Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

Twenty-four hours ago, Bryce was apprehensive about his impending but technically-not-guaranteed Pokemon journey. He wasn't sure if he wanted a Pokemon at all. He wasn't really ready to leave his home, and with it the life he had led up to that point.

But now, he was far more confident. Something about it all becoming officially reality was calming to him, in a way. He figured it was just his brain playing tricks on him to make him feel better, but he appreciated it all the same. He wasn't nearly as nervous anymore, and whereas before he was anxious about everything that could go wrong, now those things weren't even in his mind at all.

He looked at Gloria, who was walking with him as they marched off towards the Petalburg Woods just after sunrise, and wondered if she felt the same way. If his twin sister was nervous at all, she didn't show it. Her hair was in a ponytail again, but this time there was no makeup on her face. The two each wore full-on Trainer outfits, with plenty of Poke Balls and Potions in their bags.

They had agreed to head to the Petalburg Woods early in the morning, as early as was safe, in order to avoid other Trainers; if those old guys in the Poke Mart gave that same advice to everyone they'd probably run into quite a few people there.

They crossed a small bridge over a pond. Bryce looked at the water and saw it was teeming with Wingull and Magikarp. He'd researched both of these; Wingull evolved into Pelipper, which didn't really appeal to him, whereas Magikarp evolved into Gyarados, which was a very strong Pokemon, but Magikarp itself was so weak that he didn't really want to have to go through training it, especially as the first Pokemon he ever caught. He figured he should start with something a little easier.

The path they were walking on thinned briefly as they entered the woods, then opened out into a vast area. The path was still there, and relatively easy to follow, but it branched out into multiple different pathways, which Bryce knew from his research all ultimately led to the same destination, that being Petalburg City itself. Between the pathways were trees and tall grass that was undoubtedly crawling with wild Pokemon.

Bryce turned to Gloria. 'Meet you back here at noon?'

'Sure,' she replied.

With that, Bryce headed off, and got to work. Gloria headed off in a different direction.

Once he thought he'd made enough space between him and his twin sister, Bryce let Ralts out from his Poke Ball.

'Okay, Ralts,' he said, 'we're here to train, but I also want to see if we can catch a Pokemon.'

'Yes, I know that much,' replied Ralts. 'Do you have a specific Pokemon in mind?'

'Well,' said Bryce, 'for now I want to think about the first couple of Gyms we'll face. The first Gym we'll take on is Roxanne, who uses Rock-types. You're a neutral matchup against Rock, but from what I've seen she's pretty tough, so I'd like to get a Pokemon that's strong against Rock if possible.'

'Seems logical,' said Ralts. 'As for the next Gym after that?'

'Well, apparently most Trainers go to Dewford next. There's a Fighting-type Gym there,' said Bryce. 'You're Psychic/Fairy, so you're a fantastic matchup against Fighting. I don't really care what my other Pokemon are for that; as long as I have you, I'm good.

'Then there's the Petalburg Gym, but apparently the Gym Leader there only lets you challenge him if you have at least four Gym Badges already, so we'll worry about him later. He's Normal-type, though. The other nearby Gyms are the one in Mauville, which is Electric-type, and the one in Lavaridge, which is Fire-type. But for now let's just focus on Rustboro and Dewford, yeah?'

'Sounds like a plan,' said Ralts. 'So, we want a Pokemon that's good against Rock-types?'

'Exactly,' said Bryce. 'Which means we want Grass, Water, Fighting, Steel, or Ground. And I think I know just the Pokemon for the job.'

'Oh yeah?' inquired Ralts. 'And what is that?'

'Shroomish,' replied Bryce. 'It's Grass-type, and it evolves into Breloom, which is Grass/Fighting. It's the best matchup against Rock that we'll find here. Let's battle any other Pokemon we may encounter so that you get stronger as well.'

'Alright. Let's do this,' said Ralts.

