Chapter 2: Starting Off on the Wrong Foot

Gone. It's all gone.

That was the thought that echoed through Professor Elm's head as he stood in the still smoldering wreckage of his once prestigious lab. Even though the fire had been put out before New Bark Town's famous winds managed to carry it to another building or the surrounding woodland, it had still done a number on the research facility.

That was the part of his lab where the bomb had gone off.

No one was sure exactly how the bomb had gotten into the research lab. He himself had not been to his lab in about six hours, as he had decided to go home around two in the morning, and after eating a quick meal and four hours of sleep, he had gone to go fetch the boy. The three assistants that had come in early that morning had all sustained minor burns and injuries, but luckily they had all been in the Pokémon storage area feeding the Pokémon. Thankfully, they'd managed to activate the emergency transport system to transport the Poké Balls directly from their trays on the shelves to the Pokémon Center in Cherrygrove City. The Pokémon that were out of their balls, meanwhile, had thankfully all managed to escape successfully from the lab with the assistants.

If they hadn't been in that area when the bomb had gone off or had gotten the Pokémon out, things would have likely turned out much worse.

As it was, the old research facilities were virtually beyond repair. All of the books and paper that were once scattered about the room had been incinerated, and all of the machines were either melted or burnt so badly they weren't worth the trouble in trying to repair them. But that also meant that all of his research, all of his studies, data, and experiments were gone. Sixteen years of work gone in a few minutes. There was nothing left except a room full of partially melted scrap and ashes.

Sighing, Professor Elm dug into the pocket of his lab coat, pulling out three sheets of paper, the sole surviving remnants of this catastrophe. He didn't even have the complete set of data the paper had scribbled on it, as he had dropped the fourth sheet outside in his shock of seeing his lab in flames, and yet more sheets pertaining to that issue had been in the lab. He sighed again, stuffing the paper back into his pocket. Taking one last look at his former lab, he turned around and slowly began his walk out through the main entrance of the building, his mind already whirling with thoughts as he focused his attention at the problem at hand.

First, why? Why would someone want to destroy his lab? It wasn't like he was a mad scientist building the latest world-destroying weapon. He was a specialist in Pokémon evolution! What could anyone possibly have against evolution that would cause them to go to such extreme lengths as to get rid of his studies?

There was, of course, the possibility that it had been a strike against him personally, but Elm doubted that. Sure, he might not have been the most attentive person. Yes, he did have a tendency to lose things, like the Pokémon curious enough to wander off while he was focusing on something else, and he might have almost destroyed the entire electrical grid in New Bark Town a few times, but still, that hardly warranted the burning of his lab.

There was that, and the fact that the men who were suspected of committing this terrible crime sounded like they had other plans in mind when they had snuck into his lab.

Or at least, that's what the boy had said.

Elm had to admit, his story did seem a little sketchy. After all, he had only left the boy for a very small amount of time, as the fire hadn't even been completely put out yet before he came stumbling out of the woods with this wild story of men in black clothing, pirate moons, no-eyed bats, and crazy wild girls. And no one would have probably believed him if not for the fact that he looked like he had just spent the last twenty minutes rolling around in the bushes. Most importantly, he had the Cyndaquil with him, the very same Pokémon that was supposed to have been waiting in his research lab before the explosion, and who probably wouldn't even be alive right now if he had been waiting there when the bomb detonated.

That was probably the only good news to come from the boy, though. The revelation that his research had been stolen was like adding insult to injury. While losing all of his life's work was horrible, the fact that he had lost everything and now someone else was going to try to pass off his own work as their own was almost unbearable. Sure, he had been stolen from before, but that was nothing compared to the situation he was in now.

But what could they want with his research? Who would go to such lengths as to get knowledge about Pokémon evolution? And what were they trying to do with it? Based on the events that had transpired, including his lab bombing and the mysterious men attacking that boy, Elm could only assume that their purpose, whatever it may be, was nothing good.

His musings were interrupted, however, when he suddenly became aware of a loud thumping noise that seemed to be getting closer and closer to him. Turning around, he blinked a few times before recognizing the man in the white lab coat who'd been chasing after him.

