"So, what's you're name?" Mark questioned his temporary travelling companion on the way north on Route 1.

"Dustin. I'm from Cinnabar Island, but my mom wanted me to go to the mainland to start my journey so I got a ferry to Pallet to receive my pokemon."

"Oh, cool." Then, Mark and Dustin heard a rattling in the bushes and a Sandshrew leapt out from the brush.

"Sweet!" Mark exclaimed, throwing out Spore's pokeball. The Bulbasaur appeared in a brilliant flash of light, followed by an appreciative growl.

"Spore! Get that pokemon!" The Bulbasaur shot several Leech Seeds from his bulb, infecting the pokemon. Then, just as the Sandshrew was trying to pick the seeds out with its claws, Spore levelled him with a Vine Whip to the head. Mark took this opportunity to throw a pokeball, which landed successfully on the pokemon's chest, encasing it completely.

After two seconds a ping resounded from the ball, signalling that the catch was successful. "Way to go, Spore!"

Mark pressed the button on the middle of his pokeball to release the Sandshrew. When it came out, the pokemon walked towards Dustin, who was sitting under a tree, and hopped onto his lap.

"WHAT? That's my pokemon!" Mark cried.

"Yeah, so?" Dustin replied calmly as he rubbed the Sandshrew's stomach.

"Stop it! He'll think that you're his trainer!"

"But he likes me!" Dustin protested.

"I don't care! Now give me back my pokemon or I'll leave you here and you can find your own way to Viridian City. Got that?"

"Let's ask him. What do you think buddy? Me or him." Dustin questioned the Sandshrew, who took a moments deliberation before grabbing onto Dustin's leg.

"Fine. Have fun on your own out here in the wilderness then." Mark muttered.

"But I'm not alone! Now I have Sandshrew."

As Mark walked away, he heard Dustin and Sandshrew talking about nicknames.

As Mark entered the city, he saw a large crowd around the Viridian Gym. He quickly made his way there, and saw a young trainer marching out of the building with an Earth Badge pinned to his hat.

"That's the first person to beat Giovanni in almost a year!" one kid exclaimed, and everyone else seemed to be saying it too.

"Yeah, well, I'm going to beat him too!" Mark told the crowd as he strolled into the massive building made out of clay.

In the middle of the room stood a massive trainer with pokeballs attached to a sash that went around his chest. His face was angry, probably from losing that last match.

"So, you want to battle? Get ready to lose, then!" the leader yelled, tossing out a pokeball containing Graveler. The large pokemon had four arms and was completely made of rock.

"Spore! You have an advantage, so come on out!"

Spore appeared from the ball and let loose a Vine Whip attack, which entangled the rock pokemon's arms. Then, while Graveler was trying to get free, Spore used Leech Seed. The small seeds fell into the holes in Graveler's body and grew tendrils that stretched all over it.

"Graveler! Use Rock Throw!" the leader commanded, and two gigantic rocks landed directly on Spore, knocking him out easily.

How could I have lost that fast? Mark asked himself, incredulous.

"Leave, now. I don't have time to waste with noobs like you." Giovanni told him, sneering. Mark quickly made his way back to the Pokemon Centre to heal his pokemon, and on the way there he saw a line of Pokemon Vendors, with pokeballs all over their stalls. He still had 1500p, so he went to the one with the lowest prices.

"You want to buy a pokemon? For five thousand, I can give you a Porygon! For only two thousand, any of these pokemon on the bottom shelf can be yours! Or, for the low price of 1200p, you can buy any of these pokemon imported specially from Johto!" the man told him quickly.

Mark looked at the pictures of the four 1200p pokemon from Johto. The first one was yellow and fluffy, and it was labelled Mareep.

The second was a small, green spider-like pokemon with a horn on its head. Its label read Spinarak.

The second to last pokemon looked like a teddy bear, and had a white moon shape on its forehead. A Teddiursa.

The final pokemon from Johto was a small, furry, round pokemon with a bushy tail labelled Sentret.

"I'll take the Spinarak, please." Mark told the vendor as he dug a few bills from his pocket. The smiling salesman handed the pokeball over from behind the sheet of glass and Mark continued on towards the Pokemon Centre.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

After handing Spore's pokeball over to the Nurse on duty, Mark sat down in a chair and pulled out his pokedex. Pointing it at Spinarak's pokeball, he pressed the blue 'scan' button.

UKNOWN POKEMON

"Huh?" Mark said, and tried again. Same thing. Then, he saw a poster on the wall of the Centre.

UPDATE YOUR 'DEX, AT THE POKEMON CENTRE

Mark got up and walked to the Nurse. "Can you update my pokedex? I just got a pokemon from Johto, and it can't scan it."

"Sure! Just give it to me!" The nurse replied, smiling. She plugged the pokedex into her computer, and it beeped twice after about a minute.

"There you go!"

"Thanks," he said, walking away. This time, he scanned his new pokeball and it worked.

TEDDIURSA, LITTLE BEAR POKEMON

IT LIKES TO LICK ITS PAWS TO GET WHATEVER HONEY CAN BE FOUND ON THEM.

ATTACKS: SCRATCH, LICK, LEER AND FURY SWIPES.

"Okay, then. Come on out." Mark said as he pressed the release button on the pokeball. The tiny bear pokemon looked up at Mark with its big eyes, and immediately Mark had a nickname for it.

"Do you like the name Bruin?" he asked, and the Teddiursa nodded slowly before licking his paws.

"Alright then, Bruin it is."

Suddenly, a man wearing black with a red 'R' on his shirt walked into the Centre, followed by three gigantic men in the same clothes.

"Team Rocket!" somebody screamed, and the first man pulled a gun out from his belt.

"Anybody moves, and they're dead. Got it?"

The men behind him walked forward and picked up the tray of pokeballs on the counter. After dumping them into a sack they left the building, but nobody dared to move.

"Groawr!" a pokemon roared, and the crowd in the Cnetre saw three cops (and a police Growlithe responsible for the roar) pointing guns at the Rockets.

The leader dropped his own weapon, and the enforcers handed over the bag of pokeballs. Just as they were about to be loaded up into the police wagon, however, a Graveler rolled into the vehicle and it fell over. As the Rockets ran away, Graveler blocked the gunshots.

A flash of crimson energy later, and the Graveler was gone. It was in someone's pokeball.

"What happened here?" A man asked, and it turned out to be Giovanni.
The gym leader questioned Officer Jenny, and Nurse Joy retrieved the bag of pokeballs to return to their trainers.

Mark quickly got Spore back and headed north, towards the forest. It was already getting late, and he wanted to be there by nightfall.