"Hey!... Are you okay?... Please wake up... Please..."

Davin slowly opened his eyes. It took a moment for them to adjust his vision, but when they did, he saw a girl leaning over him. She had medium brown hair that reached to the sides of her neck, a white shirt with a red skirt and sky-blue eyes.

Davin blinked twice before sitting up and holding his head. "W-Where... am I?" He looked around to see he was in a bedroom with posters of Pokemon and their trainers, along with some things that a typical girl would put in her room.

"You're in a house in Verdanturf Town." She explained, handing him a cup of hot tea. "I was walking down the path on Route 110 when I found you and your Aron passed out."

"Aron...?" Davin gasped. "FERRO! I forgot I didn't call him back!" He turned to the girl with worry in his eyes. "Where is he?"

"He's fine." She said with a smile. She put the side of her hand to the side of her mouth as she called out, "Hey, Aron! Your trainer's awake!"

Right on cue, Ferro came dashing from the other room and jumped into Davin's arms. The boy sighed as he rubbed its head. "Thank goodness you're all right."

"Ar, Ar!" Ferro replied happily.

The girl giggled. "He was pretty hurt, so I used some medicine I had to make him better."

Davin turned his attention to her. "Thank you so much. My name's Davin, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Maura." She smiled. "So... how did you end up like that? You know, passed out on the ground?"

Davin frowned, knowing exactly why, although he was afraid to tell. This girl had gone out of her way to help him and he didn't want to burden her with his problems. "It's... a long story."

To his surprise, Maura pulled up a chair and sat down. "I've got plenty of time."

He smiled and mentally chuckled at her curiousness, so he told her what had happened.


"Wow..." Maura said after listening. "That must've been hard for you. I'm really sorry."

"It's alright." Davin said, stroking Ferro's back as it slept. "I can't understand why Haro hates the Varex region. He hasn't dropped any hints that I can figure out and he's so obnoxious all the time. That's why I want to beat him so badly; so that he can see that you can't base someone's strength just by where they're from."

Maura put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be able to convince him."

He smiled and nodded to her. "Well, enough about me. What about you? I see you're interested in Pokemon by the posters you have."

Maura blushed a little and averted his gaze. "Well... you see... I am a Pokemon trainer, but... it's kind of a side feeling."

"What do you mean?" He asked, head cocked a bit to the side.

She looked him in the eyes. "You've heard of Pokemon Contests before, right?"

"Yeah. I have a friend back home who partakes in them." He said, referring to Leyna.

"Well... I'm interested in them, too." She closed her eyes. "This may sound silly, but... I want to become a Pokemon Master and a Top Coordinator."

"Really?" Davin blinked. "I've never heard of someone taking part in both contests and battles."

"Well, it's a rare thing in some places." She smiled.

"So... how many ribbons and badges have you earned?" He asked curiously.

Maura stood up from her chair and walked over to a black handbag. She dug into it and came back to the chair with two cases, one white with a Poke ball symbol and one blue with a ribbon symbol. "It's not much, but..." She opened both cases; the Poke ball case revealed the Stone Badge and Knuckle Badge while the ribbon case held a green ribbon with a golden shape in the middle. "...I'm not that good."

Davin smiled. "Well, I don't know much about contests, but with gym battles, I'd say you're on your way. Check it out..." He dug into his pocket and pulled out his badge case, showing her the exact two badges she had. "You and I are pretty much equal."

Maura laughed a bit. "That's a relief. For a second, I thought I was alone."

Davin smiled. He then suddenly frowned as he remembered what he was doing before he encountered Haro. "That's right! Maura, which way is Mauville City from here?"

"It's just east, past Route 117. Why?" She asked as Davin returned Ferro and got his backpack from the side of the bed.

"Before I saw Haro, I was on my way there to get a badge. Sorry to leave so soon, but I've got to go." Davin was almost out of the room when Maura shouted, "Wait a minute!", making him stop and turn around.

She stood up from her chair. "I was planning on going there to earn a badge as well. Why don't we go together?"

Without giving it a thought, Davin nodded. "Sure! That'd be nice." For some reason, he liked this girl; not just because she helped him, but because she was somewhat unique compared to the other trainers he's met.

Maura grabbed her handbag and they both exited her house, running toward Mauville.