"Oh, hello, Robbie," Professor Elm said in greeting as the younger man paused to catch his breath.

"Um…It's Richard, sir," the man responded in between his quiet gasps for air.

Elm waved his hand in the air dismissively. "Yes, yes, that's what I said. Now then, what's brought you all the way out here?"

"Well, sir, that boy that you were supposed to give a starter to today has just finished talking to the police. I thought I'd let you know, since he's probably getting impatient by now to finally start on his journey."

"Ah, yes, the boy. Daniel, right?" he asked. Richard opened his mouth to speak, but Elm suddenly cut him off. "Oh, it doesn't matter, I suppose. Could you fetch me some Poké Balls and a Pokédex from the lab? No, wait, the stuff was in the research area, and that…well, that exploded."

"Um, I think there might have been a few Pokédexes in the back storage room," Richard suggested. Upon hearing his assistant's statement, Elm suddenly snapped his fingers and smiled.

"Oh, yes! There are some spare Pokédexes in the back room! That room wasn't damaged in the blast, luckily. The Poké Balls shouldn't be too hard to find. After all, we should have some lying around somewhere. I trust you can find them."

Richard smiled. "Sure thing, Professor Elm."

"Very good. Now then, I'll go on ahead and talk to Damian while you do that." Nodding to himself, Elm turned and began to walk off. He had only gone a few steps though, when a thought suddenly popped into his head.

Turning back around to face his assistant, Professor Elm said, "Um, Ronald? You wouldn't happen to know where that boy is, would you?"

"Mom, I'm fine," Derek whined as Julia continued to nervously fuss with Derek's clothes and bandages where he had a few minor scrapes. "Seriously, nothing really happened to me."

"I can't believe you would do something like that, Derek. Honestly, what were you thinking chasing after people like that? You could have been killed!"

Please say it's too dangerous for me to go on this stupid journey or that the cops need me for some other questions or whatever. Seriously, I'll take any excuse. Anything to get out of having to put up with those Pokémon.

Julia sighed, but then smiled sadly at Derek. "I guess you'll just have to learn you can't go chasing criminals like that. I suppose it's my fault for not letting you go out and explore the world more to learn about some of the things you shouldn't do. But now you'll get to learn all sorts of things!"

Oh, come on! Whatever happened to those annoying motherly instincts that made her want me to be with her constantly? I could really use them right about now…

"Seriously, Mom," Derek sighed, shaking his head, "I really, really don't want to do this. I don't know what you think I'm going to get out of this stupid journey, but I'm telling you now that whatever you think is going to happen, it isn't."

"Look," Julia said, staring Derek in the eye. "I know you aren't exactly fond of Pokémon. That's okay. After your father…well, I can't say I'm surprised by your attitude towards them. I'm not sending you out in the big, wide world for you to change your mind about them. I'm sending you out there to go find yourself. Right now you're young and headstrong. You know almost nothing about the world around you. I've sheltered you for too long. It's time for you to go out there and discover who you really are."

"But—"

"You know," Julia said, cutting him off, "your immaturity to this whole thing just proves how much growing up you have left to do. I'm sorry, sweetie, but this is what I think is best for you. You have a lot of things that you have to learn that I'm afraid you won't be able to learn by just staying at home."

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes, but didn't press the matter any further. It was pretty obvious by now that his mother wasn't going to be changing her mind, no matter how many near-death experiences by eyeless bats or psycho beach balls he had.

I guess that leaves me with plan B: ditch the little creature off somewhere where it won't find its way back, and then go home with some story as to why I can't go back out there.

A knocking at the door distracted him from his plotting, but before he could stand up to get it, his mom had already crossed the small distance to the door and was greeting their visitor.

Opening the door, she smiled at the new arrival. "Ah, hello. I assume you're here for Derek, yes? Please come in."

A man Derek had never seen before stepped into his house, smiling politely at his mother, who closed the door behind the new arrival. It wasn't too hard to determine who he was. The lab coat he wore and tray he had in his hands together were practically a dead giveaway.

