3

I'm finally here! I yell inside my own head. It's sundown, and I just reached the nearest rest house to Viridian City, which is well within sight. I step inside the large wooden cottage-like building and see that the inside is made entirely of wooden logs also. To my immediate left I see a check-in counter, to spend the night (which is only about $10, as the place has low upkeep), and a small shop on the right for beginning trainers. I go inside, looking for some spare clothes and a backpack (I didn't like what I had at home). I look around at backpacks first. I see only two things that seem good for my taste. A black one that has a lucario on it, but in a different stance than my shirt, and a red-orange one with flames raising up from the bottom, and a ninetails on the back and on the front pocket.

I stand there thinking for five minutes when I notice that the ninetails one has a pocket for MP3 players, and choose it instantly. I can't get one 'till Saffron, but I might as well get this, I think. I then look around at shirts, and see a similar lucario shirt, but is a maroon color, with the lucario in an upright stance. I get that, and also a Deep Purple band shirt, which is of course a deep purple, with Smoke on the Water written on the back of it. I get two pairs of black shorts and some navy jeans, just in case weather decides to turn ugly on me. I take the items up to the cashier and purchase them, she not asking about my age. I guess being twelve is common for most starting trainers, I think. I walk out and go to the front desk and ask for a room and if there are any videophones.

"Why yes," answers the woman behind the desk, who has spiky red hair, "We have some phones down the hall and to the right. To the left leads upstairs to the rooms."

"Thanks!" I say, and leave for the phones. I walk up to the machines, which are basically wall mounted phones with a screen, and allow for speaker phone. I dial up a number and wait for the ringer. It goes three times when I hear an answer, from a female voice.

"Hello, prof Rowan's lab. May I help you?"

I smile, and send the video mode request to the other's side. "Hello Dawn."

I hear the phone get fumbled a bit before she gets out a, "Is that you Raizu? Why isn't the caller ID saying who you are?!" I hear her press a button to confirm the Video mode, and I look at the screen. It bleeps on, and shows her face, with other random technology dotting the space behind her. "Hey, are you away from home?"

I nod. "I'm at a rest house in Viridian City. I started today. Early this morning in fact. Are you still at the lab?"

She nods. "I'm here for a month before I can set off toward Canalave City and meet you." She looks down at her watch. She has on a white knitted cap, with a red outlined pokéball on it's front. Her hair is a dull navy, and reaches down her head and goes into a ponytail from her neck to her middle back. She has a red scarf around her neck and a black vest. "It's about six P.M. here, so it must be…"

I hunch over and make an exaggerated exhausted face. "It's about 11 P.M. here… augh, I just got inside too."

She laughs. "Well, do great on your journey and see you in a month or so. We could go together, you know? I plan on taking some contests seriously."

It's my turn to laugh, and I do so. "Contests?"

"Well I'll battle too." She frowns at me. "See ya, and g'night I suppose."

"Yeah. Bye." I hang up and turn around and go upstairs to my room. It's small and quaint, with a queen-sized bed with a green blanket, a medium sized TV, and a window facing Viridian City. I close the curtains and go into the bathroom in the immediate left of the room. After I'm done, I let out Eevee rest on the bed quietly and I watch some TV. Tomorrow, I head into town, for food, rest, and possibly a gym battle, if the leader is back.