Chapter Two anyone? Well, here it is and I hope you comment. Thank you!

The pokéball opened in her hand and a small form appeared in front of her feet, staring around at the auditorium and the people there with wonder. It looked almost chicken-like with orange fur and claw-like feet. Its black, but inviting, eyes met Kriss' and gazed at her with intelligence. She kneeled down to be almost eye level with her Pokémon and put her hand out eagerly.

"Hi! I'm Kr-Arggh!"

Torchic, a mischievous glint appearing in his eye, leaned over and bit her on the edge of her palm. Hard. Wringing her hand and blinking tears out of her eyes, she yelled, "What was that for, you little rat!"

The fire-type glared at her, his message obvious to her even though she couldn't understand his indignant chirps. I'm not a rat, you moron, I look like a baby bird! The Pokémon turned away and, Kriss was sure, if he had arms he would be crossing them right now. Sighing exasperatedly, she rose up and looked over at the other two, still holding her throbbing hand.

A Mudkip was sitting by Whitney, content at just looking around and being close to his trainer. Next to Whitney, Jerry was examining his Treecko, who was looking slightly fearful of the analyzing look but maintaining a constant hold upon Jerry's own eyes. Neither Whitney nor Jerry seemed to be having as much trouble from their own Pokémon as Kriss was.

Just my luck…

"Torchic? I know you don't-Torchic?" She looked over to where the Chick Pokémon was standing and, to both her annoyance and embarrassment, found him gone. Looking hurriedly around her, she found him walking to the door of the auditorium. She walked quickly after him, hoping to look like she was directing him to go and not that she was trying to catch him (even though she was). She caught up to him at the doors and quickly got in front of him. "Where do you think you're going?"

Away from here, duh. The message blazed sharper in Kriss' mind and she wondered if all trainers had to deal with this sort of behavior. Probably not, or every trainer would go mad. She pointed Torchic's pokéball at him and a red light came out of it. It angled towards Torchic, and the fire-type just strafed to the left and the light hit the ground uselessly.

"Oh, come on!" Kriss muttered, louder then she wanted it to be. She tried, once more, to return him to his ball, but he dodged and chirped merrily at her. Shrinking the ball and clipping it to her belt, she held out her hands with the palms facing Torchic. "Fine, fine. You don't have to go back inside your ball, but at least let me lead?"

Torchic stared at her for a moment, as if pondering deeply upon the matter, then nodded his head and nudged his head toward the door. Kriss sighed, and walked out, wonder exactly where she head off first. She knew that most trainers go running off towards the first gym leader, which she thought was located somewhere in Petalburg City. Her feet hurt at the very thought, Petalburg was very far off to the east and many miles between here and the city.

"We head east, I hear there is a gym there," Kriss explained to Torchic, whom gazed at her with a mixture of interest and loathing. I wonder if he can even understand me, Kriss thought to herself, but shrugged it off to the back of her mind. "Come on-"

Torchic turned and started trotting off, not east, but to the south. She blinked, there wasn't anything in that direction except for Littleroot Town and large stretches of forest, and even, farther off the ocean. Certainly no gyms, though. "Hey! There are no gyms in that direction!"

A little cascade of ember sparks was his response, and Kriss had to hastily dodge out of the way to avoid a burn. A vein ticked out in her forehead, as she growled and stalked off after her Pokémon. "This is so not how it's supposed to happen."

"Happy? You got us lost now, stupid chick," Kriss raged at the fire-type, who, looking innocent and cute, turned sweet eyes toward her. She shook her head, and put up a hand to him. "Oh no! Don't even think about it, mister. This is not my fault, but your fault! You wanted to go south and get us lost in the middle of nowhere, but I guess, we really had no idea where we were going anyhow!"

Torchic eyes lost the sweetness, and huffed a puff of hot air in her direction. Why did I even bring you along, you just nag, nag, nag. Kriss growled in return and looked around her, trying to find some sort of idea of where the next town was. But all she saw was trees, shrubs, plants, and more trees. There wasn't even any Pokémon in sight, not that it really matter-she had no pokéballs. Luckily, Torchic allowed her to go home and say goodbye to her parents and grab some supplies before heading off. Munching on a candy bar, she started heading hopefully off to the south. Torchic following after her with a I-have-no-other-option-so-I'll-follow-you air upon his face. She counted it as a win on her part.