"Hello, hello," he said, slightly out of breath. He smiled at Derek, who stared blankly back at him. "So, um, I guess I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? I'm Richard, one of Professor Elm's assistants. He, uh, sent me to get these things for you, Derek." At this, he motioned to the tray he held in his hands, which had some sort of electronic gizmo sitting on it, along with more of those red and white balls, albeit smaller than the ones Derek remembered from his experience from earlier that morning. "So, um, I'll just hand these off to the Professor and be on my way. Where is he?"

Derek shrugged. "How should I know? I haven't seen him since the fire."

The smile on the assistant's face fell, and he glanced around nervously. "You mean he's not here yet? But…he went on before me. I had to go back to the lab and everything…"

"I'm sure he's on his way here right now," Julia said, trying to reassure the assistant. "After all, you know the Professor. He's probably gotten distracted by some sort of new idea of his or something."

"I suppose," Richard said with a sigh. "Well, I guess I could go ahead and give you these things, Derek. I know you're probably really impatient to be off."

At this, Derek rolled his eyes and grumbled something inaudible. Richard managed to hear him, but just barely, so he naturally assumed that the boy was grumbling about not being able to leave yet, or something to that extent. "Now, now, you'll be on your way soon. But first, I've got to tell you about these things."

Richard then launched into a speech about the items on the tray. Apparently, those red and white balls were called "Poké Balls," and were used to catch any creature that they came in contact with. Nothing he really needed to know. After all, he wasn't going to be catching any of those beasts any time in the foreseeable future. The other thing was supposed to be some kind of fancy hi-tech encyclopedia thing called a Pokédex, or something like that. Big whoop. He didn't want to know anything more than he already knew about Pokémon, and he probably would never need to know any more.

"And that's all you really need to know," Richard finished, pushing the tray towards Derek. "Did you need me to repeat anything or explain something again?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "I think I've got it." Not like I'm going to use any of that stuff he was yammering about anyway.

The assistant smiled and nodded. "Alright, if you're sure." He then glanced nervously at his watch before glancing back at the door. "Um, I'm sort of getting worried about the Professor. He should have been here by now. Maybe I should go looking for—"

The door to the house slammed open in the middle of his sentence, causing Richard to jump from the sudden noise. Spinning around in surprise, the assistant couldn't help but sigh in relief when he saw Professor Elm standing sheepishly in the doorway.

"Sorry I kept you all waiting," Elm said, rubbing the back of his head. "I was on my here, but then I remembered that I needed to get the Starter Pokémon for little Drew over there. So I tried to make my way back to my lab, but I ended up getting a bit lost…"

Perfectly alright, Professor," Richard said, still grinning. "I've already told Derek all about Poké Balls and the Pokédex while we were waiting for you, so all he needs is his Pokémon and he can be on his way."

Elm nodded at his assistant. "Well, it seems you're on top of things, Ricky. But I'm afraid I have some bad news about the Pokémon. You see…well, I forgot that we gave the Totodile to another Trainer earlier this week, and the Chikorita we had was transported to Cherrygrove City along with the rest of the Pokémon, and we're unable to receive any Pokémon via the transport system because of the fire. So I'm afraid all we have is that Cyndaquil that was almost stolen from our lab. Is that alright, Derek?"

Derek shrugged and opened his mouth to speak, but Elm quickly cut in. "Ah, of course it's alright. I bet you're happy to get any Pokémon, aren't you? Now then, where did I put the Poké Ball…?"

Professor Elm quickly began digging through his various pockets, spilling pens, blank pieces of paper, and even a few pieces of food on the floor as he tried to find the lost sphere. He started muttering to himself after a few minutes, his hands still rummaging through his multiple deep pockets and whatever was in them. Derek really didn't want to think about what kinds of things the Professor might have accidentally misplaced in his lab coat over the years.

"Ah, here it is!" Elm exclaimed after about ten minutes of searching. With a flourish he pulled out a slightly dirty Poké Ball and held it up for everyone to see. Rubbing the sphere on his lab coat, he nodded a few times, and then passed the ball to Derek, who silently took it and added it to the pile of other red and white orbs Richard had given him.

