Chapter One

The Goldenrod Pokémon Center was abuzz with activity as a multitude of trainers waited to sign up for the World Championship Tournament. As Ethan looked around, he spotted a few of the members of the biker gang among the crowd, as well as Whitney at the front of the line. He'd seen enough televised gym battles to know that she was a force to be reckoned with, and would no doubt give anyone she ran into a great deal of trouble. Time passed, and soon it was his turn to sign up.

"Well, well, well, I had a feeling I'd be seeing you two today," the nurse said as Ethan stepped up to the counter and slid his trainer card over to her.

"Of course I'm here. It's a tournament after all and you know I can't resist things like this," Ethan replied smirking.

"I'd be disappointed if you weren't here," she snickered, her eyes lifting to see Cyndaquil smiling down at her. "Hey there Cyndaquil!"

Cyndaquil waved to the nurse, from Ethan's shoulder, and gave a happy squeak in greeting. The nurse giggled, and waved back at the little fire shrew before taking Ethan's card to scan it with the new poké gear. After a few moments, the gear beeped, and all of Ethan's information was loaded onto it, completing his registration.

"There you go Ethan, you're all set. Good luck out there, and have fun!"

"Thanks, I definitely will," said Ethan as he took the new gear from the nurse.

Removing his old gear, Ethan strapped the new device to his wrist and put the old one in his backpack. As he walked past the line of trainers, a towering figure of a woman walked inside right as he reached the door, nearly bumping into him in passing.

"Sorry 'bout that," Ethan apologized.

"Don't worry about it, kid," the woman said politely back.

"I'm not a—oh…"

Silver clashed with gold as Ethan's eyes met with the familiar smirking face of a tall, lavender-haired woman. He'd nearly forgotten how dwarfed he was compared to her, and now that he saw how much taller she was than the majority of the trainers in line, he felt even smaller.

"It's about time I got to see the rest of your face. Now that I have, I can see that I wasn't too far off the mark when I mistook you for a kid," the woman chuckled.

"I'm glad you find this amusing," Ethan murmured.

"What? It's not a bad thing to look younger than you are. Most people would kill to look younger," she replied, her eyes darting down to the Cyndaquil on his shoulder. "Hey there cutie," she said as she reached out to the little fire-type.

Cyndaquil leaned forward, hesitantly at first, and sniffed the offered hand. Deciding that it was safe, he nudged his head gently into her open palm and allowed the woman to pet him gently. Ethan rolled his eyes as his partner began squeaking approvingly. He'd always been a sucker for attention, and it seemed that this woman was hitting all his weak spots, even tickling under his chin, an affectionate touch that made his back flare up slightly out of excitement.

"Quite the ball of energy, aren't you little guy?" cooed the woman after retracting her hand.

"He's always been like this, ever since he hatched he's had a tendency to gravitate toward any pretty girl who would give him attention," Ethan explained, giving his partner a knowing look.

"So he thinks I'm pretty huh? That's cute," the woman replied with a giggle. "Anyway, I'd love to continue this chat, but my crew is rather anxious for me to join them. It was nice talking with you. I'll see ya later, pool boy," she said with a wink.

"Same to you, I guess… but it's not 'pool boy,' it's Ethan," he said, doing his best to ignore the heat rising to his face.

"Well then, Ethan, you can call me Sasha. Hopefully we'll see each other again soon. I'm curious to know just what kind of trainer you are," she replied as she walked past him toward her crew.

"The kind that's going to make it to the top," Ethan said with a confident smirk, his remark giving Sasha pause.

"Bold… I like that," Sasha said with a grin. "See you around pool boy," she said with a sly grin.

Knowing she was teasing him, Ethan decided not to bother correcting her. Instead, he gave her a wave and slipped out the door, Cyndaquil waving to Sasha on the way out. As the two exited the center, Ethan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Of all the people I could've run into," Ethan mumbled under his breath. "Well, we did it. We're all signed up. Now we just need to stock up on supplies and decide where we're going to start looking for more Pokémon to add to our team," Ethan said to Cyndaquil as he began making his way toward the Goldenrod Department Store.

After crossing over several busy streets, Ethan found himself inside the biggest shopping mall the region had to offer. Ethan rarely visited due to how expensive most of the stores were. Looking down at his gear, Ethan pulled up his bank account to see how much he had remaining after paying in advance for his rent.

