I sprinted through the grass, running past any Pokemon before they could try and challenge us to a battle. I would have liked to battle some more before returning Soren, but that didn't look like it was going to happen.

Once we got to Cherrygrove I went into the Pokemon Centre so I could get Soren healed quickly. My dad had drilled into my head that you always had to be prepared for anything, so I played it on the safe side and delayed my return for a few minutes. It was common sense to have a fully healed Pokemon, especially since I didn't know what had happened back at the lab.

Once he was healed Soren moved back into my arms, lying with the egg once again. Luckily he didn't weigh much, so running with him hadn't been too demanding.

I walked outside and was just about to start sprinting through route 29 when I saw the red-haired boy from before come out of the trees. Guess he must not have wanted to climb over that barbed wire fence either. He spotted me immediately, glaring and clenching his jaw as he walked towards where I had stopped in surprise. "Ready to give me your Pokemon now?" he asked.

"Did you not hear me the first time? You should get your hearing checked," I said. "Now if you'll excuse me-" I moved to go around him, but he blocked my path.

"Not so fast," he said, looking down at me again. He couldn't do so as well now, because my new running shoes gave me an extra inch of height. "I have a Pokemon too. We're going to battle."

"Says who?" I said, taking a step back from him, ready to make a break for it the moment I saw an opening.

"Says me," he said, bringing a Pokeball out from one of his pockets. "Maybe you're the one that needs to get their hearing checked."

"Why do you want Soren so badly?" I asked, trying to distract him from the idea of a battle. Wild Pokemon were one thing, a trainer was another. By the way this guy held his Pokeball at the ready, I guessed he had experience.

I saw his eyes darken. "None of your business," he said with a glare. "Now let's get on with it!"

This guy was good, he wasn't leaving me any opening. I sighed, and said, "Sorry Soren, I guess we're going to have to battle this loser after all. Let's try and make this quick." I saw the guy twitch when I called him a loser. Soren jumped down from my arms, turned to me and nodded. He got into a battle stance, waiting for the redhead to send out his Pokemon.

"Go, Totodile," he spat – he obviously wasn't too happy about the Pokemon he had to use, or maybe he was just pissed about my loser comment. The blue Pokemon appeared in front of him, a big grin on its face. Seeing Soren, it gave a wave, and Soren relaxed and waved back. But then the redhead gave his Totodile a kick, and said, "Scratch."

Totodile's smile fell, but he complied anyway, running towards Soren (though his run was more like a waddle). Soren was a lot quicker though, and Tackled the Totodile without me even giving the order. Before he was able to get away the Totodile landed a Scratch. "Tackle again Soren, and this time try to jump back faster," I called out to my Pokemon.

"You shouldn't give away your strategy," the guy said. "Totodile, brace against the hit and don't let it get away. Scratch."

"Hypocrite," I said. He sent me a glare as our Pokemon executed our respective commands. They both came out with the exact same amount of damage as the other; they had identical HP.

The cycle continued for several more turns, with Soren Tackling and the guy's Totodile Scratching once Soren got close enough. Their hit points were going down in synch, and I knew I would win because Soren would get in the first hit on the last turn, being faster.

The red-haired guy realized it too, and decided to try a different tactic to save the battle. "Totodile, stay back and use Leer, dodge the Tackle."

Soren faltered slightly at the Leer but kept going, and managed to land a hit before the Totodile could move out of the way. The Totodile seemed surprised, and Soren was able to back away before it could land a surprise Scratch.

After that move the Totodile's HP was lower, and it only took two more turns of Tackle-Scratch before the Totodile fainted from the impact. Soren and I had won.

The redhead didn't seem angry though; he approached the unconscious body of his Totodile, seemingly deep in thought. After he called it back into its Pokeball, he looked at me as I congratulated Soren on his victory. "You got lucky," he said with venom in his voice. "Next time you won't be. I'm going to become the best trainer ever and defeat everyone, you'll see." He threw some money on the ground in front of me. "Here." At that he turned and ran back into the trees on the Cherrygrove side of the fence. I looked after him for a moment, before Soren squeaked up at me, probably wanting to be healed.

"Yeah yeah, we'll go back in and heal you," I said, and he climbed back into my arms. I picked up the money, 500д (score!), only to find a Trainer Card at the bottom of the pile. I looked at it; it belonged to the red-haired guy. I turned when I heard some leaves crunch under someone's feet – he had come back, and stood leaning against a tree with his arms crossed.

We stared at each other for a few moments, before I said, "Here's your Trainer Card, Leon." He furrowed his eyebrows, but came forward to snatch it out of my hand. "My name's Sy, by the way."

