Leaftrail Road stretched out ahead of Riley and Rudy. A grassy countryside path, trees lined one side of the route, growing denser further away as they lead into the Chillhaze forest. Riley had come here for walks with her mothers before and enjoyed climbing the trees close by, but she had always been warned against going deep into the forest, as the wild Pokémon were strong. How strong though? She figured she'd stay away for now, since while Rudy had a little battle practice under his belt he still hadn't been able to beat any of Coco's or Nick's pokémon, and they were the best reference for strong pokémon she had for now. Riley walked in the shade, pulling out the map she'd stuffed in her jeans' pocket as Rudy trotted alongside her. She already knew this path lead to Diony town, but she just felt like if you're travelling you just should have your map out. Or was that just a movie thing? Either way, it didn't hurt to check.

Chirping in the trees above drew her attention, and she looked up to see a pair of taillow sat on a branch singing. Their dark blue feathers caught the sun, shining as the light reflected off them. Riley marvelled for a moment before taking out her phone and snapping a picture. The shutter noise it made was loud enough for them to hear and they stopped mid-song to look down curiously.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you!" Riley called up. Rudy stopped by her side and let down a small woof. Riley looked down at him and had an idea. "Oh! Do you want to battle?"

One of the taillow cocked its head and chirped, seemingly addressing Rudy. He replied in another little gruff noise and looked up at Riley.

"Oh, you're okay to battle, right? I guess I should've double-checked first," Riley said sheepishly. The puppy just wagged his tail in response, standing ready to fight. The taillow that seemed interested hopped to another branch before taking off, its companion watching. The bird didn't waste any time on getting started, gathering speed before turning to dive at Rudy.

"Uh! Rudy, bite!"

Rudy stood his ground, and when his opponent got within range, he leapt at them with fangs bared. The taillow was fast though, and swerved to avoid him, but as a result missed its own attack and pulled up into the sky again.

"Ember! Before it gets too high!"

Rudy landed and turned to see where the taillow had gone, spurting a burst of flames after it when he spotted it. It turned just a moment too late, the fire catching its tail and left wing. It squawked indignantly, flapping to rid itself of the embers that clung, and flew to a branch, growling at the dog.

"Ember again!"

Rudy opened his mouth to unleash more flames, but was soon interrupted.

"Wait-wait-wait we're on the edge of a forest that might be a bad idea let's not shoot fire at the trees," Riley rushed out as soon as she realised. Rudy glanced back at her, waiting to hear what to do next. The taillow saw the opportunity and dived at him again.

"Look out!"

Rudy reacted a moment too late, turning in time to see the bird swoop in and peck fiercely at him before flapping up high again.

"Sorry, Rudy!" Riley said, stepping forwards slightly. She'd made the wrong call and realised too late, and he'd taken a hit as a result. She had a lot to learn about this, clearly. The bird had turned and was about to turn and attack again.

"Okay," Riley said, gathering her thoughts. Trying to get in close didn't work against something so fast with the advantage of flight, so that limited their options. "Ember!"

Another jet of flames flew towards the bird, this time catching it fully, and it averted its course, just about managing to land without crashing through the fire.

"Now! Bite!"

Rudy leapt at it before it could recuperate, biting fiercely. The Taillow squawked in pain, and laid limply, panting.

"Did we win?"

Rudy stepped back and barked in affirmative, turning back to run towards his trainer.

"Awesome!" Riley bent down to pet him. "That was great, Rudy!"

The taillow stood up and ruffled its feathers, preening them back into place.

"Thanks, taillow! You were great," Riley said, kneeling down and taking off her backpack to rummage. She pulled out a container, opened it and took out a few oran berries, putting them down by the bird. It eyed them and looked up at her cautiously for a moment before hopping over to eat them. Riley passed one to Rudy as well, who ate it gladly, then started washing himself to get his fur back into place.

Riley took her phone out and sent the picture of the taillow she took to Coco, attaching a quick message – just won our first battle against one of these guys! She was relieved their first battle had gone well, and it gave her a confidence boost. She took to the path with renewed vigour, smiling.

"Let's go, Rudy!" He barked happily and followed, turning back and thanking the taillow as they left.

As they proceeded, they challenged a few more wild pokémon to battles, thanking them all with berries afterwards. By the time they reached Diony town, Riley had already given away most of the ones she'd packed. When they arrived at the gate with its welcome sign, Riley took a selfie next to it to send home, pulling a silly face at the camera. She'd already made it to the next town!

…Well, perhaps already wasn't quite right. It was late in the afternoon by the time they got there, since they'd spent so long challenging wild Pokémon to battles. They headed to the town's Poké Centre, wondering what to do next.

"Welcome to the Poké Centre," said the nurse as they approached the counter. "Can I help you?"

"Umm… Can you just do a check-up on my growlithe? We did a bunch of battles so I just want to make sure he's all good," Riley said, bending to pick Rudy up gently and place him on the counter.

"A growlithe! That's a rare sight over here, but no problem!" The nurse turned to the computer and quickly typed something in before turning back and looking at the Pokémon on the counter. "If you could just-"

She stopped, doing a double take at the puppy. "Goodness! Not just a growlithe, but a shiny one at that!"

"Shiny?" Riley parroted, tilting her head.

