AN: Pokemon faint in the place of death. When Pokemon are revived from fainting, they lose all prior damage. Therefore, Pokemon do not take permanent damage. There is only one way to kill a pokemon... which will be revealed in a future chapter.

Also, thanks everyone for your support. The criticism helps me grow and get better, and the positive comments motivate me to work harder.

I sat back down on the boulder, scratching my head. I set my Beast Ball down beside me as I tried to comprehend what just happened. I picked up my starter's ball, and felt it. The ridges on it felt alien to me.. I was used to the smooth, round pokeballs we practiced with in trainer's school.

"GULL!" A wild Wingull cried, flying towards me at breakneck speed. I dodged to the side, and got off the boulder, my Beast Ball still in my right hand. The wingull swiveled in air to look back at me.

I sheepishly remembered I was standing in the middle of the wilderness. My only hope was that my starter could battle. The old men had said the Poipole was just a baby, so I wasn't that sure it could.

I gave it a try, and threw the ball in a near-perfect arc (I've never done anything perfectly) and in a flash of white light, out came what was apparently a Poipole. It was purple, and had a vaguely reptilian appearance. It was able to float in air, and its head was quite large compared to the rest of its body.

I knew that all pokemon could understand human speech from birth (one of the many mysteries of the universe), so I yelled to it, "Fight!"

The Poipole turned to look at me with its large cyan eyes, then it turned to the Wingull that was flapping its wings in place not too far away, seemingly analyzing the new threat.

A humming sound emanated from the Poipole. It then opened its mouth and blasted the Wingull with a bright orange stream of thick liquid. I raised an eyebrow as the Wingull fell to the ground, its wings burnt off. After there was no movement for a few seconds, I assumed the Wingull had fainted. It was a one hit kill.

"Hey Poipole… uh, good job?" I said, trying to think of something to say.

My starter zipped through the air to get closer to me. Apparently it could do that.

"You just used the move Acid. That's nice. Aagh, I wish I could get a Pokedex! We need get a regional recommendation for those..." I complained.

"Poi?"

"You're my starter pokemon. My first. Currently, my only. Seriously, this is so unexpected…" I sat back down on the boulder. I had researched every species of known pokemon in order to gain an edge for when I would start my journey. Even after all of that work, I didn't even know my starter's type. It wasn't my fault it came from another planet.

"Poi? Poipole…"

I looked at my starter. "Can you say, 'Poipole' three times consecutively if you understand me?" I wanted to know that, first of all.

"Poipole Poipole Poipole," it said.

"That's great! Um… I know we aren't exactly from the same planet, but I hope we can be best friends…" I said, my years of anticipating this moment rushing through my head like a Tauros chasing a red sky.

My pokemon nodded its head. I was surprised nodding mean 'yes' in its world, too. Maybe our worlds are more connected than I presumed, I thought. Then I started walking back to Littleroot Town to get my pokemon checked. I wanted to know more about it. Excitement coursed through my veins, with thoughts of the aliens deliberately pushed to the back of my mind. "Follow me, please. You might get to meet some interesting people there," I told my pokemon. It kept up with me by floating as I ran back.

"So? How is it?" I asked. I was at the pokemon center of Littleroot Town, talking to the nurse who had agreed to check over my Poipole (I had returned it to its Beast Ball).

"Your Poipole is a male poison type. It knows Acid, Growl, Helping Hand, and Peck. It is indeed a newborn, but it can fight well," the nurse said, handing me back my ball. I gratefully accepted the Beast Ball, and showed her my trainer's license to avoid having to pay for the services.

I turned to walk away but the nurse put her hand on my shoulder. "Wait," She said, a strange glint in her eye.

I turned back around and crossed my arms, anticipating what she was going to say. "Where did you get that?" She asked. "That's an Ultra Beast. I didn't even know it existed until I looked through our records."

I laughed nervously. "I was walking around the outskirts of town when I saw the ball just lying on the ground."

She smiled. "You are quite obviously lying. No one who can afford such a pokeball would even consider coming to this area. There isn't anything noteworthy here! Tell me, honestly. You saw an ultra wormhole, didn't you?" She said, her eyes narrowed.

