in pain before it ran off, no longer seeking a fight. Shion went to pick up her shell and raised it over her head proudly. "Another victory in my trainer's name!"

"Hooray!" Eve exclaimed.

Panacea approached the Oshawott to inspect her for injuries. In a moment of intense paranoia, I'd sent all three of the Pokémon on me out of their Poké Balls—for protection. If Bianca was watching my back, I needed someone to watch my front, my right and my left as well. I looked like a celebrity with an entourage, or a very weird and varied group of bodyguards. "Did you really have to chase it away? Miss White could have caught it. It's a Fire type Pokémon after all."

Shion's expression became a distressed one as she looked up at me. "Wh-what? Really?! I'm so sorry, White! I know: I'll knock out the next Pansear I see so you can capture it!"

"Me, too! Me, too!" Eve chirped as she bounced up and down "I'll knock out every Pokémon I see so White can catch it!"

"So will I," said Panacea. "I have to contribute to helping Miss White as well."

"That's not what we're doing here. We're looking for Tiny. Nothing else matters," I answered sternly. The three Pokémon before me looked ashamed. "It's not that I don't appreciate your help. I'm just really worried about him."

"Aw, White," Bianca spoke from behind me. "That's so precious! You're acting more like a mother than a trainer!"

I sighed. Not her, too! "I'm not being maternal! It's just common sense! He's just a baby and he's gone and run off like this! Who knows what could've happened to him?" Once again, Bianca cooed. "Stop that! Anyway, finding Tiny is the top priority. No challenging trainers, no catching Pokémon, nothing whatsoever!"

"Aw, so you're not gonna catch anything?" Eve asked with a pout. "Not even that weird-looking snake over there?"

"Yes, not even that weird-looking— Weird-looking snake?!" I looked forward and saw what she was talking about. There was the oddly-colored Snivy, inside of a large, hollowed out log. It was surrounded by empty wrappers and papers while it was coiled up, seemingly fast asleep. "Bianca! It's the Snivy!" I whispered.

"Hm? You're right! It's the same color and everything!" She exclaimed loudly before I gestured for her to stay quiet. I pointed at the sleeping Pokémon and she nodded. "I don't see Tiny anywhere, though..." She whispered. "Do you think it knows where he is? Maybe we should ask it."

"Are you kidding? If we wake it up, it'll just run off again!"

Bianca's eyes lit up. "If you catch it, it won't be able to run away! You could just send it back into its Poké Ball if it tries to escape before answering you!"

"I don't wanna catch a Pokémon that stole from me! Even if it was just a sandwich!"

"Well, you can release it afterwards if you want. Go on, do it before it wakes up! It'll be easier to just catch it while it's asleep!"

I hummed in annoyance as I searched through my bag for an unused Poké Ball. I gripped it tightly in my hands as I took aim at the Snivy. Praying that it wouldn't miss, I threw the ball at the Grass type. It hit the Pokémon on the head, but I couldn't tell if it was still asleep as it was taken into the ball in a flash of light. The ball only shook twice before it clicked. I stared in slack-jawed awe. "I actually caught it?!"

"No way!" A familiar voice shouted from over to the side I turned my head and saw the brunette girl from before stomping towards us "How could a newbie like you catch a rare Pokémon like Snivy before me?!" Well, it helps when it's fast asleep from eating stolen food. She folded her arms across her chest and frowned. "Hmph! It was probably by luck or a fluke!"

I didn't say a word. I just approached the Poké Ball and picked it up. I hesitated in releasing the Snivy from inside. I wasn't sure what sort of reaction it was going to have when it woke it to find it was captured. Just as I was about to press the button, I heard a familiar cry of "Mommy!"

"Tiny? Tiny! Where are you?!" I shouted, looking around frantically.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" I heard the brunette trainer say. I turned to face her, only to see something surprising: a Pichu poking its head out from inside of her bag. I suddenly felt intense relief. Before I really knew what I was doing, I was standing in front of the girl, trying to get the Pichu out of the bag to hug him and kiss him and act like a right mess. Instead, I was grabbed and shoved back by the trainer girl, who was now glaring at me. "What do you think you're doing?! Are you trying to steal my Pichu?!"

"He's not your Pichu, he's mine!" I snapped back. "He ran off and I-I've been looking everywhere for him, so if you'd be so kind…" I held my hands out.

