Last time Jay and Eevee both walked in on two mysterious men arguing just off of route 101. Both Jay and Eevee were almost caught by one of them, but a lucky phone call distracted the man, as the two were able to escape. They made it over to their home in Oldale Town where Mrs. Parker made them dinner. They spent the night over there, as today they will start their journey and head off towards their first gym.

Chapter 5: A Fiery Friend

It is early in the morning when Jay's 7:00am alarm goes off. He immediately wakes up, since he is excited to head off to the first gym.

"WOOOHOOOO!" Jay cheered, as he leaps out of bed. "Eevee get up! We're off to face our first gym leader today!" Jay said with a smile.

Eevee jumped up as well. Eevee was also excited about this since he knew that he would be growing stronger.

Jay quickly got ready, dressed, then him and Eevee quickly ate their breakfast and were just about to walk right out of the front door.

"Now where do you think you're going young man?" Jay's mother asked.

"Eevee and I are off to face our first gym leader!" Jay replied.

"So which gym are you going to?" His mother asked.

"Uhmmm" Jay replied. He really had no idea where any of the gym's in Hoenn were. He hasn't really been outside of Oldale Town much.

"Exactly." Mrs. Parker said. "That is why I bought you this map of the entire Hoenn Region. It has a lot of information as far as where the nearest Pokemon Centers, Markets, and Gyms are." She said as she handed Jay the map. "Also, you'll be needing these as well." She says as she pulls 10 pokeballs from out of her pocket. "I figured you were going to need these eventually as well."

"Thanks mom." Jay said as he accepted the pokeballs.

Jay and Eevee both started walking off, as his mother yells out "Be safe now!"

Jay opened up the map. He examined it very well, and checked out all of the locations of each Pokemon Gym. Eevee was rested on his shoulder, and was checking out the map as well.

"It looks like Petalburg City has a Gym, and they are the next town over. How about we head over there first and take on their gym leader?" Jay said to Eevee.

"Eevee!" Eevee barked, as Jay began to walk towards Petalburg City.

"Now lets see. It says that we should head west onto Route 102, and eventually we will reach Petalburg City." Jay said to Eevee.

Jay starts walking down Route 102 with Eevee rested on his shoulder. He is still holding the map in his hands, since he doesn't want to end up getting lost on the way to Petalburg City. After a few minutes, a boy about 11 years of age runs up to Jay.

"Hey you! You want to battle?" The boy asked. "My name is Jacob. I'm from Petalburg City, and I'm going to become the best trainer ever!"

"Aren't you a little young to be a trainer?" Jay asked.

"Yes." The boy replied. "But you see, I'm not roaming around Hoenn just yet. I'm only 11 years old, so during the 3 years I have to wait to start my journey, I'm training so that I am number 1 at the very start of my journey."

"I see." Jay said. He turned his head over to Eevee. "You wanna take this guy on Eevee?"

Eevee nodded, as he leaped off of Jay's shoulder and onto the ground ready for battle.

"Alright we'll take your challenge!" Jay shouted.

The boy smiled. "Alright then!" He said. "I choose you! Zigzagoon!" The boy threw a pokeball out onto the ground, as a Zigzagoon popped out of the capsule.

Jay got his pokedex out, as it read.

"Zigzagoon, the Tiny Racoon Pokemon. The hair on Zigzagoon's back is bristly. It rubs the hard back hair against trees to leave its territorial markings. This Pokemon may play dead to fool foes in battle."

"Alright Zigzagoon! Use Headbutt" The boy yelled, as the Zigzagoon charged at Eevee.

"Dodge it, and use tackle!" Jay called out.

The Zigzagoon was charging at Eevee full speed, and went to smash his head onto Eevee, but at the very last second Eevee moved out of the way. The Zigzagoon then turned around, but was met with a hard tackle from Eevee.

"Nice shot Eevee!" Jay cheered. "Now this time go for a quick attack!"

Eevee sprinted at the Zigzagoon at lightning speed. The Zigzagoon was no where near fast enough to get out of the way, and was taken down by the fast Eevee. The Zigzagoon didn't get up and fainted.

