Unova Route 2

They left Accumula Town early in the morning. Miya pedaled along Unova Route 2 on her yellow bike. Her sweaty palms gripped the handlebars tightly, and her thighs burned as she reached the top of yet another hill. She'd been down this road quite a few times before with Professor Juniper, but the trip was sure a lot different on a bike- the hills and rock-strewn road left her legs and lungs burning.

They weren't passed by many vehicles as they just weren't very common in Unova. Most people relied on pokémon and teleportation, but Miya and Jiro didn't own a teleporter or a flying pokémon large enough to carry them, so they had to bike everywhere.

Jiro was next to Miya, swerving slightly on bumps in the road because he was looking at his handlebars, where he tried to balance his olive green Pokédex as he shuffled through it.

Miya bit her lip. "Um, Jiro, exactly what are you searching for so intensely?"

"Doesn't the Pokédex point out where you can find pokémon?" he asked pensively, not looking up any higher than the road in front of him. His dark brown eyes quickly darted back to the Pokédex.

"Well, yeah, I'm sure it does. I don't know, aren't you supposed to be the expert at catching pokémon?" she joked.

Jiro huffed and waved his hand at her. "Oh, phooey. I've never done a reverse search before."

"We can pull over and look around for ourselves, if you like," Miya suggested.

"If it's all right with you." He slid the Pokédex shut, then added, "Anyway, I could certainly use a break." They pulled their bikes off the road, and Jiro tied them against a tree, locking them tight.

Miya glanced around. Today was pretty quiet. Tall grass and sparsely spaced trees were the only things she could see aside from the practically-mountainous Route 2.

The sun was high in the cloudless sky, casting dappled shadows on the ground beneath the trees. There was a slight breeze from the sea, now miles away, that ruffled Miya's hair. "Talk about perfect conditions for finding pokémon," Jiro mused, grinning. "Come on! Let's go!" Barely able to contain his excitement, he tramped through the grass into the forest. Miya scurried after him.

Several hours' worth of searching did no good for Miya or Jiro. "You think pokémon would let their guards down on a nice day like today," said Jiro.

"Cheer up, Jiro," Miya said. "It's only our first week. It's not like you're gonna be catching pokémon left and right. And besides, pokémon have to approach you, anyway. How many pokémon do the Striaton gym leaders fight with again?"

"There's three of them… and two each."

"Are you supposed to battle all of them?"

"I don't know." Jiro shook his head. "Did you know they're brothers?"

"Really? Who's the oldest?"

"Good question. I think they're triplets."

"Huh."

"Well, are you ready to keep going? We could probably cover a few more miles before sundown."

Miya nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

Another hour of traveling put them only a few miles short of Striaton City. At nightfall, Miya unrolled their bedrolls in a grassy clearing not far off the main road. Milo was nearby, rolling in the moist grass with Jiro's pokémon. Camping out like this was a new thing for Miya. "It's hard to believe that a trip that takes only a few hours by vehicle can take days on a bike. Isn't it, guys?" she said meditatively to the three pokémon around her.

Milo noted that it was probably hard but going to bed hungry was far worse.

"What, are you still hungry?" Miya asked, making a face at Milo. "You're going to get fat if you keep begging me for snacks like this."

Milo looked up at her with shining, beseeching eyes.

"Garghhh! All right. Just don't look at me like that," she groaned, resigning, and she reached into her bag to toss him a poffin. She grumbled, "Jesus, you're looking at me like I'm starving you. You poor neglected pokémon. Anyone else?" she asked flatly, holding up two extra poffins. Navy and Dasya pounced excitedly. "All right, all right, jeez, ya little gluttons," she said affectionately, batting them away.

Jiro stumbled back into the clearing with firewood, nearly tripping over a low-lying tangle of grass. "Ow." Miya stifled a laugh. Jiro looked over his shoulder. "Hey, there's this purrloin, and it's kind of following me."

"No way?" Miya said it more like a question, looking around. Then she spotted it a few feet away behind a tree. Its green eyes glinted in the fading sunlight, and it flicked its scythe-like purple tail. "Ah-ha, Jiro! Maybe it wants to come with you."

Jiro dumped down the firewood into the makeshift fire pit. "Nah, it probably just wants to steal from us."

"Oh, poo, don't be so negative; the poor baby probably followed you because it's hungry," she said dismissively. She stood up and went to the edge of the clearing. Squatting down, she patted her knees and cooed to the purrloin. "Come here, sweetie, ya wanna snack?"

Miya was not giving that little furball any of Milo's food. Milo jammed his nose into what's left of the poffin with a snort. "Milo, don't be rude," Miya chided. "You're going to get sick if you eat so much, anyway," she said, grabbing another poffin from her back.

Jiro shook his head and puzzled over matches, trying to light the fire. "Don't trust it, Miya. It's gonna take all your food. You know the name of that species is Purrloin, right? Like… purloin. It literally means steal."

Miya threw him a cynical look. "Here, boo-boo, we've got plenty of food if you're hungry!" The purrloin advanced into the clearing cautiously, one slender paw at a time, then it bounded forward and snatched the poffin. It gobbled it up as Milo looked on jealously.

Miya laughed. "So you were hungry, huh? Why don't you just stay with us for the night? We'll give you breakfast in the morning. How about that?"

The little pokémon purred and allowed Miya to stroke it. "What a cutie! See, Jiro, he just needs some TLC."

Jiro smiled and petted the purrloin. "I guess so," he said. "Fire's ready when you are, by the way."

"Great," said Miya. She hoped it would keep away any wild pokémon that might try to attack them asleep.

Miya and Jiro stayed up talking well after the stars came out, and crawled into their bedrolls after rekindling the fire. The stars above twinkled, dimmer now that they were so close to the lights of Striaton City. The purrloin didn't leave and curled up near the fire.

"Here," said Jiro. "If you don't have any place to go, you can just… sleep in my hat." He turned a hat upside down and set it on the ground. The purrloin poked the hat with its paw, then curled up inside. Jiro smiled. "Well, good night," he said.

Miya woke up with dew on her face. It was a misty, foggy morning. She blinked and looked around. Jiro was gone, and so was the purrloin. She yawned. "No breakfast for you," she said groggily to the absent pokémon. She reached into her bag, grabbing a mini box of cereal. She popped a grain into her mouth and called her mom.

When she finished, she closed the cross-tranceiver, and lay back in her sleeping back to go back to sleep, hoping Jiro didn't wander too far.

She heard him before she saw him.

"Hey, Miya, wake up!" Jiro said excitedly. Miya was lying on her back, looking up at the fog glowing in the morning light.

"I was right!" declared Jiro. His baseball cap, black and blue with a yellow ring, was centered back over his disheveled hair. "That effing purrloin was just out to steal from us!"

Miya raised her eyebrows expectantly. "That so?"

"Uhh- yeah. The little sucker stole my hat! So I tracked her down, and she scratched me, so we battled, and then … I caught that little bug!"

Miya grinned. "Jiro! That's great! What did you name it?"

"Her," he corrected, beaming. "I named her Lamia."

"Wow, Jiro! Look at you."

"Told you."

"Whatever."

"Now, get up, sleepyhead! Let's get to Striaton City." Jiro bent down to unlock the bikes they'd tied to a tree. They packed up camp and continued down the foggy road to Striaton City.