And with that, Bryce recalled Ralts, and they got to it. After less than five minutes…

'There it is! A Shroomish!' said Bryce, in a hushed but excited tone. He crept forward, trying to be as quiet as possible; the first thing he wanted it to know of him was Ralts in its face attacking it. He pulled out his Pokedex and tried to scan it.

'Shroomish, the Mushroom Pokémon. Shroomish is mild-tempered and inhabits piles of rotting leaves inside of forests.'

But the Shroomish had heard the robot-like voice, too; startled at something so unexpected, it scampered off. Bryce mentally cursed himself. He remembered what Brendan had showed him, finding the switch to mute the Pokedex's voice. He consoled himself with the thought that if it only took him a few minutes to find a Shroomish, it couldn't be that hard to find another, right?

He next encountered a Wurmple. Far more aggressive than the Shroomish, it actually jumped out at him from the grass. After a brief moment of panic, Bryce remembered what he was supposed to be doing, and sent out Ralts. He then took the opportunity to scan Wurmple in the Pokedex. Instead of the voice announcing something about Wurmple, what it would presumably have said showed up instead as text on the screen.

Wurmple, the Worm Pokémon. Wurmple live primarily off of sap from trees. The suction cups on its feet keep it from slipping.

Bryce thought this was interesting, but he also didn't want a Wurple on his team, considering it wouldn't be very strong against Roxanne's Rock-types. So instead, he had Ralts battle it.

'Ralts, use Confusion!' Ralts charged up, then released a psychic wave powerful enough to be visible at the Wurmple. But the Wurmple was quick, and it dodged the attack.

Bryce wasn't sure how a psychic attack could possibly miss, but the Wurmple charged towards Ralts in a Tackle attack. Bryce's command of 'Dodge it, Ralts!' wasn't enough, and the Tackle attack hit its mark, the Wurmple crashing into Ralts. Ralts got up, seemingly okay.

Bryce remembered something he'd seen in his incessant research the previous night, and said, 'Ralts, use Disarming Voice!'

Ralts let out a cry that was presumably damaging to Pokemon that heard it. Wurmple visibly flinched; it had obviously taken damage, and there was no dodging this attack. Wurmple went for another Tackle attack, but Bryce and Ralts were quicker this time, and Ralts was able to dodge the attack. Bryce decided to try Confusion again, and this time it hit its mark, seemingly dealing somewhat more damage than Disarming Voice had. The Wurmple responded by spitting silk out if its mouth, seemingly more than it could possibly hold in its body, at Ralts. The attack did no damage, but it anchored Ralts to the spot where it stood; it could still move, but not nearly as quickly as before.

The Wurmple followed up on this attack before Ralts could launch another Confusion. It launched a purple dart from its mouth at Ralts, who was too sluggish to dodge it. Ralts immediately coughed, and looked sick.

Poison Sting, Bryce remembered. It has a chance to poison its target. Luckily, this is why I packed Antidotes…

But as Ralts launched its Confusion attack, Bryce noticed that the Wurmple also seemed like it had been poisoned. He remembered that Ralts's ability was Synchronize, meaning that it passed on status conditions to its opponent.

The Confusion attack, combined with the poison, was too much for Wurmple, and it collapsed, having fainted. Bryce felt an immeasurable amount of pride; he had won his first ever battle! Sure, it was against a Wurmple, but damn, that thing was tough. He gave Ralts an Antidote and a Potion and, after some thought, gave the Wurmple an Antidote as well, even if he didn't plan on catching it, figuring he should show some decency.

A few minutes later, he encountered a Zigzagoon. He didn't plan on catching this one either; it was Normal-type, meaning it would be at a disadvantage against both the Rock- and Fighting-type gyms. It proved to be a challenge as well, its speed in particular causing some problems for Bryce and Ralts, but trainer and Pokemon prevailed in the end.

Unfortunately, finding another Shroomish was proving more difficult than Bryce had anticipated. He had read that it was about as common as Silcoon and Cascoon, which he found plenty of (they were easy pickings, since all they did was use Harden) and more common than Slakoth, which he encountered a couple of times (it was also quite easy to defeat, since it was one of the slowest Pokemon Bryce had ever seen), but trying to find it felt like trying to find Arceus itself in these woods. Was it rarer in the morning? He had no idea, but he wasn't having any luck.

