The trio stopped at the sign for route 1, and Cheren turned to his two lady friends.

"I think I am going to train for a little while before heading over to Accumula Town," he pointed to some tall over growth, "I'm going to go in there and see if Tepig and I can challenge some wild pokemon."

"Hmm," Bianca said thoughtfully, "I just want to get to Accumula town and look around. What are you going to do, White?"

The two turned to her. Cheren was headed east, Bianca was headed north, and home was south. To the west was a small forest and a little beach if you traveled through the woods. It was a place White's mother took her frequently during the summer. Since fall had only just begun, the beach would still be warm enough to be pleasant.

"I think that I will take Snivy to go see the beach. I'll see you all in Accumula later tonight then?" White asked. The other two nodded, and with that, they split up.

White used her xtranciever as a compass to guide her north-west. She wanted to be very close to Accumula so that once she and Snivy were done playing at the beach they would only have to walk 10 minutes or so to reach town.

White managed to get to the beach in one piece. She and Snivy had to take on a few wild pokemon to get there, so she was exhausted by the time they reached the smooth sand and crisp water. She released Snivy from his pokeball and they both looked at one another. They were equally tired so White suggested that they relax under a tree and watch the sun set over the water. Snivy seemed keen on the idea, so White set her backpack down underneath a tree on some soft dirt near the border between the beach and the forest. She laid her head down on her backpack so that it was propped up slightly. Snivy crawled up on her tummy and put his arms behind his back so that he could watch as well.

"This is really nice, huh?" she said to Snivy as the water began to turn a golden orange color underneath the setting sun.

"Sniii…" Snivy sighed.

Full waves softly ran on to the sandy shore, and retracted easily. Watching the continuous flow of water made White feel a little drowsy. She could feel Snivy get very still and begin to breathe deeply, a sign that he was drifting off to sleep. Her eyes began to droop when she felt something nagging in the back of her mind. She tilted her head to the side to see a bush moving and dancing in the wind. That was strange. She could have sworn that she felt something watching her. She was so exhausted, though, that she took her pink hat and used it to cover her face as she drifted away in her dreamland past the sandy beach before her.

White awoke with a gasp. A large screeching bird swooped in front of her and grabbed her hat right off of her face. White sat up quickly, disoriented from suddenly being awoken by a large pokemon. Snivy slid off of her and hit the ground with a thump, which gave him quite a start as well. Underneath the moonlight, White could somewhat make out the face of a very angry hawk-like pokemon bearing down on her. How long had she and Snivy been asleep? The night sky was a deep navy signifying that the sun had disappeared a long while ago. The bird went in for a swoop again and White screamed. Snivy sprang into action and leapt into the air. He hit the oncoming bird with a sharp swish of his tail. The bird took the hit, but stopped its advance. Snivy fell from his jump and hit the sand on his side. He winced and glared up at the large bird pokemon shrieking at him.

"FWA! UFFWA!" it screamed down at them.

White nervously flicked open her pokedex. It read "Unfezant" and displayed its capabilities underneath the picture of the bird on the back-lit screen. White's eyes widened and she snapped the pokedex shut with her hands trembling. This foe was way beyond Snivy's skills.

"Snivy! We need to run!" White exclaimed. She picked up Snivy and quickly dashed into the woods. Snivy was furiously clawing at her, trying to get her to set him down so that he could go back and challenge the giant bird.

White nearly tripped over a log as she stumbled through the shadowy forest. The forest was so dark and dense that she couldn't see a thing. As she ran, vines and branches seemed to appear out of nowhere and strike at her, slashing at her face, arms, and legs. She held Snivy close to her chest to protect him as she scrambled half blind through the brush and leaves. When she finally reached a clearing Snivy managed to wiggle free. White spotted the large feathery monster, which had followed them above the trees. It let out a piercing screech and went to dive-bomb them again.

Snivy began to spin, hoping to catch the bird in a leaf tornado. White panicked.

"DON'T!" she hollered and launched herself onto Snivy, grabbing him into her protective arms. The large grey bird's wing hit her on her shoulder blade with full force and she and Snivy fell to the ground. White let out a cry of pain, her eyes shut tight in agony.

"Snivy? Vy?" Snivy said, tapping his master's cheek. The bird looked more determined than ever to attack them. Snivy turned around and readied himself to fend off White's attacker.