"Nice job Eevee!" Jay called out. "You did really good out there!"

"You are a really strong trainer." Jacob stated. "You and your Eevee work well with each other."

"Thank you. You're pretty good too. Just get a little more experience and you'll be an absolute stud." Jay said to the boy to keep him encouraged.

"You really think so? Well alright! I'm going to catch some more pokemon and I'll become stronger than you one day!" The boy cheered, as he walked off.

Jay and Eevee continued their walk through Route 102, almost making it all the way over to Petalburg City. The sun was shining bright, and you could easily tell that both Jay and Eevee were really tired. Jay and Eevee both walked over by a nearby tree and sat right under it so that they would be in the shade. Jay opened up his travel bag, and pulled out some leftovers from dinner he had packed for part of the trip.

"Here you go Eevee. You must be hungry after battling that one kid back there." Jay gave Eevee some food, as Eevee accepted the food and began to eat. Jay also grabbed himself some food and ate that as well.

Jay began gazing into the sky. Looking at each one of the clouds as he began speaking to Eevee. "You know Eevee.. One day we will be great. People will see us together and respect us and treat us as if we were royalty. I've never really had a close friend like you. Living in Oldale Town kind of prevented me from having one. There aren't really any children in that city. It's mainly filled with older citizens, and there really isn't anything over there. It's really a city in the middle of no where to be honest." Jay looked down at Eevee who had just closed his eyes and rested his head on Jay's chest for a nap. "We will be great one day Eevee. I promise.." Jay slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

A couple hours had passed. Jay and Eevee were still knocked out until out of nowhere a loud chirping noise startled the two.

"What's that?!" Jay jumped as the chirping got much louder. "It sounds like pokemon!"

Both Jay and Eevee rushed towards the noise, and stopped by a nearby pond. Jay took a look around, and noticed that there was a Torchic drowning in the water.

"Hang on! I'll save you!" Jay called out.

Jay dove into the water, leaving Eevee on the land. He quickly swam over to the drowning Torchic, and rested the wild pokemon on his head then began to swim back over to land. The Torchic was unconscious. Jay then walked the Torchic onto land.

"Eevee!" Eevee cried out, as he looked upset for the fainted Torchic.

"Here maybe this will help." Jay said while pulling out some of the extra food Eevee didn't finish a while back. He place it in the mouth of the Torchic, and the Torchic began to chew. "I think he likes it!" Jay said.

The Torchic continued to chewing the food until it finally swallowed. Jay got a little closer to the Torchic, until it finally opened its eyes and burped a fireball into the face of Jay.

"AHHH!" Jay screamed!

Both Eevee and the Torchic began laughing at Jay's reaction. Eevee and Torchic then started having there own little conversation.

"Eevee! Eevee!" Said Eevee.

"Chic-Chic-Torchic!" The Torchic said as it started jumping up and down with excitement.

Eevee then barked at Jay.

"What is it Eevee?" Jay asked.

Eevee pointed at Jay's belt that had pokeballs wrapped around it with one of his 4 legs. Jay looked down at the pokeball, and then over at the Torchic.

"Is that what you want Torchic? Do you want me to be apart of my team?" Jay asked.

"Torrr-chiccc!" Torchic chirped out, while nodding and jumping up and down.

"Alright then. Eevee and I would be more than happy to have you as a part of our team." Jay said. "Pokeball Go!"

Jay threw the pokeball at the Torchic as it got sucked into the pokeball. The pokeball began to shake. It eventually beeped 3 times and stopped shaking signalling that the pokemon was successfully caught.

"Welcome to the team TORCHIC!" Jay cheered, as he held Torchic's pokeball up to the sky.

Jay pulled out his pokedex to read the pokedex entry.

"Torchic. The Chic Pokemon. If attacked, it strikes back by spitting balls of fire it forms in its stomach. A torchic dislikes darkness because it can't see its surroundings."

Jay and Eevee continued to walk over to Petalburg with Torchic still resting in his pokeball. The three of them all reached the end of route 102, and set foot in Petalburg City.