I looked at my feet, deciding there wasn't any harm in telling her the truth. "Yes. These people came out of it and gave this pokemon to me. I have a license, but no pokemon, so I decided to make it my starter…"

The nurse's eyes widened. "Oh no… I'm afraid you'll have to give me that ball back, if that is so. I have received orders to collect anything related to Ultra Megalopolis and send it to Ever Grande City," She said.

I stared at her blankly. "Ultra Megawho? And I'm not giving away my starter. Although it was a surprise, I'm quite happy with my starter being a Poipole, and I don't want that to cha-" I said.

"That's enough!" The nurse interrupted, her demeanor suddenly stiffening.

"Well, so, well, uh," I stammered. There was no one else in the pokemon center, so there wasn't anyone I could look to for aide. "You can't steal my pokemon like this…" I said, backing away. The nurse jumped on the counter, and stood atop it, her ravenous blue eyes never leaving the Beast Ball in my hands. "I could retire with the money I'll get from sending that ball to Hoenn's government! And with a clean conscience! Look, this is completely legal, and you'll become a criminal if you resist. So what will it be, huh?" The nurse said.

I was frozen for a few seconds, after which I regained my composure. "I'll be a criminal then! You can't take my Poipole from me!" I yelled, running out of the pokemon center's automatic doors. I continued running through the roads, the world around me blurring. I reached the wilderness surrounding our town, and didn't stop until I couldn't run anymore. I felt like I had just swallowed a brick; I fell to the ground, and decided to release Poipole. It appeared in a flash of light, and turned towards me. Its face betrayed no emotion.

"I'm just a little tired, don't worry," I said, assuming (more like hoping) my pokemon was concerned for me. After all, I was lying on the ground in tall grass, groaning and clutching my stomach.

The Poipole tilted its head slightly to the left. "Poi?"

"I'm a criminal now, or something. Everything's happening so fast, it feels like I'm having a pretty stupid dream. But yeah, I think my license will get revoked or something. I don't even know…" I continued rambling about my predicament, and Poipole just floating there, staring at me. It felt nice to have a patient listener. Ray wasn't exactly that good of a listener.

After a while, I got up, and looked around. No one had chased me, which was good.

"Do you want to train or something?" I asked my starter. In my dreams of becoming a trainer, I had imagined making sure my starter was great at battling with me before going to Oldale Town, the nearest town. It had a route that connected to Petalburg City, which was where the nearest gym was.

But I was a criminal, and if my license got revoked, I couldn't challenge a gym. I chose to think of my future later, and simply get started on training.

"Poipole, I'm going to walk around. If a wild pokemon comes near me, you may attack it," I said. I had decided to save strategy for after my starter got used to defeating pokemon and using its moves.

"Poipole!" My starter said with a cheer. I started walking in a direction away from both Littleroot Town and Oldale Town. I didn't want to run into any other trainers.

And that's exactly what happened. Not 30 seconds after I started walking, I saw an young boy, around eight years old, run up to me.

"Hey! Wanna battle? I'm not an official trainer yet, but my father has taught me well!" The boy said. He was wearing a tan colored hat and held a bug catching net.

"You already have pokemon!" I exclaimed. Possession of pokemon below the age of 13 was illegal under normal circumstances.

"Hey, I have a license for taking care of bug type pokemon. My father got it for me. I'm not allowed to battle with them, so just don't tell anyone about our fight, all right?" He said.

I sighed. So far, everything I had done since getting my license was illegal. "One on one?" I asked.

"Fine by me. I'll assume you're using that exotic pokemon near you. It must be from the mainland or something. That's fine. Go, Kakuna!" The boy yelled, throwing a pokeball in the air. In a flash of light, out came a Kakuna.

I tried my best to stifle a laugh. "Those things can't fight! Beedrill are impressive, but Kakuna! Seriously!"

The boy's face reddened. "Oh yeah? Then let's place a bet on our battle. The loser gives 5 empty pokeballs of any kind to the winner. Deal?"

I smirked. "Done deal. Now let's get ready…" The two of us distanced ourselves, and our pokemon floating in front of us. I told my Poipole how a trainer battle works, and he seemed to understand. I actually didn't have any spare pokeballs on me, so I was eager to get some from the kid.

"START!" The boy screamed. He immediately told his Kakuna to stay in place and Harden. I smirked yet again and told Poipole to use Acid. Acid was a special move, so an increased physical defence wouldn't matter.