"So Torchic," She muttered through bits of chocolate and granola in her mouth, "I don't think it would be very suitable to just call you Torchic all the time, how about a nickname."

"Tor," The fire-type muttered in response, looking at the half-eaten candy bar in Kriss' hand. She smiled at him, and held out her hand. On her palm rested the remains of the bar, not even half eaten yet. Torchic glanced at Kriss curiously, then ate up a few bites before turning away, full. He munched slowly, as considering Kriss' question very seriously.

"I'll take that as a yes!" She smiled and put the rest of the candy bar into her mouth. "Hmm, how about…Fire?"

Torchic shook his head, and Kriss couldn't' him. It would be like him (if he could) calling her carbon dioxide, seeing as that is what she expelled from her mouth. She thought to herself for a moment, pondering.

"How about Ruby?"

The fire-type huffed loudly in a negative tone. Hello? I am a boy, I don't want to be called by a girl's name.

"Well, my parents named me Kriss and that is a boy's name, even if it is spelled a little differently," Kriss pointed out, but Torchic just shook his head and nodded for her to continue with listing names.

"Fine, but I really did like Ruby," She said, slightly crestfallen. "Red? No sounds too blah, and it's not even really a name. How about Inferno? No, sounds too much like the Sinnoh Infernape. I know, I could call you Blaze!"

Torchic's eyes looked up and nodded, and gave a chirp of consent. Kriss laughed, and picked up her newly-named Blaze and hugged him tightly. "We are so going to be the best there ever is!"

"Torchic!"

"Oh, sorry," Kriss hastily put her Pokémon back onto the ground, but he didn't seem too displeased. He really did enjoy his new name.

"Who are you talking to?" A voice asked from Kriss' left and she glanced over to see a man standing there, looking at her strangely. He was middle-aged, around her father's own age, and was dressed in a plain shirt and pants, a lab coat hanging from his shoulders.

"Um," Kriss wondered if it was usual for trainers to talk to their own Pokémon but the man's eyes sparkled as he noticed Blaze, who seemed uncomfortable with the guy staring at him that way.

"I see you were talking to your Torchic, and don't worry, most trainers talk to their Pokémon," the man said, as if knowing her thoughts. "If they didn't, I think most would go insane in the first week if they didn't. I didn't introduce myself, I'm Professor Birch."

"I'm Kriss Aswell, and this is my partner, Blaze," Kriss announced, happily. "You said you were a professor? What exactly do you teach?"

"I'm really not much of a teacher," Birch said, truthfully. "I'm more of a learner, and I learn all that I can about Pokémon. All the different types, what makes them so special, and, of course, learning how many there are in this world!" He smiled brightly at her, then continued. "Are you a new trainer? I don't want to tell you this, but if you are looking for a gym, you're going in the wrong direction."

"I know," Kriss admitted, feeling her face turn slightly red. "But Blaze wanted to go in this direction for some reason, I'm still not really sure but…we're here."

"Sometimes Pokémon have special reasons for choosing the paths that they take, and I am somewhat happy that you did," said Birch. "I haven't seen a new trainer in a good while, ever since that stupid Battle Academy sprouted up north of here. Of course, I haven't been up to much catching Pokémon these days, it is a lot more interesting in just studying them. Come though, I think I have some stuff that you would be interested in."

"Okay, as long as it takes me out of this forest," Kriss admitted, rubbing her neck with embarrassment. "We sort of got lost."

"No problem! I know the forest like the back of my hand, but it might be useful for you to catch a flying-type. They help greatly when you are in a situation like this," Birch said and lead her in the opposite direction of that she and Blaze were going. The two exchanged exasperated looks with each other, then followed after the professor.

"Holy Miltank," Kriss praised, amazed at what she was seeing. "This is your lab?"

"Yep!" Birch said, looking out at the colossal building in front of the two and the Torchic. "Many of the trainers that used to come here leave their Pokémon they are not using here. It's a perfect place as the forest and the plains around here are mostly human-free and perfectly capable of having all types of Pokémon living here. If you ever need to, you can as well."

"Thank you," Kriss said, watching as a Manectric and a Magneton went by, content in enjoying the sunshine falling down upon them. Somewhere above them a Taillow cawed sharply, and was answered in return by many other caws. Blaze looked at them all, clearly in awe like his trainer.