Before Bryce knew it, it was 11:40 am. He was supposed to meet Gloria back at the entrance to the woods at noon, and he didn't have any new Pokemon. He really didn't want to have to admit to Gloria that he hadn't found anything worthy of adding to his team, because for all he knew she might have caught all kinds of Pokemon by now. He was going to be really sore if she showed up brandishing a Shroomish at him.

If there was any consolation, it was that Ralts had noticeably improved since they had first entered here. He was quicker in launching attacks, his attacks were more powerful, and whereas he would miss the occasional Confusion initially, he was far more accurate with the attack now. He seemed to trust Bryce more, too.

As Bryce mused about this, he saw a glimpse of something blue in the grass. Not dark blue, like a Taillow, but light blue. Out of sheer curiosity, he went to investigate.

The Pokemon hopped out of the grass. It was small and dinosaur-like; its belly was cream, while its back, legs, and head were the light blue color that Bryce had glimpsed. Bryce hadn't seen this Pokemon at all until now. He took out his Pokedex to scan it.

Bagon, the Rock Head Pokémon. It is the pre-evolved form of Shelgon and Salamence. Bagon dreams of being able to fly through the air. When frustrated from not flying, Bagon uses its head to smash rocks into powder.

Bryce was thankful that this was being displayed as text on the screen and not cheerily broadcast for all to hear, and he was intrigued about this Pokemon's dream of flying, but more importantly, what the hell was it doing here? He hadn't seen anything that said you could find a Bagon in the Petalburg Woods, and the list of Pokemon found here that he'd found online didn't have Bagon on it. But then he looked at the text again, specifically the part about it evolving into Salamence, which was Elite Four member Drake's signature Pokemon. Having seen that Salamence in action on TV, he decided he wanted one for himself, and that he shouldn't question this golden opportunity.

Bryce rose up out of the shadows and sent out Ralts, thinking that if Bagon was anywhere near as aggressive as Salamence, it wouldn't back down from a battle. He was proven correct; it immediately charged Ralts with a Bite attack. Ralts saw this coming from a mile away, however, and dodged the attack with relative ease.

'Ralts, use Confusion!' As soon as he'd said this, Bryce mentally facepalmed as he remembered that Ralts had Disarming Voice, which was a Fairy-type move and therefore super effective against the Dragon-type Bagon, and that he really should have used that instead. Meanwhile, the Confusion attack landed, and did an appreciable amount of damage.

The Bagon responded by launching an Ember attack at Ralts. This caught Bryce off guard, and it hit Ralts. Ralts took damage, but didn't seem to be burned, so all was well and good for now.

'Ralts, use Disarming Voice!' The effect was immediate. Disarming Voice had a much stronger effect on Bagon than it usually had on its target; Bagon was almost out for the count, but not quite. But before it could launch an attack of its own, Bryce had already thrown a Poke Ball at it.

Bryce's first ever Poke Ball throw was on the money, hitting Bagon right on its well-armored head. As it bounced off, it captured Bagon in a matrix of light, and Bagon was pulled into the Poke Ball, which landed on the ground, rocked back and forth a few times as the Bagon struggled in vain, and finally, with a clicking sound, captured it.

Forget that first battle against that Wurmple; this was possibly one of the most exhilarating moments of Bryce's entire life. He'd caught a Pokemon! Not just any Pokemon, but a super-ultra-rare and powerful one! He didn't even mind that it was a neutral matchup against both the Rock- and Fighting-type gyms, this was one for the long-term, baby! He could just see it now, dominating the Pokemon League with his Salamence. Bryce couldn't remember the last time he felt this excited.

Bryce let Bagon out of its Poke Ball; in contrast to its previous attempts to escape, it now stood right where it was and looked up at its new Trainer. Bryce offered it a Potion, and Bagon took it, almost instantly looking much healthier. Bryce scanned it again in his Pokedex, hoping to get some new information now that he'd caught the Pokemon.