Poipole floated closer to the Kakuna, and spat out a large glob of acid. The boy smiled, and said, "Execute plan Long 34!"

The opponent Kakuna dodged with speed I had thought impossible for a Kakuna. It then used String Shot at my Poipole, who had just stopped using Acid on the spot where its opponent had just been. My pokemon fell to the ground a second later, wrapped in the white silk of Kakuka's making.

"Great job! Now finish it up!" The boy shouted. I looked at him with anger, finding myself hating that stupid grin on his face. "Poipole, use Acid to free yourself, dodge, then Growl!" I yelled.

However, my starter wasn't fast enough. The Kakuna used Tackle on my pokemon several times, each time knocking the senses out of my Poipole. The Kakuna was using speed to win… I never thought I'd see something like that.

The battle was over, lasting less than a minute total. I lost. My Poipole was fainted, the Kakuna left without a scratch. We returned our pokemon, and the boy ran over to me.

"That was a nice battle, right! May I have my 5 pokeballs now?" The boy said, a faint smile touching his lips.

I looked at him in his annoying face. I didn't even have what he wanted. I examined the long grass around us, swaying in the gentle breeze.

I then punched the boy in the face, and took the two pokeballs hanging on his belt. While the boy was recovering from my attack, I stuffed the two balls in my gray backpack. He was now disarmed. I grinned. I was a criminal, so I figured another illegal act wouldn't change anything.

The boy got up, groaning, but I punched him again, and he fell to the ground. I took the boy's backpack, and stole whatever I thought was useful. Potions, pokeballs, water, food, honey, and even a revive, among other things. I filled up my backpack. Then looked at the boy, lying on the ground in pain. I wondered why I had just done that. I started hating myself. Just because I couldn't take the shame of losing to a little boy…

I took out some bandages and tried my best to fix up the boy's face. I spent ten minutes on it before getting up and running off. I returned his two pokemon to him, but I still kept the items. I resolved to never do that again. I'll be a nice guy. An explorer. Hopefully Ray will appear in the League contest in ten months, having trained the whole time. I can meet him there. I just won't be participating.

I spent the rest of the day focusing on training my Poipole after reviving it with the boy's revive item. I didn't really know what my starter was thinking the whole time; he complied with everything I said happily. I had heard of new technology that enabled humans to understand pokemon speech, but that was too expensive anyway. Throughout the training, I gave my pokemon some of the healing items I had received.

When it was night time, I walked into Oldale Town, wanting to find a place to sleep in. I had told my parents I wouldn't return to them for another year, which was what I intended, but I had forgotten about asking them for money. I could rent a room in the pokemon center for free, but I would have to be a legal trainer for that.

"Poi!" My starter shivered. "How about I return you for now?" I asked him. My Poipole nodded, and I returned it into its pokeball. I intended on finding out whether or not I was a criminal. If I was a criminal... well, I couldn't run forever.

I walked towards the bright orange lights that was the pokemon center, the only illumination in the dark. Oldale was pretty small, more so than Littleroot Town. I had never been there before. It seemed those rumors I heard were true.

I entered, and saw the nurse putting away a pack of bandages in a shelf. There was no one else there.

I walked up to the counter and got her attention.

"Hello! It's pretty late. Did you want a room?" The nurse said, a fake smile plastered on her face.

I nodded and showed her my trainer license, a metal rectangle that was mostly navy blue in color. I sweated as she scanned the barcode, and a 'beep' came from the machine. She handed back the license after registering it to a one-person room with a twin sized bed for one night. I silently thanked whatever divine power had ensured I was able to get a place to sleep.

"Thanks." I walked up the stairs to the second floor and found my room. I used my license to open the door, and I found three people playing cards atop the twin sized bed.

"Sorry!" I yelped, exiting and closing the door. I checked the room number, wondering why I had gotten it wrong.

It wasn't wrong.

I walked in, now angry. "Who are you people! How are you in my room!" I yelled. The three people got up. They were all kids around my age.

One of them smiled and said, "hello, Siegal. Come play cards with us. We have a lot to tell you."

I raised an eyebrow. That wasn't even my name! Why in the name of Arceus couldn't anything happen normally? I walked into my room, yawning.

Chapter 2 MC/age/pokemon changes:

new MC: Micah (age: 8) - has a Kakuna and a Meditite.

Note: In case someone didn't know, MC means 'main character'.