"Okay, so it looks like I can grab a few basic items for now. First up, poké balls," Ethan decided, turning in the direction of the nearest shop that sold them.

He passed several clothing and item shops before reaching the shop he wanted. After making his purchase, he loaded his jacket pocket with them and moved on to the next few stores. Within half an hour he was out of the crowded mall and onto the still busy streets of Goldenrod.

"Okay… now that I'm all stocked up on my supplies, let's take a look at this new gear."

Ethan turned on his gear and watched as a hologram screen was projected out in front of him. On the screen he could see all of his information from his name to his age and identification number. His rank was displayed in the form of a small bronze pokéball. Underneath the symbol were two boxes, one for his win count and the other for losses. Beneath that it displayed how many points he needed to accumulate until he reached the next rank.

"One hundred points until I rank up huh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised it's that low considering I'm at the bottom right now. I wonder how many points it is per win…"

Ethan scrolled down on the screen and found his answer.

"So it's ten points per victory, with the reduction in points being the same per loss. It looks like we can't go into negatives so that's good," Ethan mumbled as he continued looking over the information provided. "Sweet, it even displays my current roster. Maybe it can let me view other teams as well? Nah, nothing's that convenient. What about when other entrants are in the area?"

At this remark, a notification appeared in front of him showing a map of registered entrants in the tournament that were nearby. Upon closer inspection, Ethan could see that a few were already involved in battle not too far from the store. Curiosity getting the better of him, Ethan decided he would investigate. The sounds of battle drew his attention to a crowd that had gathered on the outskirts of the city on Route 35.

On one side, there was a young man dressed in blue jean overalls. He had light brown hair and wore a green cap on his head. He had large green gloves over his hands. His focus was on his downed Pidgeotto, which had traces of ice on its wings. The battle had ended almost as quickly as it had begun, which meant that Ethan didn't really get to see any of the action. What he did see, however, was Sasha standing on the other side of the battle zone, placing one of her teammates back onto her belt. Murmurs shot through the crowd as the trainer recalled his teammate.

Damn, from the way they were talking it sounds like it was a one-sided beating, Ethan thought, his eyes shifting from the brunette male to Sasha who was now walking up to her opponent and extending her hand.

The flying-type trainer seemed hesitant at first, mostly due to the height difference between them, but he reciprocated the handshake. Ethan couldn't exactly hear the whole conversation, but from what he could see, Sasha's opponent was taking his loss a little better than he had a few moments ago. The two parted ways and Sasha made her way back to her comrades who were waiting on their motorcycles. As she sat on her bike, she turned her head and—having spotted him among the crowd, waved to Ethan before putting her helmet on and revving up her engine and zooming down the route, her crew not far behind.

A faint beeping sound drew Ethan's attention to his gear. Pulling up the screen to see what the noise was about, he took note that his device had gathered data on the trainers that had already finished their battles. Since every new trainer starting out was in bronze, the screen for that rank showed the names and faces of trainers who had just battled along with the points they acquired. Several trainers had acquired their first victory, with Sasha having two wins under her belt, putting her at the front of the pack.

"She didn't waste any time did she?" Ethan mused while looking over the list of trainers that already battled. "I guess we'd better get started if we don't want to be left behind. What do you say we go out and find ourselves a new partner?"

Cyndaquil nodded in agreement and gave a happy squeak to show his excitement. Having made up his mind, Ethan turned in the opposite direction of where Sasha had gone, and made his way out of the south gate of the city, continuing on until he reached the entrance to the forest. The Ilex Forest was incredibly dense, with the trees being in such close proximity to one another, creating a darkness that the sun's rays could not fully penetrate. Bug-types crept along the ground—hiding in the thickness of the forest grass—so as not to be noticed by Ethan. The sharp eyes of several Pidgey, watched the ground for any signs of prey while also remaining cautious of the human that had entered their home.

Knowing how quiet the forest was, Ethan took it all in and smiled, happy to have escaped the hustle and bustle of the city for the time being. It was peaceful in the forest, and Ethan would be able to find what he was looking for without much to distract him.

Since I'm not taking the gym challenge this time around, I won't be needing to catch anything based on the leader I'll be facing. The only question is, what exactly do I want to catch? Thought Ethan as he looked around, his eyes darting from tree to tree in hopes of spotting movement.