"It's not my pleasure," he said, and turned to walk back into the forest. I didn't follow him.

-x-

Shit shit shit.

She knew my name. I made a stupid mistake, and I was sure to pay for it in the future.

I pulled out my Totodile's Pokeball as I walked, glancing at it. It had lost, yes, but Sy's Cyndaquil had been several levels above the Totodile, yet the two Pokemon had been evenly matched. I'll give it a try for now, I thought.

-x-

After getting Soren healed a second time we were finally able to head back to New Bark. I ran with him and the egg in my arms, jumping down the ledges without stopping or slowing down. This is great, I thought, the wind rushing through my hair. I had abandoned my stupid (and giant) white hat back in the forest because it kept hitting branches when I ducked under them, and I was glad I did. The wind on my face was thrilling.

I soon arrived back in New Bark, and headed straight for the lab. Just outside the door I was joined by Jared. Soren jumped out of my arms to stand with Jared's Marill. "What happened?" I asked him as I followed him into the lab.

"Someone stole a Pokemon," I heard a familiar voice say from the back of the lab. I looked to see my dad standing with Professor Elm, who looked more dishevelled than usual. My dad was in his uniform, so he was on duty. Figures he'd be the one to investigate something in New Bark and endanger what had so far been the best day of my life.

"I didn't see your car outside," I said as Jared and I walked forward to join my dad and Professor Elm.

"This is my last job for the day, so I flew back here," my dad explained, opening his notepad to a new page. "Now, did either of you see anyone suspicious today?"

"There was a red-haired punk hanging around outside the lab earlier today," Jared said before I had even processed my dad's question. "I bet it was him."

"Did you see anything, Sy?" my dad asked, looking at me.

"Yeah, I saw him too."

"What did he look like?"

"He had long red hair," Jared said. "And a black jacket."

"Where was he exactly?"

"I saw him looking in the window of the lab. I thought he was just some star-struck kid so I didn't say anything," Jared said quickly.

"I saw him in the woods by the lab," I recalled. "And then again just outside Cherrygrove."

My dad's head snapped up from writing on his notepad to stare at me. "And what, may I ask, were you doing in Cherrygrove?"

Fuck. My life.

"Uhh-"

"She was running an errand for me, Thomas," Professor Elm said, coming to my rescue. "I asked her to go to Herald's house to find out what his latest discovery was."

My dad looked from Professor Elm to me and back again. He released a breath I hadn't realized he had been holding and turned to me once again. "We'll talk about this at home, but back to business. Do you know anything more about this red-haired fellow?"

"He looks like an ass-"

"His name's Leon," I said, then immediately regretted it.

"How do you know?" my dad asked.

"He- dropped his trainer card. I picked it up and returned it to him."

"So he's a trainer. What Pokemon did he have?"

I thought quickly. "I didn't see any Pokeballs on his belt. He might not have had any. He might have just been a beginner." Yeah, bullshit.

"He was probably hiding the Totodile's Pokeball in case anyone was aware of the theft," my dad said, writing furiously on his notepad. Once he finished he looked up. "Anything else?"

I had done enough damage. "No." Jared shook his head.

My dad nodded, closing the notepad and putting it and his pen into a pocket in his uniform. He wiped at his eyes wearily. "Alright then, I think I'm done here," he said, then looked at me sternly. "When you're done speaking with Professor Elm, come home immediately. You have some explaining to do."

"Yes sir," I said meekly, looking at the floor as he walked out, gripping the egg tighter to my chest, but not tight enough to break it.

"I gotta go too. See ya' Sy, Professor Elm," Jared said with a wave before leaving as well.

Once I heard the door close I looked up at Professor Elm. "Here," I said, holding the egg out to him. "This is what Mr. Pokemon found."

"A Pokemon egg..." Professor Elm said in wonder as he took it in his hands and looked at it. "This is truly amazing. Fantastic. This will have to be extensively studied. Thank you for getting it for me," he said, smiling at me before turning to put the egg on the machine that still held the Chikorita's Pokeball. He turned back to face me. "Did he mention anything else about the egg? Where he found it, anything?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "But Professor Oak was there." Professor Elm's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "He told me I was taking really good care of Soren, and gave me a PokeDex and said we'd meet again," I said, pulling the device out of my bag. Professor Elm's jaw actually dropped.

"He gave you a PokeDex?" he asked in disbelief. "Sy, that's absolutely incredible! Professor Oak is amazing at sensing the potential of beginner trainers. He must be able to tell you're destined for great things."

