"How many times have we seen this tree Varem? You'd figure they would have some sort of defined pathway." Paige looked down at her newly nicknamed partner. The Charmander smiled up at her with his small fangs visible in his parted smile. Paige let out a soft chuckle, trying to keep her chin up. Having Varem wander around with her and light the way made it a little bit easier to deal with the shadows but Viridian Forest still casted an eerie dimness under the tall trees.

The forest was thick with trees and wild grass. The afternoon sun was bright in the sky but in some areas you couldn't tell if it was day or night. Paige had been walking around for half an hour but it felt like she was getting nowhere. The scent and sights at the entrance was inviting as the summer sun had the flora in bloom. Accompanied by the sounds of birds flying overhead and the drone of the locusts, the forest was alive with life. It all seemed like it was going well to begin with but the farther she had traveled in, the more lost she became.

It was at this time she remembered seeing maps for sale in the Pokemart and yet she neglected it, assuming Isaac would know where he was going. Now that she was without guide, it was up to her to see her own way through. So far she had not seen any trainers so she was able to change clothing in peace but she was well aware that they were out there. It was only a matter of keeping an eye out for them.

Turning around to backtrack for the third time, she could see that she was no longer alone. Running out from the thick grass and trees was a short, chubby rodent covered in yellow fur. The Pokémon's ears twitched softly before recovering a berry from its mouth into its paws and begin to nibble at its luxury.

Pikaaa . . .

With those rosy red circles on its cheeks and adorable brown eyes, Paige immediately knew what Pokémon this was. A Pikachu was uncommon to see and many of her girlfriends adored the cute electric rodent. This must be fate as she had always wanted a Pikachu of her very own. She couldn't believe how the day was already turning around.

Her hand quickly reached into her skirt pocket to retrieve one of the newly bought pokeballs to capture the Pokémon. The Pikachu's ears perked up and its face turned to look at Paige with a curious tilt of its head. Paige grinned, clasping a pokeball in her grip and pulling it up and out. The other balls on top scattered around her as she had taken from the bottom and ejected several other balls. Her grip slipped as Paige fumbled with the capsule from one had to another until she dropped it at her feet. The Pikachu popped the berry back into its mouth and finished running across the pathway back into the thicket.

She stood in silence for a few moments before dropping down onto her rear with a defeated growl. Why didn't she just hook the empty balls on her belt with the others? She was in such a hurry she never thought ahead if a Pokémon would appear like that. Varem walked over to one of her pokeballs, past several stray ones, sniffed at it with a happy cheer and clasped it up in his claws. Walking up over the Paige he lifted the ball up to her face with a happy smile.

"Thanks Varem. I know just where to put this one." Attaching the pokeball to her strapped waist belt, she began to recover the several empty balls that had rolled across the forest floor. Varem assisted, happily kicking one forward as he had clasped another in between its claws once more. Paige knelt down near the edge of the beaten pathway and pushed her fingers through the grass as she saw one roll into the brush. Walking on her hands and knees she pushed past the tall grass and grabbed a hold of the pokeball, standing back up on her knees while looking down at it.

"What ya doin Patrick?"

"Shh!"

Paige turned around towards the voices quickly to find two young boys standing behind her. The boy's heads were both tilted at an angle and their faces had a curious look. It took Paige a few moments to realize just what these youngsters were trying to look at. Jumping up from her knees she turned to face them.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Paige gave a stern look as one of the boys grew embarrassed and looked away while the younger one looked up in confusion. Varem had returned to Paige's side once more while carrying the last pokeball in its mouth.

"S-sorry. We were just walking by looking for Pokémon and saw something rustling around in the grass. We didn't know it was a girl. Honest", the older boy stammered. Both of the kids had short jeans with baggy stained t shirts covered in dirt and grass. Each one carried a backpack with camping gear hanging off. The taller and older one had secured a baseball cap on his head and had it tilted to the side. Paige looked down at them with an unnerved look. The older one was most likely a preteen while the younger was about ten.

"You shouldn't sneak up on someone like that. You have no idea what kind of week I have been having". Paige felt Varem pull on her leggings once more, tilting its head back to hold the pokeball up. Reaching down to pick up the ball her attention was soon returned to the two kids again. "Wait a second . . . you said you both are looking for Pokémon right? So maybe you know this forest then?"