The girl frowned and put her hands on her hips. "Ohhh, no. I'm not falling for that act. If he was your Pichu, I wouldn't have been able to catch him, now, would I?"

"Catch him?!" Bianca and I repeated.

"There's no way you could catch him! He already has a Poké Ball, right, White?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but I suddenly remembered something. In Accumula Town, Tiny's Poké Ball broke. I told myself that I would replace it, but even with the nurses at the Pokémon Center telling me that I should put him inside of a Poké Ball, the things that had been happening had made me put that to the back of my mind. And when I finally remembered that I had technically been carrying a wild Pokémon with me the entire time, I found myself shouting, "His ball broke! And I forgot to put him inside of a replacement!"

"What?!" Bianca shouted in surprise. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

I slapped my hand to my forehead, saying, "Because I forgot! How could I be such an idiot?!" I removed my hand and looked at the girl. "Look, he really is my Pichu! Please give him back to me!"

"Nope," the brunette answered bluntly. "Even if I do believe you—which I don't—technically speaking, he's my Pokémon now. Now, if you were a good trainer who hadn't done anything as stupid as let a Pokémon they call theirs run around without being captured, I'd give him back to you."

Tiny then crawled out of her bag and ran over to me. He stood up and held his arms out to me. "Mommy?" I bent over to pick him up and the Pichu started to nuzzle his cheek against my neck. "Chuuu~!" He started pointing over at the blue-clad trainer. "Friend, Mommy."

I glared at the brunette girl, who was also glaring at me. "Look, just gimme back my Pichu! What happened was an accident, but I'm still his trainer, Poké Ball or no!"

"Well, how do I know you're not gonna let him go all over again?"

"I'm not! What do you want me to do? You wanna have a battle for him? Because I'll do it if I have to!" Wiping that judging look off of your face will be a plus.

The brunette smirked and gave me a condescending look as she adjusted her hat. "You've got no idea who you're talking to! I'm not some newbie trainer like you who doesn't know how to handle her Pokémon! I'm White Green, a seasoned trainer who's defeated the Indigo League!"

"I don't know what that is and I don't care," I answered bluntly.

"You should care, newbie."

Actually, I kind of did care. I cared that she had the same name that I did and that she had already accomplished what Black and Cheren were trying to do: she'd beaten gym leaders, the Elite 4 and the league champion—well, an Elite 4 and a league champion—in some far-off region. Then again, she could've been lying. She could've been as much of a newbie trainer as she said Bianca and I were and the Indigo League probably didn't exist.

"I'll bet you that the Pokémon I started with can beat the one you started with," she taunted as she took out a Poké Ball. She pressed the button and from within, she released something that made me change my mind about her being a pretender.

"Blaaaas!" Standing before us on two legs was a large, blue, tortoise-like Pokémon with a pair of cannons sticking out of the top of its brown shell. The cannons withdrew into the shell, then extended, releasing a blast of water that was aimed upwards. The blast made a hole within the canopy of leaves, letting a fair amount of sunlight shine down on his along with a short drizzle of water. I couldn't help but stand there, shaking in fear at the hulking brute of a Pokémon before us. At some point, I found myself grabbing Bianca's hand and squeezing it for dear life. Bianca didn't mind, because she was too busy being in awe.

"Wow…! What kind of Pokémon is that?"

"A Blastoise," I whispered as I felt my heart clenching in fear, "their water cannons have more force than a fire hose, they can shoot something from more than 100 feet away, their water attacks can pierce right through steel, and they're so heavy that they could crush a person underneath them!" I spoke quickly as I began to use Bianca's hand like a stress ball. I'm surprised I actually remembered any of that, but I guess Blastoise is just one of those Pokémon whose every dangerous detail is, sadly, engraved in my mind.

"Wow…! I didn't get all of that, but wow! Um…I-I don't think you could beat that in a battle, White," Bianca answered truthfully, and I agreed with her. Even if I went the unfair route and sent all of my Pokémon out at once, I wouldn't win. I looked down at my Pokémon, who were looking sort of petrified in the face of the Blastoise. Even Shion, despite trying to put up a brave front, shook from intimidation of its power. I'd have a better chance of beating the Blastoise's trainer with my own hands, but I wouldn't resort to such a thing…yet.