"I'm sorry Professor, but I don't really believe in destiny and all that jazz," I said.

He dismissed my comment with a wave of his hand. "You really should try to talk to your parents again about leaving on your adventure and taking the gym challenge, it's the best way to go about filling up a PokeDex." I nodded and smiled slightly as he spoke, but I knew that topic was a lost cause, and I think he did too. "How's your Cyndaquil doing?" he asked, changing the subject.

I looked down and found Soren sitting at my feet, looking up as if he had been listening intently. His eyes were still open, but less than before. The coffee must have been wearing off. "Good, he seemed to really like battling. He's gotten a lot stronger too." Professor Elm bent down and picked Soren up, stroking his head as Soren looked up at him through his drooping eyelids.

"How did you manage to get him to open his eyes?" Professor Elm asked with surprise when he noticed.

"Pokemon coffee," I replied with a smile. Professor Elm laughed.

"I would never have thought of that," he said, putting Soren back down. He trotted over to me, rubbing the back of his head against my leg. Remembering my time spent taking care of Professor Elm's other Pokemon, I knew what that meant, and bent down to stroke Soren's head as Professor Elm had. He cooed happily.

"He seems to have grown very attached to you," Professor Elm observed. "Would you like to keep him?"

I looked up at Professor Elm in surprise. "Really? I thought I was just borrowing him...?"

Professor Elm nodded. "I could never take him away from you after what Professor Oak said about you. And it's silly to have him sitting around in a Pokeball all day when he could be with a trainer that loves him. What do you say?"

I nodded eagerly, but then frowned. "My dad might not like it. Actually, I'm positive he won't. Same for my mom." I looked down at Soren sadly, who pushed his head against my hand as I continued to stroke it.

"Your parents don't want you to have a Pokemon because they don't want you to leave home and go on an adventure," Professor Elm said, walking across the room to get something. "As much as I'm opposed to that choice – especially now that you've been given a PokeDex and asked to complete it...Well, I'm sure that if you promise not to leave on an adventure, they'll let you keep him. Cyndaquils don't need much food to be kept happy and healthy." I wasn't convinced. He didn't seem to realize that my mom actually hated Pokemon, not just adventures. "Try proposing it to them, and if they refuse then just give him back to me tomorrow, and I'll hold on to him until you can go on your adventure," he said, handing me a Pokeball. I looked at him, and he gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back, and stood up.

"Thank you," I said, putting Soren's Pokeball in my bag. "See you later Professor."

"Bye Sy, and good luck!" he said, walking with me to the door. "Oh, I almost forgot!" he said, running over to one of the shelves and coming back with a handful of Pokeballs. "If you're going to start working on filling Professor Oak's PokeDex, you'll need some of these. Tomorrow you can go to the start of route 29 and catch some Pokemon. You'll be close to home, so your parents should be fine with it," he said as he handed them to me and I put them away in my bag.

I thanked him again, then left and headed home with heavy steps. Soren squeaked up at me, gazing up at me in concern. I figured he wanted to know what was wrong. "My parents aren't very pro-Pokemon or adventures," I explained. He kept looking at me, knowing there was more. I looked straight ahead at the woods at the other end of town, secretly seething inside.

I was thinking back to when my dad had been asking Jared and I questions about Leon. When he asked me those questions I told the truth without even thinking, as I had been made to do at home for as long as I could remember. My dad had no patience for stalling and roundabout ways of saying things, so he always made me be quick and to the point.

He had trained me to be the perfect witness from day one.

The most pressing question was why did I even care about exposing Leon and helping the police, but I knew the answer to that without even thinking.

Because he was free. He was living the way I wanted to. Without restriction, doing what he pleased every day with no one telling him anything. I wouldn't take that away from anyone.

Yet I had, or I might have. By helping my dad, I might have screwed him over. And I hated myself for it.

And maybe I found him to be slightly, slightly attractive. I didn't put much weight on that, though, since I knew I had almost nothing to base it on: Jared, and the grandchildren that came to visit some of the older residents at Christmas. Not much.

My feet eventually carried me to the porch of my house, where my parents were sitting, waiting for me. My mom looked absolutely furious, and I could tell my dad was too, though he didn't show it as much.

This was going to be fun.

Author's Notes – This chapter got the short end of the stick length-wise when I was dividing up the giant file that was going to be my introduction chapter. The third and final part will be out soon after a few more edit run throughs, and will be closer in length to last chapter.

Also, if you guys notice any typos, missing words etc. that's I've overlooked please let me know, they really annoy me and if any exist I want to fix them asap.