"We live in Pewter City and come here on the weekends to look for bug Pokémon. Me and my brother Alex are bugcatchers!" The two boys seem to have this planned out. Both turned so they could lean their backs on one another and strike poses. The older one tilted his hat up with a winking grin and the younger one threw up a peace sign with a gap in his grin. Paige stared at the two with a blank expression, wondering how many times the two of them had done this to strangers. Are all boys either jerks or goofballs? Paige cleared her throat before choosing words carefully in case she triggered another one of these actions.

"Then you know how to get out of here and back home right? Can you show me the way? I'm actually a bit turned around here." The two boys looked at each other, nodding with a grin before the older one looked back at Paige.

"Yea! We know the way and we can help! No prob lady!" Paige smiled in relief as Patrick waved for Paige and his little brother Alex to follow him back down the beaten path. Paige and Varem followed the youngsters happily, looking forward to the aid and getting out of the forest sooner than later.

Walking along the beaten path with the two brothers, Paige was able to talk with them a bit and share each other's stories after introductions. The brothers apparently used to live in Saffron City when they were much younger but moved with their father and mother out to Pewter City to be closer to their father's work in studying the mass evolutionary patterns of Beedrills and Butterfrees. It would seem they took more after their father than their mother in this respect.

Their mother didn't sound like she was very fond of bugs in general and didn't like the fact the boys had found their father's passion. Instead she would suggest that they should look into Pokémon like Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader uses. Paige recalled hearing about Brock from Felix, a friend who left on his Pokémon journey about a year back. Usually he would call and tell Paige all about his battles and travels and she would put up with it just to humor him. It had been quite a while since his last call though.

The brothers once challenged Brock but found his Pokémon were just too much for their bug and grass type. Gym leaders sounded like they were on a whole different level to Paige and the thought of facing one in the next city she came to gave her stomach a few flips.

"You mean you never have a real battle before", Alex questioned as the topic came up. Paige shook her head.

"I had a practice one when I was younger but I froze up after the Pokémon got injured. Since then it has been kind of a mental block. When I see others get hurt I think back to that day and begin to lose my momentum. I don't like Pokémon fighting because we command and control them to." Patrick and Alex, walking on opposite sides of Paige looked at each other with questioning eyes before Patrick looked back up to Paige.

"We can't control Pokémon Paige. No one can. Pokémon choose to follow trainers and choose to grow with them. When someone tries to catch a wild one, that Pokémon always has the option of running away. To fight and capture them is a test to see if you can really handle them. It's the same in trainer battles. Your Pokémon choose to battle other ones, having faith in your abilities. You can't let them down just because you are afraid. Our father told Alex and me to always remember that." Paige slowed down to a stop as the boys did the same. Those words ran contradictory to Isaac's philosophy but made much more sense to her.

"But it isn't all about battles right? What about friendships with Pokémon?" The brothers looked back at each other with more confusion as if Paige was asking about common knowledge everyone should know.

"Daddy says Pokémon are friends. He said some Pokémon only get stronger and evolve through friendships. Without friendship, we ain't as strong." Even Alex was making more sense now. These ideas resonated more with Paige's beliefs but was that the proper way to train strong Pokémon? Maybe there are several ways to go about it. These two brothers were giving Paige a lot to think about though as they continued to wander back along the overgrown path.

"Let's take a quick break here", Patrick said, dropping his bag off his back. His little brother Alex nodded and dropped his own pack with Paige following suit. "We can replenish some stamina here anyway." The trio had stopped near a wild grove of fruit trees. Paige felt like they should cover more ground before resting but assumed they had been walking much longer than she had been. She had no right to suggest getting farther before a break. Patrick had taken a pokeball out and approached one of the trees while Alex stood underneath. Paige watched with Varem at her side, curious what the two brothers were up to.

"Toady! Let's get a snack!" Patrick tossed the ball up as a Pokémon emerged with a flash of white light. The small Pokémon reminded Paige of a peach shaded mushroom and recognized it as a Shroomish. Its body had several green spots on it along with a green underside and two little, round feet. The sour expression on its face looked around at the area before Patrick pointed up at a tree. "Toady. Give the tree a Headbutt."

