I put on my best shoes, and my best cologne. I was dressed to impress, I didn't want to look like a fool in front of the entire Azalea police force. My mind was throwing more suggestions out then I could keep up with. The best types were dragon, fighting, steel and psychic in that order. I would be all set if I got one of those as my starter, though any type of pokémon could have the potential to take on the league. Champion Roman had a linoone for god sake.

I chose to walk to the station, I could've just barrowed Marshal's car, but I could handle the exercise. A five mile walk couldn't get a drop of sweat out of me. Southern Azalea was very rustic; most people stayed to themselves and only ever left their homes to go to the store. The police station was in the cluster of small buildings and stores in the center of town. Everyone's homes were in the woods for the most part, except for the farmers whom were in the fields.

I had been walking to the town for my entire life; I knew every person in the town and waved at everybody that passed. I was right outside of the police station. 'SA Sheriff Office,' it read. I stepped through the door, the secretary greeted me. I asked for Samantha, he guided me to her office. I stepped in to find her simply lounging in her chair watching the mini-television in the upper corner of the room. The room was neatly sorted out, all the papers were placed inside of the file cabinets and the carpet didn't have a hint of a stain. The walls were baby blue and had a few pictures hung up on the surface.

"I've been waiting for you; I thought you'd skip out on me. You took so damn long." The lieutenant motioned for me to sit down on the wooden chair on the opposite side of the desk.

"Well, I walked here." I explained whilst getting seated.

"That's a five mile hike here. You should've just taken a car." She laughed.

"If I drove every time I wanted to go somewhere I would be four hundred pounds by now." I joked; Samantha nodded her head in agreement.

"But you'd be one hell of a driver."

"That's if I can even lift my foot enough to get in the goddamn car." I replied. She stared at the television, there was a story about the Rocket's robbing a convenient store in Ecruteak City.

"It's really getting out of hand, y'know?" The middle aged lady sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. "The police force is doing all that they can to prevent this type of stuff from happening, but we only have so many men."

"I understand, at first I didn't care. I figured it would never come to us, seeing as we're so far from the city. But they won't stop until they have control of the entire region, and after that, they'll try and take the world." The mood in the room darkened, and it was silent for a while. The only sound came from the television.

"We can't fight them; they outnumber us 3 to 1." She frowned. "They have very powerful pokémon on their side; in Cherrygrove they recently confiscated a pokeball containing a gyarados. If he had let that thing out, Cherrygrove would be turned into ash." I could hear the anger swelling in her voice.

"And on top of all of that, they are trying to drop a ban on pokémon. These trainers are the only thing keeping us from being obliterated." A pokémon ban? Why hadn't I heard of that before?

"Wait, why would they ban pokémon? When did they decide they wanted to do that?" I asked her.

"It won't go through; The Pokémon League wouldn't allow them to do something like that, but I'm still surprised they would even consider that."

"Who the hell is 'they'?" I made air quotations with my fingers.

"The public, the goddamn public, Ace." She exhaled, putting her head in her hands.

"Pokémon training is a huge part of the economy, if they banned it we would go into a depression." The lieutenant mumbled so that I could barely hear her.

She stood up and stretched. "Anyway, Aceves, I wanted to repay you." Her voice went back to its regular happy tone quicker than a whip.

"For what? I don't remember doing anything for you." I asked.

"It's not what you did for me, at least not directly. About fifteen years ago, I was just entering the police force as a cadet. I was so young my breath still smelled like milk." Samantha giggled reminiscence.

"Before I could fully join however, I needed a pokémon. It is required for every officer to own a pokémon for protection. I could never find just the right pokémon. They all were too big, or too small. They didn't like me enough, or they were too clingy. I wanted a Goldilocks pokémon, just right." She told from memory.

"Well, it was my last resort, but I did it anyway. I went to a little ranch in Azalea, they were just starting out. They had a shepherd pokémon that had just given birth to pups. Of course, the ranch couldn't afford to keep all of them so they wanted to sell them all." She paused and took a drink of coffee from a pink mug.

"Nine puppies, adorable little things too. One ran up to me, he was 5th born, a feisty little thing. We were made for each other, and the farmers could see that. They gave me the puppy for free, and I've had him ever since." I didn't kid myself; I knew where she was going with that.

"I'm sure you realized this, but those farmers were your grandparents." She smiled. "I want to repay them by giving you a pokémon. I've filled out the papers for you, and I have the pokémon I want you to meet." She opened a drawer, and pulled out a little red and white pokeball.

"This pokémon was abused by its trainer, it was beaten, starved and it suffered more emotional damage than you can imagine. His name is Jackal." She tossed the ball on the ground, and the loud noise bounced off the walls of the small room.

The explosion left a blue dog-like creature in its wake. It was standing on all fours, but as soon as it saw me it rose up on its hind legs. The pokémon had small metal plates on the back of its paws, and one plate on its chest. It had a pattern on its face that was reminiscent of a mask and two bright amber colored eyes sitting on it. It was definitely male, unless my eyes were deceiving me.

"Jackal, huh?" I could get used to that name. A riolu, that wasn't as lucky as it sounded. I appreciated the gift, and good hearted as it was, it was more like a bomb in a box. Oh well, I guess it's the thought that counts.