Jason and Kristine rode due north out of Mountainspring and towards the dirt road ahead, with their eevee still on their shoulders. The sun shined brightly over a cloudless sky, and a gentle breeze brushed over the twins and their pokemon.

"This is awesome!" Jason cheered, having the best feeling he thought he ever had.

"Yeah!" Kristine happily agreed.

The two continued to ride down the dirt path. The nearby trees cleared as grassy fields flanked the twins on both sides.

"This looks like a good spot to catch pokemon," Jason suggested, slowing down.

Kristine did the same. "Okay!"

The two stopped their bikes and got off. With that, their Eevee jumped off their shoulders.

Jason was the first to run out into a field, surrounded by hills and mountains.

"Beautiful!" Kristine gazed in awe at the scenery. "Just like our family picnics."

"Exactly!" Jason happily agreed. Then it hit him. "Except…"

"What's that?" Kristine seemed curious about what her brother was thinking.

"Kristine," Jason continued. "Remember sometimes we would have to scare off a bunch of rattata that tried to get to our food?"

"Yeah?" Kristine slightly shrugged. "What about it?"

"Well…" Jason regretfully said. "I see a rattata here."

Kristine walked right next to Jason, who was looking straight at a rattata. She looked to her right, only to see another small purple rodent. "I see another one…."

Jason saw two more appear from a distance.

"Jason…" Kristine looked around her.

"Yes, Kristine?" Jason asked.

"There's rattata everywhere…." Kristine confirmed the obvious. They could count more than a dozen rattata all around them.

Jason sighed. "Why are there so many of them?"

Kristine shrugged. "Guess we just happen to live next to a rattata colony."

"Let's just move on," Jason seemed disappointed. His eevee looked up at him and tilted his head, curious to know what Jason was thinking.

"Okay," Kristine smiled. "But this time, let me pick the place."

Her eevee seemed to agree.

"Fine," Jason said as he and Kristine left the rattata-infested field. They got on their bikes and moved on.

Half an hour later, Kristine slowed down near a field dotted by several trees.

"Here!" Kristine declared.

"Please, no rattata," Jason crossed his fingers.

"I don't see any rattata anywhere," Kristine glanced around. She got off her bike and trekked into the field with her eevee by her side.

"Hey, wait up!" Jason said as he got off his bike, his eevee right behind him.

Jason saw that Kristine and her eevee took off running and pursued them. By the time he caught up to his sister, he saw that she had already found a wild pidgey just minding its own business.

"Okay, Eevee!" Kristine looked determined. "Let's see what you can do!"

"Ee!" Eevee displayed the same determination.

The wild pidgey looked right at Eevee and Kristine, realizing that a battle was going to take place.

"Eevee, tackle!" Kristine commanded.

Eevee ran straight at Pidgey, ready to pounce. Before Eevee could strike, Pidgey flapped its wings, developing a gust of wind directed at Eevee. Pidgey's Gust made a direct impact on Eevee, knocking her back on her side.

"Oh, no!" Kristine gasped.

"I think it used Gust," Jason speculated. "Watch out, Kristine!"

"Eevee, get up, please!" Kristine pleaded. Eevee was slow to get up, but just as she did, Pidgey had already taken off.

"Oh, wow," Kristine seemed embarrassed. Eevee came right to her.

"I'm sorry, Eevee," Kristine said. "I'll do better next time."

"Eevee!" Eevee attempted to cheer Kristine up.

"This is already starting to become harder than I thought," Kristine said. Hearing no reply from Jason, she turned around, only to see that he had taken off.

"Cool, a wild spearow!" Jason observed as both he and Eevee were eyeing the nearby pokemon, a small, slick avian-like creature with a very sharp beak.

"Eevee, tackle!" Jason commanded to his Eevee.

His Eevee ran straight at Spearow, who looked at Eevee with utter confusion. Spearow then faced Eevee and suddenly picked up speed while spreading its wings in flight. Flying just a foot off the ground, Spearow counterattacked, knocking Jason's Eevee right on his back.

