"I hope I passed. Do you think I passed? Well, do you?"
These were Rika's questions to Tyson on the way back into the classroom.
"Yes, I think you passed! Stop asking me!" he was obviously annoyed.
The two of them took their seats along with all the other students. They were anxious to know their results. Professor Birch began to call them all one by one to get their papers back. Only those with a seventy percent could get a license.
Soon, Rika was called up. She walked nervously to the front, almost tripping on the desks but managed to maintain balance. Once she reached the professor, she took her paper.
"Relax, you did fine." Birch whispered, noticing Rika's nervousness.
Rika looked at her mark and saw an eighty-three percent. She almost squealed in excitement but she didn't want to embarrass herself. After a couple of more names were called, Tyson also found out that he had passed. He gave a shout of triumph, which ended with him falling on his face.
"Now, those that did not pass this time around can still try again next week. If you don't pass the retest, however, you won't be able to try again until next year. I'd be happy to help anyone who doesn't understand something." Professor Birch's words gave a ray of hope for some people.
Everyone was dismissed and those that wanted their license were to go to the gymnasium, where they would receive a starter Pokémon if they wished, a Pokédex, and a license card. They all walked into the gym and when Professor Birch entered, he gave a set of instructions.
"Everyone! Line up single-filed at the table where the Pokédexes are. My assistant, Miles, is there to hand them out. Next, you need to upload your information into the Pokédex with Nurse Joy, who came from Oldale to help us out. You will also receive your license card at that time. Once you have done that, come to me for a starter Pokémon. You may leave if you already have one from somewhere else."
With that, everyone lined up. The gym was pretty loud since everyone was excited.
"So, a Pokédex records information about Pokémon?" Rika asked Tyson.
"Yep! It's a pretty handy piece of machinery. It's basically an electronic encyclopedia on Pokémon." Tyson replied.
The two of them received their Pokédex and turned it on. It wasn't all too exciting since nothing's been recorded yet. Next up was uploading their personal information and other administrative things.
"Hello, may I see you Pokédex?" Nurse Joy asked in a sweet voice.
Tyson handed her his Pokédex. Joy inserted it into a computer and typed some information before asking another question.
"And what kind of license would you like?"
"Pokémon Trainer."
She typed the information in and handed back the Pokédex along with a card. The card had Tyson's school photo on it along with his name, I.D. number, and the words: "Official Pokémon Trainer". It was the same procedure for Rika except there was an interruption.
"What kind of license would you like?"
"Pokémon Coordinator." Rika answered slowly.
At the sound of this, Tyson was shocked. He immediately demanded to know why.
"Because I want to!" Rika shouted.
"But we were supposed to travel together!" Tyson replied.
"We still can! I just want to be a coordinator instead!"
"Fine!"
The two remained silent as the line moved on. Tyson couldn't believe her. After years of talking about journeying to gyms and one day competing in the Hoenn League together, Rika just changed her mind. Tyson always thought that they would face each other in the final round of the league but now it wasn't happening. Still, he knew it was her decision and she was his best friend.
"So, what kind of Pokémon would you like?" Professor Birch asked Tyson.
"I think I'm going to pick Torchic." he answered.
Professor Birch picked up a Pokéball from the middle of three shelves and released the Pokémon. A flash of red light came out of the ball and a small orange chick materialized.
"Torchic!" it exclaimed. The Pokémon looked around as if to find an opponent.
"This male Torchic is one that likes to pick a fight with others." Birch commented.
Tyson wasn't thrilled at that but decided to give him a chance.
"Hi Torchic. I'm Tyson and we're going to be partners." He reached out his hand.
The Pokémon looked at Tyson and appeared to be somewhat satisfied so he raised his claw. They both got off to a great start.
Rika was next and she received her female Mudkip with great enthusiasm. She hugged it tightly and the water Pokémon cried out happily.
"Hey, Rika," Tyson said when they left the gym, "Sorry about before. You know, with the whole coordinator thing."
"It's okay. So, I'll meet you at Route 101 tomorrow?"
"Sure." With that, they parted.
"Hey!"
It was after noon when Tyson finally reached Route 101. Rika was there first, as usual. He noticed that Mudkip was outside so he released Torchic as well. The fire type assumed there was a battle so he ran towards Mudkip, preparing for attack.