Seeing his trainer begin his search, Cyndaquil began sniffing the air and looking around as well. Soon, his attention was drawn upward to a blue-green, pinecone-shaped object that was hanging from a tree branch that was just above them. With a light squeak, Cyndaquil got Ethan's attention and directed his focus upward. Ethan lifted his gaze to the branches above and zeroed in on the object that hung from it. Upon closer inspection, Ethan knew instantly what it was.

"That's a Pineco!" Ethan said quietly to himself. "Good work bud," he praised, reaching over to pat Cyndaquil on his head.

The fire shrew nuzzled into Ethan's hand and then hopped off his shoulder onto the ground. Ethan looked back up at the Pineco and furrowed his brow. Being in a forest posed a bit of a problem as the slightest spark of flame could set everything ablaze. After a few moments, a new idea came to him, making him chuckle.

"Okay Cyndaquil, I'm gonna need you to hit that tree as hard as you can. Pinecos don't like to be disturbed while eating or sleeping so we'll need to be careful as these things like to explode once they land," Ethan said while walking a considerable distance away from the tree. "When it drops, get out of there fast so you don't get hurt, alright?"

Cyndaquil nodded and readied himself as he faced the targeted tree. Ethan gave the command low enough so that only Cyndaquil could hear. Squaring up, Cyndaquil took off sprinting, his head lowered as he rushed the tree and powered into it with all his might. The impact shook the tree, and as Ethan hoped, the Pineco he'd seen was sent hurtling toward the ground, a bright glow surrounding its body as it neared, warning anything below that it was about to blow up. Upon impact, an ear-shattering blast sounded off and shook the ground, scattering any inhabitants within the vicinity to safer distances.

Fortunately, Cyndaquil managed to get back in time before Pineco exploded, and was now looking into the smoke along with his trainer, to see what had become of it. As the dust cleared, Pineco could be seen on its side, unable to right itself after having used up its energy. Before it could really process what had happened, a small red and white sphere bounced off of its body. A red beam of light shot from within and absorbed it into the ball. A few twitches later, the ball went still, giving Ethan his first capture. Picking up the ball, Ethan secured to his belt and breathed a relieved sigh.

"Great work Cyndaquil, we did it!" Ethan exclaimed, kneeling down to lift his friend onto his shoulder. "We should probably head toward Azalea Town and take care of it. It's probably not too happy that it got woken up like that, but it's not like there was much of a choice."

With that thought in mind, Ethan and Cyndaquil continued on through the forest, enjoying the tranquility it offered while they traveled. Before long, the two emerged from the dense forest, into the small town on the other side. Azalea town was rather isolated from the rest of the region as it was on the southern peninsula of Johto. Lush vegetation surrounded the town, and many Slowpoke freely roamed around without a care. Several signs were posted throughout the town, alerting travelers to be aware of where they step as Slowpoke were very important to the people of Azalea Town.

Minding where he stepped, Ethan made his way to the Pokémon Center and stepped through the automatic doors.

"Welcome to our Pokémon Center! How may I be of assistance to you today?" the friendly nurse asked upon seeing Ethan.

"I'd like to rest my team up a bit," Ethan said, motioning for Cyndaquil to climb down.

Cyndaquil shimmied off his shoulder and sat on the counter in front of the nurse who gave him an affectionate pat on his head. Ethan reached down to his belt and removed his recent capture—Pineco, which he placed next to Cyndaquil. The nurse motioned for the Chansey assistant to bring the cart over to her. Cyndaquil jumped onto the cart and the nurse placed Pineco's ball onto it with him to be rolled away.

"Alright then, may I have your name and gear number please?" asked the nurse.

"Sure, no problem," Ethan replied, activating his gear to pull up the data screen with his information on it for the nurse to read.

"Thank you Ethan, your Pokémon will be ready in about fifteen minutes. You can have a seat and wait if you'd like, or we can call you on your gear when they are ready."

Ethan nodded and decided he'd take a seat and wait for his team to be healed. Fifteen minutes passed, and Ethan's team had finally been restored and were being wheeled out to him.

"There you go Ethan, your team is all rested up and ready for action," the nurse said with a bright smile.

"Thanks a lot, I appreciate it," said Ethan, smiling in return.

Cyndaquil excitedly leaped onto Ethan's shoulder and situated himself comfortably in his favorite spot. Waving to the nurse, Ethan turned to exit the center. As he stepped outside, he was greeted by the sight and sound of a young girl running after an older man at full sprint.

"Grandpa Kurt, where are you going!?"