"No!" Jason was in disbelief. "Eevee, are you okay?"

Eevee got up and gave Jason a nod. By then, Spearow had already taken off.

Kristine saw the ordeal as she ran up to Jason. "I'm sure Spearow used Quick Attack to defend itself. I'm sorry."

"This is already starting to become harder than I thought," Jason said.

Kristine smiled. "My words exactly. But have no worries! We'll get our first pokemon soon!"

Jason heard his stomach growl. "Perhaps we should have lunch first."

"Good thing I packed us sandwiches," Kristine said. "Okay, let's go find a nice spot to have a picnic at."

Further down the road, the two found a lightly forested area they deemed perfect to have a lunch break.

"I'm sure once we recharge, we'll be able to catch our first pokemon," Jason said, feeling confident.

Kristine pulled some sandwiches out of her backpack. Jason prepared pokemon food for both eevee. Kristine then laid down a blue mat for her and Jason to settle down for a picnic next to a tree.

"I know a thing or two about meals," Kristine said. "Learning from Mom's about to pay off."

As both eevee were enjoying their lunch, Jason was about to bite into his sandwich when it was suddenly snagged away by another pokemon.

"What the -" Jason was caught off guard. He looked up to see a wild aipom hanging from the tree by its tail, eating his sandwich.

"Is that an aipom?" Kristine was more interested in the pokemon rather than the fact that it ate her brother's food. Besides, she prepared many more sandwiches in advance.

Kristine pulled out her pokedex and examined the happily cunning creature.

"Aipom, the Long Tail Pokemon," the pokedex briefed, using a computerized female voice. "It lives atop tall trees. Its tail is so powerful that it can use it to grab a tree branch and hold itself up in the air."

"And that's exactly what it's doing," Kristine seemed to be in awe.

"Yeah, well, the purple monkey's got my food while hanging from the branch with its tail-hand-whatever that thing is!" Jason did not seem happy at all. "Oh, he's mine!"

"It's a tail in the shape of a hand, which is why it has a strong grip," Kristine explained.

"Whatever," Jason brushed off Kristine's comment. "Eevee, tackle!"

Jason's eevee, who was eating his food, looked up at Jason, his head tilted.

"Let Eevee be," Kristine suggested. "Let Aipom have its fun. Besides, I got plenty more –"

Just then, Kristine turned around. While Aipom was distracting and taunting Jason and Kristine, a second aipom snuck to Kristine's backpack with the rest of their sandwiches. That aipom managed to carry all of the sandwiches using its two arms.

"Ee ee ooh ooh ahh ahh," the second aipom laughed as it ran from Kristine.

"Sandwiches…" Kristine finished her sentence, giving a sigh and looking down briefly.

The first Aipom stuck its tongue at Jason after finishing his sandwich and used its muscular tail to jump to a nearby tree.

"Our food!" Jason took notice.

"Yeah…" Kristine fell on her knees in utter disappointment.

"What now?" Jason pondered.

"We could just go back and get more food," Kristine suggested.

"No way," Jason shot down the idea. "We have to keep moving forward."

"But the aipom took all of our food," Kristine replied. "Do we even know where the nearest market is?"

Jason reached into his backpack to pull out his guide to Inventum. "Let me check."

A moment later, he opened the page containing the map of the local area.

"Let's see…" Jason checked. "We cleared the rattata nest. We are at the aipom nest…"

Kristine twitched her eyes. "You mean… that information was in the guide?"

Jason ignored her. "The road takes us further north across the ridge. We go through some hills, but there's a pokemon center and store not too far away. We can get there tonight."

Kristine decided not to get after her brother for not checking the guide of potential hazards. She took a deep breath and reassured herself things would turn around. "Okay," she complied. "If we can get there, we may still be in good shape."

"Without a doubt," Jason nodded, assuring his sister that they'll be fine.