"Alright then, I think that's about it. Good luck on your journey, Dexter. Now then, come along, Roberto. We've got some work to do."

"Right," Richard said as he stood up and followed the Professor on his way out the door. "Have fun, Derek."

"Goodbye!" Julia said, waving them off from the doorway. Smiling, she shut the door behind them and turned to Derek. "Well then young man, you'd better be on your way. After all, you've got some ground to cover if you want to make it to Cherrygrove by tomorrow."

Derek glanced back down at the pile of Poké Balls and Pokédex. They were going to be his life now, whether he liked it or not. But he was determined to make sure that they were only a temporary part of it, hopefully one that lasted no more than a week. With a sigh, he scooped the gifts from Professor Elm into his bag, gave his mom one last hug goodbye, and walked out of his house into the world beyond.

Derek blinked once, then twice as he looked around him. He was in the woods: that much was obvious from the trees and brush that spread out in every which direction for as far as he could see. The problem? Every which direction looked the same as the last.

"Where the heck am I?" he shouted to no one in particular. His cry startled a tiny, brown bird in the tree above him, causing it to lose its balance in surprise and fall from the branch it was roosting on. Luckily, being a bird, falling wasn't that big of a deal, as it simply spread its wings and recovered control over its decent. In return for startling it, the bird chirped at Derek, before deciding to empty its bowels on the annoying creature that had startled it. With a quiet ploop! the droppings landed on Derek's shoulder, making him recoil in a mixture of surprise and disgust.

"Ugh!" he cried, staring at the white and black gunk. Glancing around, he practically ran over to the nearest pile of leaves on the forest floor. Shrugging his backpack off carefully, he set it aside. Grabbing a handful of leaves, he began to wipe at the disgusting white excrement. While he did manage to get most of it off, his wiping caused the mess to smear, leaving multiple white streaks staining his new jacket. While he really didn't care about the jacket itself, he still didn't like the idea of walking around with bird dropping stains all over him.

"Stupid bird," he mumbled, flinging the leaves away. They scattered in a large cloud, spinning and floating down onto the forest floor again. Guess I can check hopelessly lost and crapped on off of my to-do list, Derek thought miserably as he turned to pick his bag back up. To his surprise, though, it wasn't there. Thinking that maybe he had set it somewhere else, he looked around for any sign of it, trying to remember where he had put the thing. It couldn't have gotten too far, right?

And yet, it was nowhere to be found. That didn't make any sense. He had put it down right next to him when he had gone to clean off his shoulder, so it should have been close by. But somehow, in the time it had taken him to wipe off the stain, his bag had somehow disappeared.

"Well, this is just great!" he cried, feeling the urge to pull at his hair. "Where in the world did my bag go?"

"Rattata!" a voice said happily, making Derek pause in his frantic searching. Slowly, he took a few steps around the tree next to his right, glancing around it to see if he could spy what had just spoken.

There, at the base of the tree, was his backpack. But there was something weird about it. It looked almost as though it were moving on its own. Which would be impossible, Derek thought. That was when he noticed it: there, sticking out of the top of the bag was a long, curly, purple tail that gave an occasional wiggle.

"Hey!" Derek shouted, making his backpack jump about an inch into the air. Without a second thought, the creature dashed out of his bag, scampering away in a mad rush. Derek barely had time to see that it was some kind of purple rat before it disappeared into the brush with a rustle.

"Stupid rat," Derek grumbled, grabbing his back and leafing through its contents to make sure nothing had been half eaten or anything. The food seemed fine, for the most part. Derek did toss a can that had been bitten into and partially opened. Besides that, everything else seemed to be—

Derek's eyes widened when he realized that something was, in fact, missing. Trying to fight down the rising panic that was surfacing within him, he pawed through his bag again, his searching getting more frantic by the second as the item he was looking for continued to elude him.