"Do you understand the difference between us now?" White Green asked. When I didn't give a reply, she smirked and returned her Blastoise to its ball. But the heart-clenching feeling didn't stop there. She then pulled out another Poké Ball, which I presumed was Tiny's.

I couldn't even bring myself to glare at her. I looked down at Tiny sadly and started to brush the dirt off of his fur. He looked up at me curiously and started to pat my chest. "Mommy?" Having him call me that made me feel even worse.

"I'm really sorry…though if you understood, I'm sure you wouldn't forgive me. I wouldn't." At that moment, the Pichu's expression became a sad one. "I mean, I'm not the only one to be angry at here," I glanced at White Oak and mentally cursed her for being so stubborn and…unlikeable.

"W-wait a minute!" Bianca exclaimed. "That's White's Pokémon! M-my White, not you… And she really loves and cherishes it! I mean, she went crazy trying to find him! So what if she made a mistake? She's only human! And you can't really be such a bad person that you would separate a trainer and Pokémon who care for each other so much!"

White Green frowned. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! How am I the bad guy? She's the idiot who let her Pokémon wander about without being captured and then whined, saying she's his trainer!" She pointed a finger at me. "She's the bad person here, blondie, not me!"

"C'mon! Pretty please with sugar and sprinkles…?" Bianca begged. I was surprised she was actually resorting to this. And for my sake. I felt moved and ashamed at the same time for letting my friend fight my battles for me.

"What do you want from me? I'll do…anything…if you just give Tiny back to me." I regretted saying that. Who knows what this girl would think up?

The brunette girl bent over and picked up a Poké Ball. Oh, wait. That was the Poké Ball the sleeping Snivy was inside of. "I want this." I answered simple. "I want the Snivy."

I blinked. "That's it?"

"Hey, be grateful I'm such a generous person! I could've asked for all your money or something in exchange, but all I want is a trade. Trade me your Snivy for what is technically my Pichu."

"Deal," I answered quickly.

"What?!" Panacea exclaimed in shock. "B-but, Miss White! What about—?"

"It's okay. There are plenty of Grass type Pokémon out there anyway. Besides, I'm not sure I'd be able to get along with a Pokémon that stole my lunch."

White Green smiled. She actually looked somewhat pleasant when she wasn't smirking, but at this point, I'd pretty much decided that the girl wasn't pleasant. "Great! Now, let's go to the Pokémon Center in Nacrene City. That's—"

"Yeah, we know where that is, you little…" I trailed off and began muttering things to myself as we followed behind her.

X-X-X

It seems that in one of the many upstairs rooms of Pokémon Centers, there was a room with several machines. Each one had two empty sphere-shaped slots and two screens, the biggest and widest one already on and showing a swirling Poké Ball symbol onscreen. White Green stood before the machine and put her hands on her hips. "This is a trading machine. Trainers use these to make local trades with people face-to-face." I really hated the tone she used to explain that: the sort of tone people take with children when they want to make something sound simple while also making the child feel like an idiot.

Bianca immediately spoke up, "But why do you need a machine to do this? Can't you just give each other your Poké Balls?"

The brunette girl looked at Bianca like she was an idiot. "Because it's still technically your Pokémon, meaning if you exchange it, you'd only be able to have five Pokémon instead of six. You wouldn't be able to release it or store it in your PC, heck, you'd probably get in trouble with the authorities because its Poké Ball doesn't have your Trainer ID, which a trading machine takes care of by altering it. You do know what your ID is, right?"

Bianca pouted. "Yes…"

"Also, this thing will make sure you actually give me Snivy and not trick me by giving me some other Pokémon." I said nothing and only frowned in response. "Now, let's begin." She held out her Poké Ball and pointed it at Tiny.

"Do me a favor and stay inside, okay?" I whispered into the Pichu's ear before he disappeared in a flash of light, back into the ball. Surprisingly, he didn't burst out immediately.

The other White placed the Poké Ball into one of the sphere-shaped slots and the upper screen activated, showing an image of a Pichu on one side with information like Tiny's species, his type, her ID number and her name which, oddly enough, was different. Instead of White Green, it read White Oak. I stared at in confusion for a few seconds before she snapped, "Don't stare! You better not be memorizing my ID to do something shady, you weirdo!"

"I wouldn't even know what to do with it!" I snapped back.