After both eevee were done with their food, the twins packed up and headed back out on the road with their bikes. It was well into the afternoon as the twins continued to ride with their eevee on their shoulders.

The terrain elevated slightly, taking the twins uphill.

Jason tried catching his breath. "So much pedaling."

"Just hang in there," Kristine remained optimistic. "As you said, if we keep it up, we can be at the pokemon center by nightfall."

"Yeah…" Jason said as he could feel his legs burn.

While the twins were going uphill, they could see the steep ridge below on their left. On their right, they could see a forested area that scaled along with them.

Suddenly, Kristine could see something that would completely distract her and capture her heart. "A pikachu!" she gasped.

Kristine immediately stopped and got off her bike as her eevee jumped off her shoulder. She had an empty pokeball at the ready, chasing after Pikachu with her eevee at her side.

Jason came to a halt a little further up but stayed on his bike. "Kristine, careful!" he advised.

"Don't worry!" Kristine waved at Jason. "Eevee, use tackle on Pikachu!"

Kristine's eevee complied and charged at Pikachu.

"Pikachu's an electric pokemon!" Jason warned. "If you're not careful, it'll zap the both of you!"

"Oh, right!" Kristine heeded Jason's warning.

Pikachu stood there, anticipating Eevee's charge. It then began to harness electricity throughout its body.

"He's preparing to use Thunder Shock!" Jason yelled.

"Eevee, dodge!" Kristine commanded.

"Pika-chuuuuu!" Pikachu unleashed Thunder Shock right at Eevee. Eevee quickly jumped to the right to avoid the Thunder Shock. However, the lightning attack kept going, and it was heading straight at Jason.

"Oh, no!" Jason and his eevee saw the shock coming. Jason jumped off his bike and ducked, while his eevee jumped off his shoulder. The shock struck his bike a second later.

Jason covered his head while the shock came right over him.

"Jason!" Kristine yelled. Her eevee came right back to her as the wild pikachu took off.

Kristine ran back to Jason.

"Are you okay?" she asked in concern.

"I think so," Jason replied, getting up and brushing himself off. His eevee came to check on him. "I'm fine," Jason patted his eevee on the head.

"Jason…" Kristine spoke shamefully, glancing at his bike.

Jason took notice and turned around. His bike was utterly fried from Pikachu's Thunder Shock.

"My…bike…" Jason fell on his knees. "How are we going to travel now?"

"Jason… I'm sorry…" Kristine walked over to pat Jason on the back.

Jason was hungry and tired, and he was mentally suffering from it. He had enough of the day's events, and he was completely over everything. He was angry, and there was no better person to lash his anger out upon than his twin sister.

He swatted Kristine's hand out of the way. "If you hadn't been so careless over that Pikachu, I'd still have a bike! But no! You just had to run straight at him, didn't you?"

"Hey now," Kristine backed off and took to the defensive. "It was a freak accident, and I said I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't unfry my bike!" Jason snapped. "You just had to be clumsy, huh?"

"Clumsy?" Kristine's face grew red. "Clumsy!? You wanna know what clumsy is? You! As a person! Who in their right mind would catch pokemon other than rattata inside a rattata nest or not warn us of an aipom nest when we had lunch? You have the field guide inside your backpack! Wall should have given it to me instead!"

"Oh yeah?" Jason became infuriated. "You were the one who left your backpack unattended when the first aipom stole my sandwich!"

"I have to admit, that was pretty funny that aipom stole your sandwich," Kristine chuckled deviously.

"Well, it wasn't!" Jason yelled bluntly.

At that point, both eevee were taken back by the argument, their heads tilted to whoever was the one yelling.

"You just have to charge headfirst into everything you do, huh?" Kristine continued. "You make many mistakes, and I'm okay with that. Yet I make a couple, and suddenly that's not okay? You clumsy, clumsy, knucklehead!"

"Knucklehead!?" Jason had it. "Why you good for nothing bird brain!"

