On the morning of the day that Poppy Smith and her Dratini were set to leave, the two of them sat on the front porch of the log cabin that served as their home and the research lab. Dratini curled up by its trainer's side and rested its head in her lap. The two looked out over the mountain and at the sunrise. They'd seen it a hundred times, seeing that they were always the first two up to start the chores and start to take care of the Pokémon. Even though Poppy and Dratini had seen this sight so many times, something about this one was different. Poppy supposed it was because she knew it'd be the last sunrise she'd see at home for quite awhile.
"Here's your things, Poppy," came Mitchell, who came outside from the front door behind her. He had a very full backpack in tow, and a deep blue PokéDex in hand. He set the backpack down at her side, and handed her the PokéDex, which she glanced down at as he added, "It's a PokéDex. You can use it as an ID, and to identify any Pokémon you see on your journey. It's quite the tool."
"Thanks," Poppy said, standing to give her brother a hug. After slinging her backpack on her back, she added, "I'll miss you."
"And I'll miss you too," Mitchell replied. "But I don't want any of this mushy stuff. Get going, little sis."
"Mm," she nodded. With Dratini slithering after her, Poppy started down the stairs and out the yard, toward the path down the mountain.
She and Dratini took a glance over their shoulders, as Poppy called, "Goodbye, Mitch! I'll see you!"
"I'll see you, Poppy!" Mitchell replied. "Good luck to you and Dratini! I know you'll both be great!"
A couple of hours later, Poppy and Dratini were trying to navigate their way through the woods at the base of the mountain that they had lived their whole lives on. While Dratini slithered along her side, Poppy glanced back and forth between the map in the guidebook Mitchell had given her and the path they walked along. She wasn't too good with directions.
"Think we'll ever make it out of Rowan Town?" Poppy questioned, with playful desperation tainting her tone. Dratini let out a hopeful kind of noise as a response. Poppy smiled down at her Pokémon friend.
She was thinking of what to say next, when a loud rustling in a nearby bush caught her attention, as well as Dratini's. Immediately, Poppy thought it was a Pokémon, so she held her finger to her lips to indicate for Dratini to be quiet. Tiptoeing, Poppy went to the bush and peered over it, Dratini at her side. The two looked over the bush and into a tiny clearing, where a Chikorita was happily munching away on a bright red apple. Poppy's eyes glittered, as she dreamed of catching her first wild Pokémon with Dratini at her side.
Looking back to her Pokémon best friend, Poppy questioned in a whisper, "What d'ya think, Dratini? Should we catch it and add another member to our team?" With a kind of smile, Dratini nodded, and let out a little cry in agreement. Poppy smiled back at it, with an excited kind of nod, as she prepared herself. She and Dratini leapt over the bush, startling the Chikorita, as they prepared to catch it.
"Ok, Dratini, Body Slam, let's go!" Poppy commanded enthusiastically.
As Dratini went to launch the attack on Chikorita, it let out a wail, a kind of battle cry, before it slammed Chikorita back into a tree. However, that didn't deter the little Grass-type Pokémon. If anything, it only made it angry, though it had clearly sustained injuries from the attack. As it rose to its feet, it wailed, and launched a Razor Leaf attack back at Dratini.
"Agility away from it!" Poppy countered.
Dratini listened, gracefully speeding away from each and every Razor Leaf that came its way. This took Chikorita off guard, who now didn't know what to do that its Razor Leaf attack had failed. It looked stunned as it watched Dratini speed around it.
"Now, Dragon Tail!" Poppy called.
Dratini wailed again, as it slammed the little Chikorita with a Dragon Tail attack. This really took Chikorita off guard, and off its feet, but it struggled to get up. Poppy called for one more Dragon Tail, which really knocked Chikorita out cold. Quickly, she rushed to pull out one of her PokéBalls, and threw it at the unconscious Pokémon. She and Dratini waited, watching, as the PokéBall flashed red on and off, as it rolled a bit back and forth on the ground. It felt like an eternity before the PokéBall stopped, and Chikorita was successfully captured.
"Yes!" Poppy cried happily, as she raced to grab her PokéBall. She jumped in the air, laughing, as she yelled, "Yes! We did it! We caught Chikorita!"
Dratini let out a happy kind of screech, as Poppy cradled her PokéBall against her cheek. The smile on her face was the biggest one she'd ever mustered in her life. She felt proud - extremely proud. She and Dratini had just caught their first Pokémon together, and she couldn't have been happier in that moment. It was just the start of their journey together, but it gave Poppy hope that she and Dratini could actually do it, that they could actually make it as a Pokémon-Trainer team.
She knew they could do it.