"Hey, Torchic! What are you doing?" Tyson cried out.
"Torch!"
"Mudkip, look out!" Rika shouted.
"Kip, mud!" she seemed a little frightened by the incoming chick.
Torchic used his claws and scratched the water Pokémon on the face. Mudkip fell backwards with minor scratch marks and immediately ran behind her trainer, crying.
"Torchic! I didn't tell you to attack..." Tyson returned him to his Pokéball.
"You better get control over that thing! Look what it did to poor Mudkip!" Rika said, while picking her Pokémon up, "It's a good thing I brought a Potion just in case."
The two started to walk towards Oldale, which was the closest town. They hoped to get there before nightfall. It was a sunny day so they shouldn't have too many problems. The route was surprisingly quiet. Usually, people would see wild Pokémon everywhere but the whole area was silent except for the calm breeze.
"So, how did goodbyes go with your folks?" Tyson asked after a period of silence.
"It was okay. I mean, sure, it's hard to leave, but no one cried or anything. And they absolutely adored Mudkip! My twin brothers even said it was cool. Plus, they loved the idea that I was going to be a coordinator because sometimes the contests are shown on T.V."
"Wow...my mom cried her eyes out after holding back these last couple of days. My dad was of course, proud that I was finally becoming a trainer. He even gave me this cool PokéNavi."
Tyson took out a small handheld machine. It was yellow with a LCD screen on it.
"What does it do?" Rika asked.
"It shows you a map of Hoenn and you can use it to record your battle records."
"That's pretty useful."
The two continued towards Oldale. The sky was still clear with the occasional lone cloud and the grass moving to the gentle breeze. Tyson and Rika were still oblivious to the fact that wild Pokémon were scarce. It wasn't until they reached a sign saying that Oldale was near that they noticed something strange.
"We're finally almost at Oldale," Rika said while checking her watch, "It's 2:02. Wow, we've been walking for like two hours."
"Hey, what's that over there?" Tyson pointed towards a tree.
"What? I don't see anything. Is this one of your stupid "made you look" thing?"
"No, I definitely saw something moving. I think it was a Pokémon." Tyson replied.
"Speaking of which, we haven't seen any at all, have we?" Rika remarked.
Suddenly, a white creature appeared from behind the tree that Tyson was pointing to. It had a black crescent-like blade on its head. The strange Pokémon was sniffing around like it was looking for something, or someone.
"Is that an..." Tyson was in disbelief, "Absol?"
"Absol? Wasn't that the name of the Pokémon that people thought brought disasters?"
"But they don't live around here. It probably has trainer."
The two friends stared at the dark Pokémon, wondering what it was doing. Absol looked up at them and the two froze. Rika tightened her hold on Mudkip, who she decided to let stay outside. All of a sudden, the dark Pokémon dashed off towards Littleroot Town. Although its fur was white, Tyson and Rika saw a black blur instead.
"That was odd." Tyson commented after.
They decided to press on, thinking that the Absol was just looking for its trainer. Rika recalled Mudkip to give her rest from walking.
It was around 2:15 when they finally arrived at Oldale. The town was a little bigger than Littleroot but they're both pretty similar.
Tyson and Rika headed for the Pokémon Center to rest first. After all, they had been walking for around two hours. Fortunately, the white building wasn't too far from Route 101. It had automatic doors, a red roof with a Pokéball insignia and the words P.C. on the window. Inside were a counter and many chairs and couches where people were currently waiting for their Pokémon to be healed.
"Looks like Nurse Joy have her hands full." Tyson commented.
"Let's go sit over there." Rika suggested.
They walked over to an area where three couches were positioned around a coffee table. There was a boy sitting there, reading a magazine. He had blonde hair and was wearing red and black, which happened to be Hoenn colors. When Tyson and Rika sat down, he looked up and greeted them.
"Hi! Did your Pokémon get hurt too?"
"No, we just got here from Littleroot Town and decided to rest for a bit." Tyson replied.
"Oh! So you two must have just gotten your license too! I got mine this morning!" he exclaimed.
"Congrats." Tyson said, mildly interested.
"So, it figures that a beautiful girl must have a beautiful Pokémon, right?" the boy asked.