"Bird brain!?" Kristine drew her fists. She then took a deep breath. "Fine. If you wanna act like a child, so be it. I'm the one with the bike, after all."

Kristine walked over to her bike and picked it up as her eevee hopped onto her shoulder.

"What are you doing, Kristine?" Jason yelled at her.

"Getting away from you," Kristine snapped. "If you wanna be a jerk, fine. I'll just leave you here until you decide to grow up."

"Are you kidding me?" Jason crossed his arms as Kristine began to take off.

Kristine ignored him. The truth was Jason almost brought her to tears, and she didn't want him to see that. She figured some time away from him would suffice. She began to pick up speed while Jason just stood there.

"I can't believe she's ditching me," Jason seemed surprised, his eevee by his side.

"Clumsy knucklehead," Kristine muttered to herself as she continued down the road. She was so consumed by her emotions and her ordeal with Jason that she was completely unaware of a skiddo in front of her.

Skiddo, a grass-type goat pokemon, just stood there and stared Kristine down. As she looked up, her first instinct was to steer left. And she did so. Skiddo took off soon after. Meanwhile, Jason was able to see what was going on.

Kristine immediately realized it was a bad idea to steer left because she found herself on the brink of tumbling down the ridge. She tried to pull her weight to stay on the road, but her eevee panicked and jumped off her shoulder. That was just enough force for gravity to pull her down the ledge.

"Aaah!" Kristine fell off her bike, hitting her legs hard on the soil as she tumbled down the hill.

"Kristine!" Jason yelled. He instantly became concerned over his twin sister and forgot the whole argument just minutes ago. "Come on, Eevee, let's go!"

Jason ran down the road with his eevee by his side before they met up with Kristine's eevee. As Jason looked down the hill, Kristine was still tumbling to the base.

"Guys, let's go!" Jason took charge and ran down the hill with both eevee right behind him. He didn't care about his safety, and at one point, he ended up sliding down the slope alongside both eevee.

Jason saw his sister on her back as he slid down the hill. He paid no attention to anything else but her and the eevee next to him. He slid to the base of the hill and ended up tumbling. With a few minor bruises, he quickly got up and ran towards Kristine.

"Kristine!" Jason slid on his knees right by his sister's side. "Please tell me you're okay!"

"Ow," Kristine cried in pain, tears rolling down her eyes. "I don't think I am."

Jason examined her. "Can you move anything?"

Kristine moved her arms. "My arms work. I may have cracked a rib. And I can't move my left foot."

"Let me check it out," Jason moved over to Kristine's foot and attempted to grab hold of it.

Kristine screamed in pain. "Please don't touch it!"

"I'm just trying to remove your shoe," Jason calmly explained.

"It hurts so much," Kristine tried to hold back further tears. "I don't think I can walk…."

The sun began to set. Jason had to think quickly about what to do.

"I can get you to the pokemon center as soon as possible," Jason decided.

Kristine's eevee walked over to her side, trying to soothe her.

"Everything will be okay, Eevee," Kristine smiled, reassuring her eevee that everything is indeed okay.

"Just hold onto my shoulders," Jason instructed.

"Okay," Kristine grabbed his shoulders.

Jason then lifted Kristine by her legs. "Easy does it."

"Easy, huh?" Kristine snickered, fighting through the pain even by being lifted. "One thing I've learned today is that there is no easy way."

"You got that right," Jason smiled at her.

Kristine placed her chin on Jason's shoulder as a way of hugging him. She glanced ahead before realizing she was looking at a pristine lake surrounded by hills.

"It's so beautiful," Kristine said in awe. She then took her chin off of Jason. She also let go, forcing Jason to catch her back with one of his arms.

"You should see it with me," Kristine suggested, looking at Jason.

Jason turned around to see the beautiful pristine lake. Kristine tilted her head once more to see the lake. Even both eevee were taken back in awe.

"Wow…" Jason muttered, astonished.

Suddenly, winds picked up. But it was a gentle breeze that warmly greeted both Jason and Kristine.