Nononononononononono! he shouted in his head, his panic starting to get the better of him. He couldn't have lost it. It just wasn't possible! How could he have already lost it? He hadn't even opened his pack since he left his house! It should have been—

"That rat!" he exclaimed, clicking two and two together. That rat must have taken it! It was the only possible explanation as to why it wasn't in his bag anymore. Well, he wasn't going to just let that rat run away with his stuff! Especially not that…

Shaking his head, Derek took off after the rat, practically diving into the brush that the Pokémon had run into. He was rewarded with a series of stings across his body, especially in areas where he didn't have anything covering his skin, like his hands. Looking down, he saw that the plant was covered in a tangle of thorns, many of which were digging into his flesh as he shoved his way through.

It took about a minute's worth of thrashing and grumbling for Derek to fight his way through the brush. And in that time, he was fairly certain he had covered himself and his new clothes in a tangled mess of scratches, but he didn't care. All that mattered was getting it back. Everything else was secondary.

Stepping out of the annoying bramble, he quickly scanned the surrounding area, his head whipping back and forth as he frantically searched for the little thief that had stolen from him. There! A flash of movement to his right caught his attention. Immediately turning to face the purple blur he had seen out of the corner of his eye, Derek let out a sigh of relief when he saw a Rattata holding a white rectangle in his paws.

His relief was short lived, however, when he realized what the Rattata was doing. The tiny purple mouse was gnawing on the rectangle, a happy look plastered on his face as he slowly devoured Derek's item.

"Hey, give that back!" Derek shouted, pouncing at the rat. The Rattata was completely caught off guard by the sudden assault, as he was too busy eating to notice some stupid human trouncing through the woods. And he certainly never expected one to run up and try to grab him.

With a cry of triumph, Derek lifted the Rattata into the air, taking care not to hold on too tightly for fear of crushing his possession. That would prove to be a mistake, though. Because of his loose grip, the Rattata was easily able to squirm around in his hand and get some leverage. After that, it was almost too easy to bite the human with his large fangs, the sharp teeth digging into the flesh of Derek's hand.

Derek cried out from the sudden flash of pain, his reflexes immediately kicking in and dropping his assailant. Not sticking around for another ride, the Rattata took off, his little legs carrying him as fast as he could away from the crazy human.

"Dang it," Derek hissed. Clenching his fist in a poor attempt to stop his thumb from bleeding, he quickly gave chase to the rogue Rattata. He wasn't going to let the rat get away from him again.

Weaving his way through the trees, Derek struggled to keep up with the rat. For something so tiny, the thing sure was fast. Also, the fact that his small stature allowed him to easily hide in the plentiful vegetation on the forest floor didn't help matters either. It was practically a miracle that Derek could even follow the path the Ratata was taking, let alone try to chase after him.

Somehow though, Derek barely managed to keep up with the purple mouse, and as the chase continued, the trees and other flora around the two of them slowly started to thin out. This simple fact alone started to turn the tide of the race more in Derek's favor, for with less plant-life meant more room for him to run, and less places for the Ratata to hide.

The only problem? All this running was tiring Derek out. Being only ten years old, and the fact that he wasn't used to running long distances, he was practically gasping for air at this point as his muscles burned from his frantic running. If not for the adrenaline rush he had gotten from finding out his stuff had been stolen, he probably would have had to stop long ago.

Just about when Derek was about to collapse from exhaustion, the most amazing thing happened. In front of him, the rectangular item the Ratata had stolen from him was suddenly flung away by the rat, who then promptly sped off into a patch of thick grass, no doubt hoping that the crazy human who was chasing him would finally leave him alone.

Derek didn't really notice the Rattata's escape, though. The second the rat dropped his item, he pounced, landing on top of it in a sweaty heap. He lay there for a few minutes, gasping for air after his run, his left hand firmly clutched around the object he'd chased after. Knowing he couldn't lie there all day, he sat up with a groan. He blinked off a slight wave of dizziness, taking a look at his right hand where the rat had bitten him.

"I guess I can check being stolen from and eaten off the list," he muttered. "And knowing my luck, I'll be adding rabies to it soon. Yippee."

Looking around, he realized he had another problem. In front of him was a small field covered in long grass that looked like it could probably come up to his knees in places. Behind him was the woods he had just ran out of, and wasn't looking forward to going back to. The problem? He had absolutely no idea how to get back to the path to Cherrygrove.