"Hmph. I'm sure you don't, you noob." She went from accusing me of being capable of a possibly criminal act to being incapable of it. I swear, this girl…! Who the heck decided she was worth giving a Pokédex to?! She pressed something on the second screen of the trade machine, and then looked at me. "Well? Get over here and put in that Snivy!"

I reached into my bag, inside of a different pocket that didn't hold the rest of my Pokémon, and pulled out the Snivy's Poké Ball. I walked over to the trade machine and inserted the ball into the slot. I looked up at the screen and saw it showing an exact image of the Snivy, right down to its odd color. I looked down at the smaller screen and saw a prompt pop up, asking if it was the Pokémon I wanted to trade. I pressed the command marked 'yes' and both balls suddenly dropped down into the slots, disappearing into the machine. The screen showed an image of two Poké Balls trading places and the pictures of Tiny and the Snivy crossing over one another, and in seconds, a Poké Ball rose up in the slot on my side.

As soon as that happened, Tiny burst out of the ball and landed on the floor. "Mommy!" He exclaimed as he scampered up to me. He started jumping in place energetically, as if he'd been sitting in that ball for hours instead of a minute or so.

"Hey, there," I greeted as I crouched down to pet him on the head. He cooed and started nuzzling against my hand. "Welcome back. I promise we'll never have to go through this again…"

"You better not. Unless you shape up as a trainer, you're gonna wind up getting your Pokémon taken from you for their own good," White Green—or White Oak, I wasn't sure anymore—commented as she walked by me. I glared up at her, but then I saw her smirking face. "Ciao, losers!" She then left.

"I hope the first thing that Snivy does when it wakes up is smack her with a Vine Whip," I muttered darkly. My expression made Tiny make a small squeak of fear.

Bianca frowned. "What a rude girl… Even Cheren's not that mean when he lectures us! How could a person like that be recommended to get a Pokédex?"

I sighed and stood up, placing Tiny inside of his rightful place inside of my bag. "Must've been a favor. Or a bribe. Or a Pokémon Professor with bad judgment of character. Either way, I hope I never have to meet White Oak again."

The blonde girl wore a look of confusion. "Huh? Oak?"

"Never mind…"

Bianca shrugged. "Hey, since our walk through the forest was interrupted, why don't we go to the museum in town? …What's with that look?"

I blinked. I didn't realize that I was staring at her like she'd grown wings or something. "Um… I never thought you'd be willing to recommend a museum of all things as something fun."

"Well, normally I wouldn't want to…but I wanna help Professor Juniper with her research in exchange for giving me my Pokédex, so I thought: 'Maybe I can learn something about Pokémon from the museum!' I mean, she's supposed to study about where Pokémon came from, and historical stuff like the things found in museums pretty much tell you something about that…right?"

A smile found its way onto my face. "That's…true. And it's nice that you wanna help the professor out."

"Does this mean you'll come with me?!" Bianca suddenly exclaimed. "B-because…I'm worried there'll be things I won't really understand, or I'll do something embarrassing like fall asleep on some expensive thing…"

"Sure… But first thing first: I'm going to buy Tiny a new Poké Ball all his own, and then I'm gonna release him and catch him again."

"…That doesn't make any sense. He's already got a ball."

"Yes, but it's White Oak's ball with White Oak listed as his original owner, and I don't want to happen to glance at that information again be reminded of White Oak…" I grumbled as I walked out of the room with my friend in tow.

X-XX

Notes!

Eve is an English name that originated from the Hebrew name Eva and means "to live" or "to breathe", and rather than the obvious reference to the Biblical Eve, it is a reference to Mitochondrial Eve, the woman from whom modern humans descended from on their mother's side.

Snivy learns Sweet Scent via breeding.

No trainers of the Bug Catcher class appear in the Unova games.

White Green/Oak is physically the female player character of Pokémon FRLG usually named "Leaf" by fans, who shares similarities with an unused female player character from the original Red and Green games. In some artwork and images, the girl's Pokémon is a Squirtle, and her counterpart in the Pokémon Adventures manga also owned a Squirtle that eventually became a Blastoise. White Oak is a kind of tree.

In the games, traded Pokémon always have their original trainer listed in their summary, so it would make sense that releasing and catching a Pokémon in a different ball would erase that information.

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