Rika blushed a little and Tyson was surprised at the comment.
"Yeah, I've got a Mudkip." She released her Pokémon.
As soon as Mudkip materialized from the red light, the boy stared at it for a couple of second before speaking again.
"That Mudkip is so...UGLY!"
"EXCUSE ME?" Rika was immediately angered by the comment. She was so loud that some people turned around to look.
"Well yeah! Look at her eyes; they're practically crooked! And that color...Blue is possibly the worst color on a Pokémon. I mean come on, you're not blind are you?"
Tyson started to laugh so hard that Rika punched him in the face, which of course, silenced him. Mudkip looked sad and ran behind Rika, who stood up with her fist ready to fire at the boy.
"Whoa! Take it easy! Just kidding! Jeez, some people just can't take a joke these days. Your Mudkip's just as beautiful as you are. Your light brown hair totally matches your blue jacket and orange shirt! And your skirt looks great on you!"
Rika started to retract her arm but was still a little annoyed.
"Who are you anyways?" she demanded.
"The name's Derek! That' D as in Donphan, E as in Exploud, R as in Raticate, E as in Exeggutor, and K as in Kingler!"
"My name's Tyson and this is Rika." Tyson introduced them both, after tending to his jaw.
"Talk about insanely boring names..." Derek commented.
"That's it! We are so leaving! Come on!" Rika recalled Mudkip and dragged Tyson out of the Pokémon Center.
"Hey! No need to be rude! You could have at least said 'see you later' or something!"
"I DON'T want to see you later!" Rika shouted back.
"The nerve of that guy..." Rika muttered after calming down a little bit.
The two beginning travelers decided to go to the PokéMart in town since stopping to rest turned out so bad. Besides, they needed supplies badly. They both bought Pokéballs, Potions, Antidotes, and Pokémon Food. They also bought food for themselves seeing as they were going to be traveling in the wild. Rika bought a ribbon case for her contests while Tyson bought a badge case for gym battles.
After leaving the PokéMart, the two headed back to the Pokémon Center where they were going to spend the night. Rika was hoping that Derek wasn't going to be there.
"So, tomorrow we head for Petalburg?" Tyson asked, before heading into his room.
"Yeah. There's a gym there for you to battle in." Rika answered
The two separated and went into their rooms.
Excellent...
Absol kneeled before the small figure. The room was still just as dark. The other two Pokémon weren't present.
You have done well...
"Ab...sol..." the creature growled.
The dark figure sat on the throne as its thoughts occupied it. It was clearly pleased with what was happening. The two stayed very still. They were as still as the small body in the dark corner.
The next morning, after eating breakfast, the two friends went to Route 102. It was a bright morning and they could hear Taillow singing all over the place. Everything was fine until a familiar voice caught their attention.
"Yo! Tyson! Rika!"
It was Derek. And if it wasn't him, it was a very good imitation. Rika immediately turned around and yelled at him.
"How dare you follow us! Didn't I say I didn't want to see your face again?!"
Derek ran up to them and released a Pokémon on the way. It was a small purple bird that went by the name of Taillow.
"Meet my Taillow, Rapid!"
"Taillow!" the Pokémon cried.
"Awesome! I'm guessing he's your starter." Tyson replied.
"No one asked to see your bird! In fact, no one asked to see your face!" Rika wasn't going to let his insults go.
"Ouch....You know, you're pretty mean for a pretty girl." Derek just gave a big smile, in which Rapid followed suite.
"Stop kidding around!" Rika went for a punch but missed.
Tyson just stood there laughing again. Rika may have looked mean but he had fond memories of them playing together when they were little.
"Calm down! I just wanted to know if I could go with you guys!"
Tyson thought about the idea. Sure, he was a complete stranger that they just met, but he thought the more the merrier.
"Sure, why not?" he answered.
"ARE YOU INSANE?" No surprise that Rika was against the idea. "We don't even know who he is! He could be a thief! He probably wants to steal our Pokémon! He's rude! He's mean! He's-"
"Welcome to the group, Derek and Rapid!"
Tyson shook hands with both of them.
"HEY! I NEVER AGREED TO ANYTHING!"
Little did the group know that as they conversed (or screamed), they were being watched by five eyes in the bushes.