"Aw, man, that was my last Pokéball," Sonic grumbled after the Pokémon, a Zigzagoon, which was also the same species as the ones attacking Tails, had lost interest when it realized the Pokémon wasn't attacking. It'd been a fruitless evening; the first Pokémon, a Poochyena had fainted after two Pound attacks. The next, a Wurmple, had nearly caused Treecko to faint with Bug-type moves, so Sonic ran away. The last one cost him all six of his Pokéballs.

His Treecko patted his Trainer's leg like a little kid would do, even though he was probably tired from all the fighting. Sonic extended an arm for the Pokémon to climb up onto. Treecko scaled up the arm and shoulder onto his head. His body flattened.

"It's okay Treecko. I'll take you to the Pokémon Center in Oldale for rest." The Pokémon sighed in relief. Sonic walked past roaming Pokémon in the grass and walked into Oldale Town, which looked just as small as Littleroot Town, with the white-walled, colored roofs of a Pokémon Center and Poké Mart. In the Pokémon Center, the building had red walls, a glass table with four cushion seats, a bookshelf, a potted plant in the corner and two more cushions. Behind the counter was a machine with six indents, a computer and a nurse.

"Good evening," she said as he walked up. "Does your Treecko need a rest?"

"Yes, please," Sonic said, gingerly picking up his Pokémon to hand to the nurse, whose nametag read "Joy." She took the Treecko and placed the creature on the machine for a moment. Treecko perked up and Nurse Joy let him crawl back towards his owner happily.

"There you go, all happy and healthy!" she said, smiling. "Good luck and take care!"

They exited the Center, Sonic started to make his way towards the Poké Mart to buy some Poké Balls, although he didn't know how much a thousand dollars could buy him.

When he walked in, the mart had light green tile floor, white walls with colored stripes and shelves upon shelves of goods. A few people were in there as well, there was even a black hedgehog wearing foreign clothes looking at a few bottles under a sale sign. Sonic soon found the section with Poké Balls, priced at two hundred dollars each. "I can only buy five, but then I'm completely broke, Treecko," Sonic grumbled. "But that won't be nearly enough to catch all the Pokémon in Hoenn; I blew all six Poké Balls on one that I couldn't even catch!"

"Having trouble catching Pokémon?" said a sort of dark voice, but not in a menacing way. Sonic looked down the aisle to find the face of the hedgehog. He had red eyes and a patch of white fur poked out of his black shirt under his red vest.

"Yeah," Sonic admitted, "the Pokémon on Route 101 faint if my Treecko hits him too hard." The boy walked over, even giving a little nod and tip of the hat to Treecko, who was sitting on Sonic's shoulder.

"Oh. What moves does your Treecko know?"

"Pound and Leer."

"Ah. And you ran out of Poké Balls." The hedgehog began to pick up about fifty Poké Balls and take them to the counter.

"I'll buy these for my friend here," he said, and Sonic was surprised; fifty Poké Balls for two hundred dollars would be ten thousand dollars! "And I'll take these Potions for myself." He paid for everything and led Sonic back to Route 101.

"No one taught you how to catch a Pokémon before?" he wondered. "Let me show you. There's a bit of reasoning behind it." He engaged a Zigzagoon with his white and red Pokémon, Zangoose, around level 55.

"Zangoose, use False Swipe," the hog commanded. The Pokémon raised its paw with sharp three claws, and hesitantly clawed the Zigzagoon. It was very, very weak, but still conscious. The Trainer threw the Poké Ball, and after three shakes, it clicked shut.

"And now the Pokémon is caught," the hedgehog proclaimed, picking up the capsule. "If your Treecko evolves into Grovyle, it can learn the move False Swipe. But recently the move has also been put on a Technical Machine. It's a disc that contains moves for Pokémon to learn. You could probably teach the move to a Pokémon you catch later on." He handed the disc to Sonic. "But I don't think you'll need that quite yet. Try to use your own Pokémon's moves first." Another Zigzagoon appeared, and Treecko perked up.

"You think you can catch the Pokémon, Treecko?" They exchanged a curt nod and Sonic said, "All right then, go get 'im! Use Leer!"

Treecko glared at the Zigzagoon, which smoothed out its fur.

"Now, use Pound!"

The Pokémon slammed his fist down on the Zigzagoon's head, causing it to weaken, just barely hanging on. Sonic grabbed a Poké Ball and threw it at the Zigzagoon. The Poké Ball shook two times, but the wild Pokémon broke free, still very weak.

"Arrgh!"

"Calm down," the Trainer said. "Don't hit it again. Just throw another one. It'll get tired of fighting and let you catch it."

Sonic threw another Poké Ball, and it shook, one…two… "Come on…" three…

Click!

"Yeah!" Sonic said, leaping for joy. Treecko was hopping as well, and the other Trainer hummed approval.

"Congratulations," he said, "you've caught your first Pokémon."

Sonic grabbed the Poké Ball and met the Trainer's eyes. "Thanks. I don't think I'd ever get the hang of it if it wasn't for you. My name's Sonic, from Littleroot Town."

"I'm Shadow. I'm from Pallet Town in Kanto." The Trainers shook hands.

"So what brings you to Hoenn?"

"Oh, just visiting some old friends. Are you going to head to Petalburg?"

"Where's that?"

"Just take Route 102. They have the same Pokémon as this Route, and more. Just be a little careful; other Trainers raising their Pokémon will try to fight you to raise them."

Recalling Amy's hasty decision to battle, Sonic nodded as Shadow went on, "But if you manage to defeat them, your own Pokémon will grow stronger, and learn new moves to use.

"Best of luck, Sonic," he said, touching the brim of his hat. "I'm sure we'll meet again soon." And Trainer Shadow walked north, past Oldale Town.

"Wow Treecko," Sonic started, "that Trainer was from the Kanto region. That's way, way across the sea, even further away from Johto region.

"Oh," Sonic said, noticing the wiggling Poké Ball on his belt. "Come on out, Zigzagoon!"

The Pokémon leaped out, shaking itself and twitching its ears. The Zigzagoon was a girl, even though it looked extremely similar to a male. She and Treecko faced each other, and after a few noises she playfully leaped onto him.

"Apology accepted," Sonic commented. He kneeled down to see if the Zigzagoon would forgive him. "No hard feelings, right?"

The Pokémon sat, then ran up, licking Sonic's face happily. "Ah, okay, okay! Down, girl!" He scooped up the Zigzagoon and Treecko scaled up his leg up onto his back. "You must be tired, huh? Let's go get you two all healed, okay?" The Pokémon nodded their heads and let their Trainer carry them back to Oldale Town for a well deserved rest.