Thank you for all the positive feedback!

You know what I just realized? The Cyndaquil's name is Ashes, Ash had a Cyndaquil, and yeah... I just didn't want to name him Cinders.

Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, I'd be bloody rich. But I'm not, so I don't.

You know how some people say the hardest part of the journey is the first step?

Well, it wasn't for Marietta. Nor was it for Effy, based on her yawning. To them, it seemed more like a friendly stroll to Mr. Pokemon's house to receive another Egg.

So she went off in a rather nonchalant manner, wading into the long grasses that led to Cherrygrove City. She noted that it became slightly longer than it had been a few weeks earlier, & that someone would have to cut it shorter later. It felt slightly itchy against her legs, and apparently that also bothered Effy, who jumped into Marie's arms.

She, in return, stared at her & mumbled,"You're lucky that you're smaller than other Espeon..."

Around the small party, Marie could hear the calls of Pokemon. Pidgey peeped up ahead & in trees, the wings of Ledyba buzzed through the air, and Rattata squeaked below in the shrubbery & grass. She could feel one moving by her leg before quickly running away.

To her right, Marie could see the tip of the building leading to Route 46. She went up the path and contemplated going through it to perhaps obtain a Geodude or an Aipom early, but decided against it. Instead, she turned left toward Cherrygrove City and continued to do so before she was rudely interrupted by a Pidgey swiping down to her head.

"What the-" She was cut short as the Pidgey did it again, possibly to obtain some sort of mysterious berry or treat from her hair, and continued to do so until Marie finally had enough. She ducked out of the way and glared at the bird, who flew down until it was floating about 2 feet in the air.

'You want me to take care of it?' Effy spoke into her mind, the red gem glowing as she did so. Marie rarely used whatever 'psychic' ability that she had (she thought that her mind worked as an extremely complex electric apparatus that detected very minute magnetic fields from other people's brains and determined what they were thinking. But no one would understand her if she said that, so she didn't even bother explaining.)

'No, Ashes needs to learn how to fight.' Marietta grasped the Pokeball from the pocket of her large black coat and released it wordlessly, making Ashes appear with a bright light. She also took out her Pokedex to scan the bird (though she was sure that another trainer had the sense to scan a frickin' Pidgey).

"Cynda?" Ashes looked up at his trainer timidly, obviously slightly confused.

She squatted down and told him,"I want you to fight that Pidgey over there, okay."

"C-cynda?!" The Cyndaquil flailed around slightly, but he saw that she had given her a slightly pleading look (not really. He was just imagining it). Not wanting to sadden his beloved trainer that gave him plenty of food and affection, he gave in.

Marie smiled a sort of half-smile. "Thanks."

He turned around & faced the Pidgey. The bird taunted him silently through his eyes, angering him slightly.

"Tackle." Ashes charged and leaped into the air toward the enemy Pokemon, making it squawk in pain. In retaliation, it pecked back continuously at him, & both just started having a bit of a catfight. Marie watched from afar in amusement.

'Don't touch my trainer!' Ashes chirped angrily in their Pokemon language. He leered at the bird, slightly intimidating it before tackling it again.

'B-but why does the human smell so nice!?' Effy relayed the message to Marie, who in turn cocked her head in confusion before reasoning that it must be that weird perfume Auntie gave her.

'That gives you no right!'

'But Berries!'

'NO!' With a flare of his back, Ashes charged at the bird and knocked him over with his weight, effectively knocking him out. He peeped victoriously saying in his language, ' I did it, I did it! Are you proud of me, trainer, huh?!'

Marie chuckled slightly from the message from Effy. "Yes, you did very well."

'YAAAY!' He started running up to her in pure joy of making her proud, leaping up into the girl's empty arms (Effy had went to rest beside a tree to watch the battle).

However, there is one thing that both did not take into account (and possibly couldn't have known).

You see, Marie, being as secretly weak to cute things and awkwardly affectionate as she is, liked treating to Ashes to treats. All the time.

And while Effy was quite small for her species (she didn't like indulging herself), Ashes was much the opposite, though still agile.

Time for some math.

See, normal Cyndaquil are about 7.9 kilograms, or 17.4 pounds.

Ashes was 28.5 pounds, or about 12.3 kilograms.

If you have a calculator or really good at division, you'd know that means Ashes is almost 64% fatter than most Cyndaquil. (He is 4 inches taller than a regular 1'08" Cyndaquil, though.)

So when Ashes landed into Marie's arms, you could imagine the researcher's surprise at the Pokemon's... heaviness.

"Oh wow-" Marie recoiled back from the unexpected weight, crashing her head into the tree that she wasn't entirely aware was there. Shocked by the pain, she lost her balance & fell against the tree, still holding Ashes.

'Marietta, look up!' Quickly collecting herself, Marie did as Effy had told her, concerned at the tone of her voice.

Well, she didn't believe that she knocked into the tree that hard.

But apparently, she had. And was able to irritate the several Pokemon that inhabited it, which comprised of 5 HootHoots, an Exeggcute, 2 Ledyba, 3 Spinarak, and a Pineco.

'Well shit.' Marie cursed in her mind. She fixed the position of her glasses as she observed the expressions of the miffed and angry Pokemon. They obviously weren't amused.