Species: Bagon

Gender: Male

Height: 0.6 m / 2'0"

Weight: 42.1 kg / 92.8 lbs

Type: Dragon

Ability: Rock Head – Prevents recoil damage.

Moves:

-Ember

-Leer

-Bite

The only things that had been added were its Ability and moveset, but Bryce hadn't really taken the time to read all of this earlier, so he did now. How was this – he again stopped himself from calling his Pokemon a thing – little guy that heavy? Was it the armor on its head? He had questions, but he figured he wouldn't get the answers anytime soon. It also didn't have a Dragon-type move right now, which was a little disappointing, but Bryce figured it wouldn't have helped too much against Rock-types anyway. All in all, though, he was quite happy with this find; he resigned himself to the reality that he wasn't going to be able to catch a Shroomish like he was planning to, but Bagon may very well prove to be better in the long run.

With that, Bryce recalled his Pokemon and headed back to where he had first entered the Petalburg Woods. Gloria arrived a minute or two after him.

'So,' said Bryce anxiously, 'what did you get?'

'...Nothing,' said Gloria, with obvious disappointment in her voice. 'I think I got some good training in with Buneary, though. How about you?'

'I got one,' said Bryce. 'Here.' He let out Ralts and Bagon. Gloria scanned Bagon in her Pokedex.

'How the hell did you find that?!' asked Gloria. 'I don't recall ever seeing any mention of it being in this area at all.'

'Me either,' said Bryce. 'I just kind of found it.'

'Lucky you,' said Gloria, with a mix of envy and teasing in her voice. 'What do you say we go for lunch?'

'I'm down for that,' replied Bryce. 'I'm starving.'

Hours later, Bryce was sitting among the audience in the Rustboro Gym, watching Gym Leader Roxanne take on a challenger by the name of Hal. He'd be challenging this Gym himself tomorrow, and he wanted to know all he could about Roxanne's Pokemon and battling style. He'd come here with his family before to watch Gym battles, but he was never interested in them before. In quite stark contrast, he was now glued to the action, taking in everything he possibly could, clinging to every tiny bit of information he was able to pick up.

The battle itself wasn't terribly exciting. Hal's Mudkip wiped the floor with Roxanne's Pokemon, to the point where Hal didn't need to use anything else; Bryce wasn't sure if Hal even had any other Pokemon. Once the battle was over, Roxanne presented Hal with the Stone Badge. Bryce was determined to be where Hal was tomorrow, receiving the Stone Badge himself and basking in his victory. Gloria was here, sitting next to him, and he imagined she was thinking the same thing he was.

Back in his room, watching the sunset as he had the previous day, Bryce now had two Pokemon to accompany him. Bryce couldn't quite understand Bagon, but Ralts could, so he served as a translator of sorts. Apparently, Bagon's colony was attacked by a Pokemon hunter, who had seized some of the Dragon-types living there, then ridden off on her Pokemon – a Salamence, judging by Bagon's description of it – and Bagon had fallen from its back as it flew off.

Bryce talked strategy with his Pokemon, figuring that they should be somewhat like equals if possible, to make for as effective a team as they could be. They talked about who to send out first, who to match up against each of Roxanne's Pokemon, and more small-scale tactics to employ, but Bryce also basked in the thought that this might be the last night he spent in his room for quite some time. For the first time in quite a while, he appreciated every last detail of his room, from the orange walls, to the queen-size bed, to the desk, to the wardrobe, to the on-suite bathroom...he didn't want to take anything for granted, even though he so often did throughout his life up to this point.

But part of him didn't want to dwell on this too much. He had to look to the future, to his impending journey. The months he would spend journeying around Hoenn, getting to appreciate all the details of all the places in the region, just like he was doing to his room right now. It was a huge world out there, much larger than just his room, and he was about to experience more of it than most got to. And it was all going to start tomorrow, with a Gym battle against Roxanne.

It was going to be a big day tomorrow.