The pokemon waddled up to the base of the trunk and glanced up before lowering its head and jumping forward. Shroomish hit the tree head on, the branches rustling as Alex reached up to catch several ripe apples from the branches. Paige's eyes widened as the two brothers celebrated their harvest. It was clear they had done this before. Patrick smiled over at Paige and walked over to her with an apple in hand. "This is our little honey hole we come to on occasion. Usually we have to wait until the bigger kids are gone. Wanna give it a try?" Paige looked a bit confused, glancing at Varem and wondering if he was even capable of doing such an act.

"I don't think Varem knows how to headbutt trees", Paige stated. Varem shook its head in agreeing with Paige. Patrick snickered as he turned his head to call over to his brother.

"Hey bro! Bring me the TM container." Alex swallowed a mouthful of apple and nodded, leaving Shroomish by the bags as it munched away at its share of the harvest. Alex dug in the back of their camping bags and hurried over to his brother with a small white square box. The edges were smooth and the construction of it looked to be some sort of white plastic and metal frame. Paige recognized this box as a TM, a technical machine that was used in Pokémon training. The box was loaded with a set of instructions via a disc that was capable of teaching Pokémon new moves it could not learn naturally. This was just one way new moves were learned though.

Alex knelt down in front of Varem and pulled the box apart at the center. The sides looked like they pieced together like a puzzle and were connected inside with latches. The two sections were held up to Varem's head while a ripple of arcing white energy sparking over its skin from each piece. Varem blinked a few moments and perked up, almost as if it realized something. "There! Try now." Patrick pointed over to a particular large tree on the opposite side of the grove. Paige looked down at Varem, seeing her partner was confident in himself with a nod and clenching its claws together with arm pumps.

Paige and Varem walked up to the old tree, gazing upwards into the thick branches. This apple tree was ancient compared to the other ones but still yielded a ton of ripe apples for the picking. Paige glanced back at the boys as they waved her forward in encouragement.

"Alright Varem. Let's give this a try. Use Headbutt." Varem bolted forward with its head lowered and rammed into the base of the tree. The tree branches barely shook but Paige could hear the faint sound of something falling from the branches. Looking up she could see several large yellow body falling downwards. A few apples had dropped but Paige was much more concerned with the dozens of yellow figures. The masses dropped on top of her and Varem in an avalanche.

Swinging her arms over her head as Varem ran under its owner, they waited until the objects had stopped falling. She gazed down at the shells a few moments before realizing what they were. The Kakunas rested all around her, immediately garnering a response of terror that she was going to be attacked by the hive. The boys could be heard laughing loudly behind her though and as she calmed down she realized that these were only shells left over now and none were active.

"Did you see her face? She thought they were giant bananas or something!" Patrick laughed with his little brother, his Shroomish joining in with light chuckles itself.

"Newb trainers are the best! They have no idea", Alex blurted out. Paige looked back at them with a hurt look. She should have expected these kids were just like her brother and were pulling her along for just a joke. Varem looked equally upset at the trick, his eyes lowering to the ground. Paige began to stomp her way over to them with her fists clenched. If these kids wanted to act like her little brother, she would treat them like her little brother.

"You little brats! Where do you get off doing that to people that are just looking for help?" Patrick shrugged in dismissal of her scolding.

"You have no idea how long it took to collect all those shells. We have been waiting for weeks for someone to be stupid enough to fall for this prank. Looks like you owe me some poke dollars Alex." Alex continued to laugh, nodding in acknowledgement to his brother.

"Well worth it bro", Alex managed to force out before returning to his laughing. Paige gritted her teeth, feeling the pain of embarrassment growing in her chest. Even though she was several years older, these kids got the drop on her.

As the boys enjoyed a good laugh, three male figures encroached into the clearing after hearing the commotion. They would watch from a distance for a few moments at the young boys laughing at the girl while the girl continued to loudly scold them to the best of her abilities. The leader of the group smirked and started to walk forward once more while cracking his knuckles in preparation.

"I'm amazed your little brats never learn", the taller of the three figures said out loud. Patrick and Alex halted their laughter and turned their attention to the group. Paige stopped as well, noting how quickly their faces had been drained in color at the approach of the three. "I thought we made it pretty clear last time we spoke this is our grove. If you can't pay the fee, you can't play here." The teen wore a red collared vest over a black t shirt with leather bracers tied up on his arms. The bracers had several claw marks embedded into them, several puncture marks visible. The black spiky hairstyle was brought up in the middle and pointed back in a crest, almost like in a mohawk styled pull up. The two others had similar looks, mimicking the leader of their little group the best they could manage.