'Oh, what terrible luck I have.'

Ashes, without hesitation, jumped at one of the HootHoots, effectively injuring it, and all Hell broke loose as the wild Pokemon started attacking.

"Effy!" Marie commanded her most trusted companion, knowing that she knew just what to do. The Espeon's gem glowed as her eyes glinted. For a split second, she became nearly invisible before striking the Exeggcute and knocking it out. Effy signaled for Ashes to jump and then released star like rays that striked 1 Spinarak and most of the HootHoots except for one, making them faint. One of the Ledyba tried to tackle the feline, but she attacked it before it could, extremely injuring it. During that time, Ashes had frightened away and knocked out the rest of the Spinarak.

The last Ledyba ran away in fear of the deadly glint in Effy's eyes, leaving the Pineco (who was half-injured from indirectly being hit from Effy's Swift) behind.

The weak Pineco hung from his tree branch, fearing it would be hurt more. But instead, Marie looked up and studied him, having told the Cyndaquil and Espeon to stop after scanning the data from the battle and the wild Pokemon.

"Pineco, the bag worm Pokemon. It is shaped like a pine cone, which is a thick shell that protects it. It hangs from tree branches, and waits patiently for flying insects to come by*." She read aloud the Pokedex entry before looking up at the Bug-Type. She stared at it for several minutes before finally stating, "I always liked insects. And plants. You want to come with me?"

Pineco blinked in surprise. He didn't believe a trainer would really want him. Humans preferred HootHoots and Ledybas, not a creepy pine cone that could explode. He had heard that several of his brothers and sisters were captured only to be put away forever. He didn't want to end up like them!

But this trainer- the human girl did not judge him. More rather, she found him a little interesting! It was the first time a human had actually treated him with something other than disgust and cruelty (the Bug Catchers ignored him, really). Pineco grunted his liking to the strange person, who was obviously very unusual.

Marie smirked a little, knowing she had his agreement, and dug out a Pokeball from her shoulder bag. She flung the ball straight at the Pineco, slightly knocking him before engulfing the pine cone in light. The brightness soon disappeared, and the Pokeball came back to her. She looked at the ball in satisfaction, deciding not to nickname him, and went onwards.

Marietta trained her Pokemon before reaching Cherrygrove City, levelling up Pineco to a considerable 3 levels, and Ashes 2 (respectively, they learned Self Destruct and Smokescreen). Effy simply watched and only fought when her two juniors were too tired.

Marie visited the town often; she had to when going to see Mr. Pokemon. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the kind old man who frequently helped new trainers. She enjoyed his company; his cheerfulness was rather infectious and his puns were quite clever. Still, she treated him with the awkward politeness she showed most elders, a murmur of 'hello' and 'have a nice day' before leaving.

She passed the Pokemon Center to instead go into the Poke Mart to purchase more potions and other items before going back to the prominent building. It wasn't very busy; there were a couple of trainers littered around, a Chansey pushing a cart, and there was Nurse Joy at the Reception desk. Marie asked her to heal her Pokemon, and as she waited, she sat on a nearby table and took out her laptop. There was nothing interesting on the small TV in the lounge, so she went to comment on her 'Pokemon journey' on her blog before typing up a journal of the data she collected thus far. She noticed that one of her online 'friends' commented, Artemis_Oakley. She had chatted with the person before, and they seemed nice and friendly.

It was a simple statement. All it said was, 'Hope it goes well! Maybe we'll meet.'

"Ms. Yew?" Marie flinched, not noticing there was someone near her before realizing it was Nurse Joy and turned to look at her. "Your Pokemon are healed. Are you going to stay for the night?"

She looked back at the computer, seeing it was only around 1:30 PM. She replied curtly, "No, thank you."

After the nurse gave back Marie's Pokemon and left her to attend to other duties, Marie got up and packed everything. Effy climbed over her shoulder and simply laid there, obviously not planning to get off anytime soon. As she headed out the door, she accidentally brushed up against a tall boy with curly hair, not much older than her.

"Ah, sorry," he grinned. "Didn't see you there."

"Umm... It's okay...?"

The boy laughed and left to most likely heal his Pokemon. He was about 6 feet tall, towering over her own 5 feet.**

Marie dismissed the boy from her head, and headed off, hoping to maybe to at least get to Mr. Pokemon's house before nightfall.

'Let's continue, Marietta.' With Effy's thoughts into her head, she stepped onto Route 30.

*- This is just a mixture of Pineco's entry from every game.

**- I'm actually shorter than this. I'm 4'10 1/2". ... Don't judge me.

If you're confused by Marie's Pokemon, it's a bit like this:

Effy- level 23 (She's been with Marietta for years, and has more training; she's usually too vain or unwilling to fight, unless her peers or Marie is in danger. Extremely intelligent.)

Ashes- level 7 (was the starter that wasn't picked. Marietta liked treating him, so he's a bit chubby, although bigger. Gluttonous and energetic, but hesitant around strangers; he's always willing to please Marie.)

Pineco- level 5 (More of a shy type. He admire Marie, but thinks she's a bit extreme.)

The boy mentioned in the last few passages isn't her love interest or anything like that. You'll see later, if you remember him by then.

Thanks for those who reviewed! It's much appreciated!