Out of the forest came a startling whistle. White was too busy grasping her shoulder in pain to hear it fully, but it got Unfezant's attention. A tender bruise had already begun to swell and form on White's back. Snivy peered into the darkness of the forest, but all he could make out were the tennis shoes of another person. The Unfezant called back to him as if threatening to attack him as well.

"Picking on defenseless people and pokemon that are weaker than you is very shameful, Unfezant," came a calm, male voice.

"Huh?" White gasped. Still on the ground, she tried to roll around but couldn't see anything but shadows past the trees. Some twigs snapped as the person that the voice belonged to ran back into the dense forest, and the Unfezant flew after it, completely enraged. A few seconds later, White sat up, still clutching her shoulder. Snivy looked at her sympathetically. White continued to stare at the darkness where the voice had come from. She hadn't seen any trainers walking through the woods while she explored with Snivy earlier that day.

"Whoever that was, they just saved us," White said, her eyes glittering with tears. Snivy looked down on the ground. He kicked a rock sourly, and huffed.

"Return, Snivy," White said, sticking out his pokeball. Before Snivy could protest, he was zipped away safely inside his little red and white ball.

"Now I can keep you safe. Just like I promised," she said, gingerly rubbing the ball. With one final glance into the shadows where her hero disappeared, she began to head in the direction to what she could only assume as Accumula City.

"Whoever you are…I hope you aren't hurt from helping me out."

White jogged along the wide trail to Accumula city. Several of the scrapes and scratches that had occurred while she was blindly tearing through the woods had begun to sting and bleed, and her shoulder was still pulsing with pain. Also, she was sure she had enough leaves in her hair to be inducted into the Poke Book of World Records as an honorary exeggutor look alike. Wild pokemon watched her pass, all looking as equally terrified as she was. Perhaps they knew what happened and they were willing to let she and Snivy pass without a battle. How fortunate she had been that there was someone else out in the woods with her. White could still hear her hero's voice, sharp as a swords dance yet soft as a cotton spore, challenging the unfezant. When she reached the entrance of the town, she put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Her chest rose and fell quickly as she hastily sucked in air. She looked behind her and there was no sign of the fierce grey bird, or her savior. White decided to put it out of her mind and enter the pokemon center. The kind nurse behind the counter offered her a roll up futon and a bath kit after she paid for an overnight stay. The nurse also accepted Snivy into the overnight pokemon safe house, as no pokemon were allowed in the sleeping quarters for safety.

Just as White was walking in to the women's bathing area she found Bianca pacing back and forth. The blonde looked so relieved to see her smaller brunette friend that she flung herself onto her.

"Oh White! Cheren said he knew you were ok, so he went to bed, but I waited and waited for you, and you still hadn't shown up, so I decided to stay up, and-oh my gosh what happened to you?"

"It's a really long story, Bianca," White said while wincing from her friend hitting the tender spot on her back from their embrace.

"I need to take a shower. Can you ask the nurse if I could possibly get a cold compress, some bandaids, and something for bruising? I'm so drained that I completely forgot to ask her," White asked her friend.

Bianca fussed over her for another minute before leaving White to take a shower. White carefully pulled all of the twigs and leaves out her hair and took a hot shower. She went to the lounge room, which was right outside of the sleeping area. People were allowed to talk quietly in the lounge area, so she waited for Bianca on an unoccupied couch. White observed that there were very few travelers in this city, but she had heard that pokemon centers in some cities would sometimes have too many people. Hotels in cities were expensive, and White knew that her meager travel expenses would not last for long. She would need to start participating in trainer battles or small tournaments soon if she was going to survive. Bianca returned to White and helped her put some cooling cream on her bruised shoulder while White recounted her story.

"Girl you are so lucky that someone was there to help," Bianca said quietly, while giving White a friendly shoulder massage, "What could've happened I wonder, if that mystery guy hadn't come to your rescue…?

White shuddered.

"I don't even want to think about it. I just wonder why the unfezant decided to attack me."

"Maybe he really really wanted your hat?" Bianca said with a laugh. White couldn't help but laugh, too, at the image of the terrifying bird with her little pink hat on fluttering about the Unvoa region.

The two girls went to bed shortly after talking about Bianca's modest adventure through town with Oshawatt. White was completely wiped out after only her first night on the road. She hoped that every night wouldn't be this wild and crazy.

/end chapter 3/

Adventures on route 1 complete! Hmm…I wonder who her mysterious savior is?

Also, we won't find out until chapter 12 or 13 as to why White doesn't trust Professor Juniper, or really most adults for that matter. Please look forward to it!