"We were just about to leave Bret. Honest." Patrick attempted to back away from the scene but the older teen marched up past Paige and ignored Alex to confront the child.

"You shouldn't be here in the first place kid. How much do you have on you?" Patrick lowered his head and rummaged into his pockets while Bret's partners accompanied him but kept to the exterior of the group. Paige glanced back at the stout one of the three as he gave her a sneer. By then Patrick had removed a handful of poke dollars and handing them off to the leader. Paige opened her mouth to say something but stifled herself as the teen turned to her. "Well now . . ."

Bret slicked a hand back over his hair before walking up to Paige and getting a better look at her. Paige took a few steps backwards, noting the several piercings in his left eyebrow looking like a rigid claw. Bret primped himself up a bit and gave Paige a smile. "I'm sorry we didn't get here earlier. If I knew there was such a peach I would have shown up earlier. What's your name girl?" Paige exhaled with a drained and tired look, already mired in his attempt at charm.

"It's Paige but don't mind me. I was just about to leave. Come on Varem", Paige said as she waved for Varem to follow. Bret watched as Paige and her Pokémon walked past him and over to recover her backpack.

"There's no need to rush babe. If these kids are bothering you I can chase them off and we can hang for a bit." Bret followed Paige as she did her best to ignore his advances and slip her arms into the straps. Shroomish guarded his horde of apples vigorously from the two, jumping up on the stack with aggressive grunting out.

Shroooooom!

Bret glared down at the Shroomish and the pile of apples. He wasn't deterred by the Pokémon and reached down to take one from it. This was a mistake. Without a warning or command, Shroomish lowered its body and lunged forward to make connection with Bret's stomach in a moderate strength headbutt. Bret made an audible grunt and fell backwards onto his butt while attention from the other trainers now was on him. Bret tensed his fists and stood back up. Making a step forward he swung his foot up to the Shroomish in a swift kick. The Shroomish was stubborn and stood firm but the kick propelled it into the air and into a tree's trunk. Landing on its head with feet kicking wildly, the Pokémon cried out in pain. Bret's comrades smirked, even chuckled as their leader stole an apple from the Shroomish pile and held it up to Paige.

"There are benefits to hanging with the strong crowd." Bret winked and smiled as Paige's eyes had fallen on the Shroomish and Patrick who had ran over to his Pokémon after the attack. Patrick turned his Pokémon over and hugged it tightly to his chest with his eyes tightly shut and tears welding up. This reminded Paige how her first training battle ended. Her heart was racing at this point and her mind jumped to one reaction. Turning back to Bret she snatched the apple from his grip and in a fluid movement she threw the piece of fruit hard into the teen's face. The apple smacked him in the forehead, forcing him to take a few steps back and look back to Paige.

"Bitch!"

"You're no better than a thug. I am not going to stand by and let you abuse others like this!" Paige felt her face going red while Patrick and Alex looked up in disbelief. Bret gave her a glare before the anger subsided in him and cockiness took over. Snatching a pokeball from his belt holster he tossed it up into the air and caught it over and over again.

"Seems you are in need of a lesson just like these kids here. Girl or not, you just made a big mistake." Bret leaped backward to get distance between him and Paige. With the pokeball in his grip he held it out in front of her in preparation of a battle. Varem walked up in front of Paige, its clawed clenched into fists with the flame at the tip of its tail increasing in size. Breathing out a heated exhale, Varem's happy and jolly demeanor grew to a serious one.

Paige felt a bead of sweat rolling down the back of her neck as her pulse continued to race. Things were escalating fast after she fired her mouth off. If it was people fighting she was more likely to just run or try to talk them down but the abuse of Pokémon is something everyone saw in the nightly news, especially with groups like Team Rocket. If she needed to fight to get stronger, she was going to do so against people like this. Her chest felt like it was on fire as the anticipation of her first real battle started. Not aware of the skill level of her opponent, she would try to remember and rely on what she learned at the Trainer House on type advantages.

Bret chucked his pokeball forward, the ball splitting open in midair as white light took flight into the sky. Paige clenched her teeth together behind her lips and flipped the brim of her hat up to get a full view of the area. While she was soft hearted, she was no coward. There was no backing down now.