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Chapter 3: Universal Excuse for a Journey

AJ and Leif moved through the tall grass of Route 101 with relative ease, the transformed Treecko able to deal with any Pokémon that tried to attack. He had some trouble figuring out the bow at first, but his Trainer showed him how firing an arrow worked, and once it launched, it changed into a semi-homing energy wisp.

"The bow's mainly for show, Leif," AJ explained while playing his own game. "Absorb is special, not physical. Frankly, you could just throw the arrow and it'd still work so long as the point aimed at the target."

"Then why have the bow?"

"It completes the look. You ever see a ranger without a bow? Then he's just a guy in tights."

They arrived in Oldale Town and AJ looked around, "103, 103… I wish there was a fixed camera to tell me which way was north. Oh well, Pokémon Center first, then."

After a quick trip to the hospital, and an explanation that Leif was in fact a Pokémon with a brief transformation back and forth with AJ's device, the two of them left and turned to leave. The resident Nurse Joy had told them which way to go for Route 103.

After crossing some more grass, AJ noticed somebody – a girl around his age, maybe a bit younger – looking around in the tall grass at the top of the winding rise up ahead. He smirked and quietly shushed Leif before sneaking up ahead.

"Let's see… On Route 103, I found this Pokémon…" she muttered while writing down in a notepad, "and this one… and this-"

AJ crept up right behind her and flatly said "Boo."

"Wah!" the girl jolted, fumbling with the notepad before AJ reached over and caught it for her.

He handed it back as she turned around, "You should really keep a more careful grip on your belongings, or you might lose them."

"You scared me!" she huffed while snatching the item back. "Who are you?" Her eyes flitted to Leif, "And why do you have a kid playing dress-up with you?"

AJ took out his game player, still mounted in the casing, "That's not any kid, that's Leif. Professor Birch told me that he had a problem getting his Treecko a Trainer, so I took a crack at working with him. Turned out he just didn't like any nicknames. I transformed him with this."

"What?"

"But that's neither here nor there," he continued, pocketing it again. "Professor Birch is your father, correct?"

"Yes, my name's May," she answered with a raised eyebrow.

AJ nodded, "Well, May, your father gave me Leif here, and said that I should find you for some battling tips. If you want, I could make it more interesting with this other little toy I have."

"Interesting how?" May asked carefully.

The teenager took something from the pocket opposite of his game player. Curious, both May and Leif looked at it. A round metallic-looking disk sat in AJ's palm, a lens in the center with a blue, green and red button in an equilateral triangle around the center.

Leif raised an eyebrow, "What's that, AJ?"

"He talks…?!" May asked in shock, looking at Leif.

"Of course he talks," AJ answered. "And this, Leif, is my Arena. With it active, all Pokémon in its range get transformed like you. Don't worry about their attacks, May. They'll know how to use them, at least on an instinctual level. How about it? I know you're curious on some level."

"You can change my Pokémon back, right?"

"It wouldn't be much of a device if it couldn't reverse the process," he answered petulantly.

"Then… okay," she answered at length.

AJ pressed the green button and dropped the Arena to the ground, lens facing upward. After he and May walked some distance away with the device in the center, the gamer gestured Leif forward, "If you would, Leif?"

Leif nodded and took two light flits forward. May took out a Poké Ball from her pack and said, "You may have weird devices, but I'll show you how to battle! Go, Maggie!"

She threw the ball forward and it opened with a flash of light. When it dissipated, an 11-year-old girl stood there in beige fighting shoes and an orange gi with a yellow trim. Her orange hair was tied in a spiky top knot with the ends at the top being yellow. The transformed Pokémon's eyes were brown, and she raised her eyebrows in confusion as she regarded her hands.

"What the…?" she muttered. Then she looked across at her opponent and narrowed her eyes in slight recognition, "Wait a second… Is that you, Leaf? You have a Trainer now? Did somebody finally guess your name?"

"He asked me for it, actually," the hybrid Treecko answered. "He's a tad eccentric, but he can actually understand Pokémon."

"He understands Pokémon?" May asked in a surprised tone before looking at AJ directly, "You understand Pokémon?!"

The teen in question rolled his eyes, "Gee, thanks, Leif, why not just announce it to the whole world?"

"Well I didn't know it was a secret," Leif defended.

"It's not," AJ replied, "but you don't hear me going around and telling others things about you."

"Is this a battle?" Maggie asked May.

"Uh…" the girl was flummoxed for a bit, getting used to the idea that her Torchic asked her a direct question. "Yeah, just to show this new Trainer the ropes of battling. Sparring."

"Leif, fight as you please!" AJ called.

May blinked in surprise before saying, "Maggie, Scratch!"

The Torchic looked to see her nails gleam and then raced forward to attack. Leif's eyes glowed yellow with a Leer and he skirted back and to the side to dodge. The attack still clipped the side of his breastplate, scraping up a bit of the leather.

AJ watched the battle, nodding approvingly of Leif's strategy. 'Minimize damage with his own speed and lower the opponent's defenses. And then he'll use his superior speed to take her down quickly. I knew the Ranger look would be appropriate.'

A similar exchange occurred again and Maggie raised an eyebrow, "You'll never win just by dodging and glowing."

"You're right," he said. Then he flitted forward and delivered a punch to Maggie's gut. She got the wind knocked out of her and Leif jumped back to avoid a counter.

May looked down at a red device that AJ guessed was her Pokédex, "Almost half of her health, gone…"

"Those eyes… You used Leer on me, didn't you?" Maggie asked while out of breath.

"Wasn't it obvious?" Leif asked with a raised eyebrow.

The hybrid Torchic chuckled slightly, "I'm used to Trainers shouting their attacks for me to hear. But that doesn't mean I'll take this lying down!"