"Well, this is just great," Derek groaned, running a hand across his face. Glancing down at his left hand where he held the now-retrieved item, he allowed himself a small, sad smile. "At least I managed to get this back."

The rectangular object wasn't in the best of shape. Even before it had gone through the latest robbery incident, it looked as though it had been bent and crumpled up many times before. Turning it over, Derek gazed down at the picture he had looked at so many times before and had practically committed to memory. It was a simple photo of three people standing outside, most likely taken during the summer based on the clothes they were wearing. On the left was Julia Aareno, looking years younger than she did now. She was laughing and holding the hand of a rather tall and muscular man. The man, meanwhile, was trying to smile, but a little boy sitting on his shoulders was pulling on his hair, making it a bit difficult.

"Dad," Derek whispered, absentmindedly running his thumb over the corner the Rattata had just chewed off. Sitting on the ground, his thoughts began to wander as he gazed at the photo, trying to remember the bearded man in the picture. It wasn't much. Over the years, his memory had faded, almost to the point where the man seemed almost unreal. A stranger, with the only clue he had ever existed being the photograph of him that Derek possessed. And quite frankly, Derek wasn't sure what parts he remembered of him were actual fact and which parts he had simply made up in his youthful fantasies.

Sitting there in the afternoon sun, Derek soon found that his eyes were getting heavy, and at one point he even had to stifle a yawn. He was tired. It had been a long day, filled with things catching on fire, random people trying to kill him, and doing a bunch of things that quite frankly he didn't want to do.

Deciding that a little nap wouldn't hurt, he put the picture in the pocket of his jacket, and lay down in the warm grass. He could sleep for a little while, and then get up in about a half an hour and be on his way. Plus, he could use any extra time he could waste, as it would seem more convincing that he actually tried to go on this stupid journey if he returned to New Bark Town Pokémon-less later rather than sooner. But not too much later. He definitely didn't want to be gallivanting around in a bunch of woods for a couple of months. He figured a week would be sufficient enough. If he could make it that long on his own without running into any more trouble.

But fate or destiny or Arceus or whatever entity that seemed to have a personal agenda against him would make sure that he wouldn't be getting sleep any time soon. And all it took was three simple words.

"Eevee, Sand-Attack!"

At once a swirling cloud of sand overcame Derek, startling him awake. Sitting up, he opened his eyes, and was greeted by a swarm of thousands of tiny particles. He cried out in pain as the sand stung his eyes, though that merely caused more sand to enter his mouth and he began to choke violently.

"Now Tackle!"

Blinded and choked by sand, Derek was completely helpless as something furry rammed into his back, knocking him face-first into the dirt. Upon doing so, the sand cloud faded into thin air, leaving Derek to try to knock whatever it was off his back. It had pinned his arms underneath him though, and from the awkward position his legs were in, he wasn't able to get a good amount of leverage off the ground to try to buck the thing off.

"Hang on a sec…" the same voice who had given the commands said with a hint of doubt. Nearby, Derek heard the sound of footsteps as the person approached him, followed by a groan. "Ah, crap. Eevee, get off of him. He's not one of the guys we're looking for." The pressure on his back from whatever the thing was vanished almost before the voice finished speaking. Groaning, Derek lifted himself on his hands and knees and began hacking up globs of sand onto the ground, trying to clear his throat.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that," the voice said sheepishly.

Sitting up, Derek rubbed his eyes uneasily as he attempted to dislodge the burning bits of sand that had settled there. He blinked rapidly a few times, trying to get his vision back to normal. Once the tears began fading away, Derek let out an involuntary gasp of surprise at the scene in front of him.

"Y-You!" he croaked, his voice hoarse from the sand rubbing against his windpipe. There, kneeling in front of him, was the girl he had seen earlier today with the fox thing that had come to his rescue. Now that she wasn't running or kicking Pokémon around, Derek could make out what she looked like. She appeared to be older than him by a few years, as even though she was kneeling in front of him, Derek could tell that she was at least about three or four inches taller than he was, if not more. She wore what appeared to be an aviator jacket, although it wasn't as thick as one a pilot would wear. Under that she had a simple blue shirt, which matched the blue on her fingerless blue and brown gloves. Beyond that, she wore a pair of lighter blue shorts, and a pair of slightly grass-stained sneakers that were a bit too close to Derek than he cared for them to be after seeing her kick around that one purple ball Pokémon.