"Come on, the items are inside." said Birch, then lead the two into the lab. People in lab coats like Birch hurried by, all seeming busy but not too occupied to greet Birch and Kriss. Torchic hid behind one of Kriss' legs, peering out uncertainly at all the higher beings then him. She didn't say anything or act like she noticed, she didn't want Blaze's pride to be hurt.

Birch took her to some sort of filling room, with cabinets lining the walls all the way up to the ceiling. He went over to a specific one on the far side of the room, labeled "Empty P." Kriss glanced over his shoulder to see that it was full of pokéballs. He grabbed five of them and handed them over to Kriss. "Here, all new Pokémon trainers need at least some pokéballs to catch some more. Am I right?"

"Of course, but I don't have that much money," Kriss said, slightly crestfallen. "I have no way to pay you for these."

"Little lady," Birch said, laughing. "You can pay me by catching many different types and sending them here, I will just love to study them."

"Are you sure?" Kriss asked hesitantly, she didn't seem all that fair to her. I mean, he was the one giving her the pokéballs to catch the actual Pokémon with. All she really had to do was catch them, and how hard could that be. Later when she got a real taste of being a trainer, she would have been willing to slap herself because of her stupidity.

"Never more sure in my life, Kriss," Birch said, dropping them into her open hands. "All they were doing there was gaining dust. I have one more gift for you, then I'll send you back to where you came from. Don't want to be too far behind all your friends, now do you?"

"Of course not, sir," Kriss smiled, she was amazed. She never knew that such a happy and giving person could exist in such a world. He led her out of the room, then into another hallway that branched off from it. She stopped when Birch started to walk through it, her breath caught in her throat. Rows and rows of pokéballs were here, all resting on shelves. She had a feeling that they were not empty.

"An interesting sight, no?" Kriss noticed Birch ended with questions a lot, but all she could do was nod. "Also, this is just one of many. Sadly, most of them are just filled with, for lack of better term, ordinary Pokémon. It has been a very long time since I ever seen a rare one, that is why I was greatly pleased to see your Torchic."

"Blaze is a rare Pokémon?" asked Kriss, looking down at her Torchic with consideration. He grinned back, looking oh-too pleased with himself. "You're still a rat."

I'm not a rat! The comment was ever too clear, but she just grinned at him and followed Birch out of the pokéball-lined hallway. After a few dozen more hallways like such, they emerged into an office-like room. Kriss guessed that it was Birch's own, and was surprised at the messy state it was in. Professor Birch seemed, to her, of something as a neat freak.

"I know I have at least one left…" Birch said to himself, rummaging through the drawers of his desk then through some cabinets. "Ah! Here we are, here we are." He pulled out a strange device that Kriss' eyes lit upon with awe.

"It's a Pokédex," Kriss said, barely able to hold the glee in her voice as she stared at it. "Only a few trainers have one of those. I always wanted to have one-" then she remembered her manners, and to not be greedy, "-but I can't take it. It is too expensive of a device for me to take on my journey-"

"You sound terribly like a broken record," Birch said, rolling his eyes to the ceiling with an exasperated look. "Every update you make in this Pokédex will be directly sent to the main computer, which is right here." He pointed to a high-tech computer on his desk.

Kriss couldn't say no to this, and reached to grab it, but Birch held back. "One second, I need to add your personal information into it. This will count as your ID in many events, such as contests, gym battles, and, if you can manage and I'm sure you can, all the way through the Pokémon League." He asked her several questions like her birthday, hometown, parent's names, etc. After he finished, he finally gave it over to Kriss, whom couldn't hide her happiness of having such a device. "Thank you, thank you."

"No problem," Birch said, putting up a hand to silence her unending thanks. "Just make sure to stay safe, and always care for your Pokémon. Also, I would never mind a call here and then, I used to have to unplug my phone at night just to stop all the calls, but now I barely get any." He sighed.

"Of course, Professor! Not a problem," Kriss said, and with her pokéballs and Pokédex in her backpack, she couldn't help but to feel more prepared. She looked down at Blaze and gave him a determined look, "Ready to beat some gyms, Blaze?"

"Torchic!" He grinned, fierce pride upon his face. She laughed, and with another thanks, was speeding out the lab with Torchic at her side. Birch running after her with something in his hand, "Wait! Maybe you should take a map!"

Ahh, Kriss has her very first Pokémon and, of course, her first classical "Get Lost in the Woods" scene. Hope you review! Thanks! I'm sorry that there wasn't a battle, but come on, had to put the basics in there.