She rushed forward with her nails and Leif slipped inside of her attack before elbowing her in the chest, knocking her back. Maggie fell to the ground, and May closed her Pokédex with a sigh.

"Seems you have the basics of battling down, even though you didn't give out a single command," May said.

"Untrue," AJ retorted as he stepped towards the arena, his eyes on it and May's exhausted Pokémon. "I said for Leif to fight as he pleases, and he did so."

Using the toe of his shoe, the gamer pressed the red button and Maggie transformed back into a Torchic before sitting up.

"[Can you really understand Pokémon?]"

AJ squatted down to pick up the Arena while May started treating her Pokémon with Potions, "Yes I can, Maggie."

"[Why are you a Trainer, then?]" the Fire-type asked. "[Doesn't it make it worse if you know the Pokémon personally?]"

"I have my reasons," he replied with a shrug as he turned his head to face her. "And-"

"Maggie, return."

A red beam returned the Torchic to her Poké Ball and Leif looked up at May with a light scowl, "Hey, they were in the middle of a conversation." Really, he was just mad about the lost opportunity to get information.

May put the sphere away, "I don't feel comfortable with you talking to my Pokémon."

"Why?" AJ asked from his squatted position with a curious tilt of his head. "Shouldn't you be happy to know that your Pokémon can understand you?"

"Now I know why my dad sent you to me," she said. "He wants you to help with completing the Pokédex." The girl handed him a few bills, "Here's your prize money for winning, just go back to the lab and he should have your own Pokédex and some Poké Balls for you. Bye."

She left by jumping down the ledges towards Oldale Town. AJ pouted slightly, "Rude. She completely ignored my question…"

A brief trip to the Pokémon Center in Oldale and then to Littleroot later, AJ entered Professor Birch's laboratory again with Leif still transformed into his hybrid form.

Needless to say, the man nearly had a heart attack once he found out who "the child" was.

"You transformed him?" he asked incredulously. Circling around and examining Leif from different angles, his scientific curiosity piqued as he fired off one question after another.

"How? When and where did you come across the technology to do so? Does it affect his performance? May! You had a battle with May, didn't you? How did that go?"

"Genetic mutation, four years ago in Johto, no, yes, and I won," AJ answered in order.

"You won against May?" he asked, looking away from the former Treecko for a brief moment.

The teen shrugged, "I told you, I have much experience in battle theory. And Leif is no slouch in tactics either. He weakened Maggie with Leer and then took her out in two hits with Pound, only getting light injuries due to his superior speed."

"I see," Birch nodded. "Well, AJ, I suppose you know why she directed you back to me."

"You want me to collect data for your Pokédex files," he answered.

"Correct. You see, our world is filled with hundreds of Pokémon, and it's any professor's dream to catalogue every single one," the professor explained as he walked over to a table. "But, due to laws preventing the overcapturing of Pokémon, any one Trainer can only obtain so many. Oh, they see plenty, to be sure, but combining enough data of caught Pokémon is quite a challenge, especially with rarer ones."

Turning around, the man held a red device as he returned to AJ, "I want you to travel the region, catching as many Pokémon as you can to record the data for my banks. I'd recommend taking the League challenge. Its badges can authorize you to use certain moves for getting to hard to reach places. Once you get six or seven, you should be able to explore any worthwhile places, and the DexNav can help you- Wait, do you have a PokéNav Plus?"

"My dad sent me one shortly before we moved here," AJ answered, taking it out of his pants pocket before putting it back.

"Then your DexNav should help you sneak up on specific Pokémon, identifying them for you," Birch continued, barely missing a beat. "Be sure to choose carefully, though. You can only pick one per area."

AJ nodded, "Thanks for the tip. I've been thinking about going on a journey, and now I have the perfect excuse." Birch handed him the Pokédex, and the teen suddenly said, "Oh, right. Since I'm doing you this service, I have a small favor to ask, Professor Birch."

"Hm? What would that be?" he asked.

"You know my father, correct? Well, I'll be passing through Petalburg soon, and I really want to surprise my father. You think you could keep my arrival a secret for now—just pretend you never saw me today?" he asked with a conspiratorial wink and a finger held over his smile.

The professor's expression turned understanding as he smiled knowingly, "Ah, I see. He has been wanting to see you, and it would be splendid if you could give him a surprise visit. Very well, my lips are sealed." Then he reached into his lab coat pocket and handed over five shrunken red and white spheres, "Here, every Trainer receives five Poké Balls to help them catch their first full team."

"Thanks, for both," AJ said with a grin while fixing them to his white belt, next to Leif's. "I can't promise I'll get you anything new, but I'll catch as many Pokémon as I can. I'll need several friends to help me through the League, after all. I know it's not a cakewalk."

Extra 2: Look At It Scientifically

May moved on to Route 102, headed for Petalburg. She frowned as she thought about what AJ had revealed to her.

'Pokémon can think on a higher level, like humans,' she mentally uttered. 'They're… every Pokémon can do that?'

She shook her head clear, "No. That weirdo just anthropomorphizes them, both literally and figuratively. They're smart animals, but just… animals. The faces he gives them are cosmetic, and the talking thing, he must have trained that Pokémon in ventriloquism, or something. Yeah, or maybe a… an actor?"

Giving herself a couple of wake-up slaps, May concentrated on what she knew for a fact.

"I'm going to collect data for my father, my Pokémon are well-trained for battle, and other Trainers won't look at it the same way," she listed. "Keep your own Pokémon safe, because others won't."

With that statement in mind, the professor's daughter continued on, intent on training her Pokémon to begin undertaking the League challenge.

And the third chapter's done. As for the title… Does anybody ever really focus on filling the Pokédex out of anything but completionist desire? In any case, that's all for now.

See you when I see you.

-AJ203