The brown haired girl blinked at him, tilting her head to the side in a clear show of confusion. "Um, yeah, I'm me," she replied.

"You're the crazy wild girl that attacked that pirate moon earlier," Derek said. His response only seemed to confuse the girl even further, as her eyebrows knitted together at the top of her head as she tried to make sense of what he was saying.

"Crazy wild girl? Pirate moons?" she said slowly. Then, her face suddenly lit up in surprise, and she stared at Derek even harder. "Oh, you mean the Koffing! You must have been that suicidal boy that was dumb enough to try to attack them."

Derek glared at her. "I was trying to stop them."

"And you were doing a bang up job of it," the girl replied, rolling her dark green eyes to the sky.

"Just who are you anyway?" Derek asked in annoyance, spitting out some of the last few grains of sand onto the ground.

The girl sighed. "If you must know, my name is Sara. Sara Slater. I'm just your average, run-of-the-mill Trainer out chasing her dreams and exploring this amazing world of ours. I haven't been doing it for very long, only a few weeks really, but trust me, I'm well on my way of becoming the best there ever was."

Derek blinked. "Okay…" he mumbled. "You know, you really didn't have to tell me all about your life ambitions and all that other junk. I just wanted to know your name. You can skip the whole best-Trainer-in-the-world stuff."

The girl huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "Well then, why don't you tell me your name, little boy."

"Derek Aareno," Derek replied, frowning at being called a 'little boy'. "There. See how I answered that? Short, sweet, and simple."

"Whatever," Sara replied, shrugging her shoulders. "So, Derek, just what were you thinking confronting those Team Rocket guys like that? I mean, you didn't even try to fight back when they started attacking you. What, did you think they were just going to go, 'Oh no, we were caught! Here, have all this stuff we stole, because now we have to go turn ourselves in to the police!'?"

"Shut up," Derek growled. "I didn't see you doing any better. You were pretty much worthless after that purple thing got you." At that, Derek paused for a second, something strange popping into his mind. "Hey wait, I thought you were hurt in that fight from that purple gas. How are you walking around like nothing happened now?"

Sara paused for a moment, clearly not expecting that question from Derek. "Um…Pecha Berries," she replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Yeah. They get rid of poison, so I just ate a few of those and I was as good as new."

"Vee," the brown fox added, nodding her head.

"Right…" Derek said, sensing something off with their explanation. Shrugging, he decided it really didn't matter that much. His muscles were stiff from sitting on the ground, so he stood up, taking his bag with him. "Well, then, I guess it was nice meeting you, Sara, but I should get going. You know, places to go and stuff to do and all that other Trainer junk."

Shouldering his pack, Derek took his first step away from the weird girl and her fox, only to hear her take a few steps around him and suddenly block his path.

"Hang on a sec," she said, an odd smile on her face.

Derek sighed, fixating her with a glare. "What do you want now?"

With a flourish, she raised her right arm and pointed at his face. "Derek Aareno, I challenge you to a Pokémon Battle!"

Yeah, not really sure how this chapter turned out. Big thanks to my beta, Red on the Mountaintop, for going through and pointing out my numerous clunky and unneeded phrases and descriptions. This chapter would definitely be a lot worse if not for his help.

For those of you who read the old Johto Journey, you probably noticed a lot of changes with this chapter. Namely, everything in this chapter up until Derek and Sara meet up in the field being completely new. Oh, and for the observant ones, you might have also noticed I changed Sara's last name from 'Styler' to 'Slater.' Her old last name was just way to obvious of a rip-off of a styler, so hence the change in name.

Chapter three, "Lie to Me," should be out in a few weeks if all goes well. It will feature Derek and Sara's battle, along with some other things mixed in there.

Big thanks go out to everyone who reviewed last chapter. You guys all rock. And don't forget to drop a review for this one to tell me how I did. Concrit, as always, is greatly appreciated.