"You didn't know? Well, I suppose I can't blame you, there aren't many to compare around here," the nurse said, typing at the computer again and turning the screen displaying images of growlithe while she explained. "Usually growlithe are a darker orange, but yours is a much paler colour, closer to yellow. Occasionally people find pokémon with these unusual colours. We're not quite sure what causes it, but all research on the subject shows they're just as healthy as their counterparts. Some people are quite enthralled by them due to their rarity."

"Oh, wow! I didn't realise you were so special, Rudy," Riley said, a whole new tone of marvel in her voice. A lot of what the nurse said was familiar, and she realised she remembered the details from the book on pokémon variants that her mothers had given her. Suddenly it made sense that Rose and Coco had seemed so impressed when he first came out of his poké ball – they must have realised. Why didn't they say anything? She'd ask later. Rudy seemed unperturbed by the news, but he wagged his tail proudly. Riley just pet his head.

"Well, as I had been saying before I got distracted, if you just wait over there, one of the staff will come out in a moment and call for you," the nurse said cheerfully. "There's a water machine and bowls of various sizes for pokémon to drink from too."

Riley went to take a seat after getting a bowl of water for Rudy to drink from and pulled her phone out. She sent a quick message to Jack to ask if he'd known – but he must have, right? There were lots of growlithe in Kanto so he couldn't have not noticed, he must've seen plenty of them before. She mulled it over for a while before a different nurse came over. He seemed similarly excited to the receptionist to see a shiny.

"You'd best be careful, too," he warned. "Since they're rare, they're very sought-after. Take care not to lose him, because someone else might try to make off with him if you do."

They confirmed Rudy was in perfect health and made their way out, asking for directions to a trainer inn on the way. Riley was still puzzled. As they walked, she called home, getting an answer after only a few rings.

"Heya," came the answer, Coco's familiar voice.

"Mum! We made it to Diony town!"

"Good job! I saw the photo you sent. It was pretty good, you should take more."

"Thanks! But Mum, we were just at the Poké Centre and they said Rudy was a shiny pokémon."

"Found out already, eh?"

Riley let out an irritated huff. "Mum! Where you planning on telling me if I didn't realise?"

"Sure, I just wanted to see when you would realise."

Typical. Coco was so like that. "They just said at the Poké Centre that I should be extra careful in case anyone wants to take him! What if something like that happened because I hadn't known!?"

"Oh. …Oh. …I didn't think about that," Coco said, sounding guilty. "That's… a really good point. Sorry, sweetheart."

"Mmmm." Riley scowled, despite the lack of visuals. "Well it's good I found out sooner rather than later but don't keep important things like that quiet! I know you just love leaving me to figure things out for myself and all but if it's something like this, I'd really rather know as soon as I can!"

"Yeah… I… I'm real sorry," Coco apologised quietly, then paused as Rose's voice could be heard in the background. "I'll do something to make it up to you? Promise?"

Riley grumbled, but tried to let it go. "Okay. But next time something like this comes up think about it a little harder!"

"I will. Sorry, love. Do you wanna speak to Rose?"

"Sure."

"Okay. Sorry. Love you."

Riley pouted slightly. Why can't she just tell me things?!

"Hi, sweetie."

"Hey, Mum."

"So what was that about?"

"Rudy could've been in danger and I didn't even know! You didn't tell me he was a rare shiny that people might want to steal or anything!"

"Ahh, I see," Rose said, sounding sombre. "Well… I was sure you wouldn't get too far without someone noticing."

"And what if they noticed and instead of told me decided to just take him?"

"…We would have got him back. But you're right, we should've told you. There was no real reason not to, but…"

"But Coco's too busy watching to see what I do, like I'm some kind of…"

"Riley," Rose said quickly, before she could finish that sentence. "Listen. She's sorry. And I mean really sorry. She realises she shouldn't've done that."

"But she still did!"

"And you still have Rudy safe with you, and you know now. I saw her on the phone with you, I watched her face go pale when she realised she'd messed up. She's not going to just brush this off as a one-off accident."

"But…"

"It's okay to be angry. But don't cling to it, okay?"

"Mmmm."

"Did you catch any other pokémon yet?"

"No, not today."

"That might be a good idea. If you have more pokémon then they can help you take care of Rudy, too."

"Yeah… Tomorrow we can go look and see if we find any who want to tag along."

"So what are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?"

"I dunno… I should get some more berries. I gave away most of the ones I had."

"Haha, you're too sweet. Well, Diony town is the perfect place to get some, stop by the farmer's market."

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, Mum."

"No problem. We love you, dear."

"Love you too."

"Take care."

"Mmm. Bye."

Riley wasn't really satisfied with how the conversation went, but at least it seemed Coco was taking it seriously. That was something, at least.

Perry followed Coco as she went to the sofa in the sitting room and flopped down on it, head in her hands.

"Damn it," she said, almost growling at herself in annoyance. "Uuugh, I really messed up…"

Perry jumped up on the back of the sofa to nuzzle at her trainer's face comfortingly. Coco let her head hang back and crossed her arms, thinking.

Once she'd put down the phone, Rose came and sat next to her, pulling her head to her chest and gently stroking her hair. Coco let out a long sigh and leaned against her while Perry climbed down onto Coco's lap, and Snipe hopped up next to them as well.

"It'll be alright," Rose murmured. "Just give her a while."

"Mmm…"

Rose rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. I just got off the phone with someone sulking and mumbling at me, you know. She said nothing, brushing Coco's hair out of her face. They sat there for a while, Rose simply comforting her wife, before she broke the silence.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Huh?"

"You promised you'd make it up to her. What ideas have you got?"

"Right… I'd better think of something."