"What's that?" Kristine asked, pointing up in the sky.

The twins could make out an object under the sunset sky. It appeared to be a large pokemon with a massive wingspan, flying across the lake.

"Must be some kind of legendary pokemon…." Jason replied.

Whatever the pokemon was, a sense of harmony kicked in. There was something in the gentle wind that called for peace amid hostility. Both Jason and Kristine were taken by the wind and the pokemon flying above. It was as if a message was being sent – no matter what may have happened, everything would always work out. It was then when Jason and Kristine knew everything was going to be okay.

"I can't believe we just saw that," Kristine smiled at Jason.

"Me too," Jason smiled back. He then began to carry Kristine alongside the lake, looking for a route back up the hill.

"Hey, Jason?" Kristine said. "I'm sorry about before. The mean things I said about you, the way I left you alone, I didn't mean it."

"There's nothing to forgive," Jason replied. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have called you bird brain. The truth is, you're the smartest person I know. A lot smarter than me, anyway."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Kristine objected. "Yes, I'm the clever one, but that doesn't make me smarter. You're not the one who fell off the cliff, anyways."

"These things happen," Jason said. "What matters is that at the end of the day, you're my sister. I will always be at your side."

"And I am at your side," Kristine assured him. "I'd be carrying you if you were in my shoes."

Jason chuckled. "Let's get you to the pokemon center. I'm sure our eevee could use a rest."

Both eevee nodded in agreement.

Dusk had settled in when Jason finally found a dirt path up the hill. Jason was beyond exhausted, but he pushed himself up the trail and up the hill.

"We should recall our eevee," Kristine said. She looked down on them. "They look exhausted."

"Right," Jason agreed. "Think you can reach for my pokeball?"

Kristine grabbed her pokeball from her belt and grabbed Jason's as well. "Okay, guys, return."

Both eevee were relieved that they were getting the rest they deserved after being out for most of the day. A red beam captured each one and returned them to their respective pokeballs. Kristine then returned Jason's pokeball to his belt.

"It's just us now," Jason said, clearly fatigued.

"You can do it," Kristine encouraged him.

At the top of the hill, Jason was drained. His legs were burning, and his body ached everywhere. He suddenly fell on one knee.

"Jason!" Kristine yelled in concern. "Jason, you can do this for both of us and our pokemon!"

"Yeah…" Jason managed to muster the strength to continue. He remembered the harmonic aura and the pokemon back at the lake. It was almost like the pokemon was trying to communicate to him and Kristine. "Everything's going to be fine," he spoke with confidence and got back up on both feet.

The moon shined over Jason and Kristine as they met the main road once again. They figured they were very well ahead of the location Kristine had fallen off.

"We should be almost there," Kristine said, trying to keep Jason alert. "I believe in you."

Jason felt like his legs became rocks, as lifting them became extremely difficult, and it only got worse. Just as he couldn't take it anymore, he saw shades of lighting off the road to the right.

"We made it!" Kristine cheered, but she was also exhausted.

"Yeah…" Jason took it one step at a time. He carried Kristine right to a welcome sign.

"Welcome to Spring Hamlet…" Jason read.

"It's a small town just like Mountain Spring," Kristine added. "And I think I see the pokemon center just ahead."

Jason was relieved. He continued forward, determined to make it into the pokemon center. With one foot forward after another, he finally made it inside.

"Oh my," gasped the woman behind the counter. She had a nurse's skirt on and had pink hair complete with a nurse's cap. She ran over to the twins and took Kristine right off of Jason's arms.

"We're in terrible shape," Kristine spoke.

"You're not kidding!" Nurse Joy replied. "Let's get you to a bed ASAP!"

As Nurse Joy carried Kristine off to a nearby patient's room, Jason stood there, relieved that he made it. He knew he did his sister proud as he went above and beyond to rescue her. And he especially knew he made his father proud. He stood there, with a smile of relief on his face, before collapsing onto the floor.