"But... wait." I said. I could literally feel the question mark floating above my head. "You're... wearing a team Aqua outfit? With a green cloak?" The... Zephyr? Aqua? I don't know, grunt grimaced. "Well, duh, lady! If he doesn't give me that briefcase, we'll all feel team Zephyr crawling up our asses! They're only trying to stop my team, and the lousy team Magma! They don't even have a proper goal aside from screwing with us! Now hand it over!"

I sighed. "I guess you're gonna have to fight me for it. I hope you aren't as weak as I think." The team Aqua grunt grit his teeth as he held out his Pokeball, ready to fight. Smirking in anticipation, I adjusted my outfit and looked at Dahlia.

"Come on, Dahlia, this'll be easy pickings."

Strangely, the water felt a lot colder than when I swam in it earlier. I'd probably have attributed it to being night time, but oh no, this water was far colder. My Pokeballs were turning into Great Balls real fast, so I swam as fast as I could, trying to get out before I caught a bad cold. Thankfully, the waters were clear of trainers. I bet they were freezing half to death too.

Finally making it to shore, a resplendent light shot out of the river, color a faint aqua. Blinded by the intense light, I couldn't make anything out of the phenomenon outside a strange being rising from the water and disappearing into the night sky. Huh... for a second, I thought I was in an iceberg. It faded as quickly as it happened though, so I was left on my backside to wonder what the hell just happened.

I'd probably forget it by morning. I checked my watch. '8:30... I guess I'll crash at home for a while. I'm not that far away.' So I went home and knocked on the door, expecting mom to greet me. Nope, it was dad.

"Hey, kid." My dad, Norman, let me in. "Sup dad. How was the gym?" my dad shrugged. "Same as usual. This kid from earlier, Wally, came to my gym asking for a Pokemon. Since I knew his dad, I let him a Pokemon to catch his own by Route 102. I kinda expected someone to help him, though, so I really wonder how he's doing." Huh... Wally. Mom talked about him before, but I wasn't paying attention. Oh well.

"So, Brendan, what have you been up to today?" My dad asked. "Well, I got my first Pokemon, swam along Route 103's river, biked to Mauville, got their gym badge, and backtracked until I got back home." I pointed to the trail of water I left by the entrance and my own outfit, soaked like a handkerchief thrown in a puddle.

That apparently shocked him, color draining from his face. "...What?! You did all of that in one day?! Ergh... you weren't even supposed to travel across the water without getting my gym badge first..." I suddenly looked up. "Hey, can I challenge you sometime soon?" I suddenly whipped out a Pokeball. "HOW ABOUT RIGHT NOW?" My dad whipped out his own Pokeball. "You're on!"

"Now now, gentlemen, save the roughhousing for later. Let's eat first!" Mom called us out from the kitchen, so we pocketed our Pokeballs and took our seats at the dinner table. Eating our meal, I told mom about my exploits today, barring the part with the trippy beam of light. That'd be a story for another day.

Earlier today, in Petalburg City...

Whew... finally off that hell of a boat ride. The beds felt like styrofoam, the blankets were practically stitched together. I was happy to get off that boat, and I'm pretty sure my Shroomish, Dahlia, was too. "Right, Dahlia?" I pat my Shroomish on the head. Dahlia smiled at me and leaped onto my head.

I got off the boat and stepped onto Petalburg Beach, a bustling new beach rivaling that of Slateport's. It even had a small boatyard where lots of ships were docked, but most notably an old looking one resting near a conspicuous cabin in the yard. Taking note of that for later, I walked into Petalburg City, breathing in the fresh air. Not knowing where to go, I walked over to the Gym to ask for directions.

"Hello?" I asked out loud as I entered the gym. A well-built middle aged dreamboat was standing in the middle of the room, stern look on his face. Oh, the things I would do to him... I mean, what? I'm a dignified lady, I wouldn't think of stuff so crass-

"Yes?" His deep, baritone voice resonated through the room. "How can I help you?" Resisting the urge to jump onto him, I steeled myself... and my voice. "Do you know where Rustboro City is? I have something to do there." The man stroked his chin. "Well, Rustboro's just north of here. What's your name?"

"Laurel." The man nodded. "Hello, Laurel, I'm Norman, the gym leader of this city. Nice meeting you." I nodded back. "Likewise, sir." I was just about to ask if he had a girlfriend, but-

"E-Excuse me...?" A meek voice came from the door. A sickly, green-haired boy slowly walked in, walking right past me and going straight to Norman. "Hello, uh, sir? Can you help me get a Pokemon?" Norman grinned. "Ah, of course. Wally, introduce yourself, this is Laurel. Laurel, this is Wally." Wally nodded to me and I nodded back.

"Say, Laurel, are you free in the next hour?" Norman asked. My heart was right about to burst out of my chest had he not continued. "Can you help Wally here catch a Pokemon? He's a bit inexperienced, so he might need some help. You're a trainer, right?" I nodded. There goes whatever lustful urges I didn't want to have but had anyway. "Yes, I'm a trainer. And of course I'll help him." I would have taken out my anger on him, but I would honestly feel horrible if I did.

We left for Route 102 to catch Wally's first Pokemon. "So, Wally," I started. "You ever have any experience with a Pokemon?" Wally looked up at me. "Huh? No, miss, I don't have any. I wanted a Pokemon to protect me..." I rubbed my cheek. "Please, don't call me miss. I'd sound like an old hag. Laurel is just fine, Wally." Wally nodded. "Okay, Laurel... where can we find wild Pokemon?"

This was going to be be fun.

Wally's presence in the tall grass was practically its own repel. Cringing at the sight of any movement in the grass caused the Pokemon hiding in it to make haste and get away. I sighed. "Wally, here's a tip from a seasoned trainer like me." That was a lie. I started two days ago. "When you want to catch wild Pokemon, you gotta be sneaky. Don't scare them off. You gotta walk slowly and lure one out like..." I crept up to a green object peeking out from the grass. "This!" I dove at it, engaging in a battle with a wild Ralts.

"Alright, Wally, I'll let you have this one." Wally ran over. "Uh, go! Zigzagoon!" Wally sent out the Zigzagoon who looked very confused about why his tall, sleek, dreamboat trainer suddenly transformed into a wimpy green haired one. "Zigzagoon, use..." Wally stopped and thought. Who do we ask when we don't know what to do? "...Laurel! What... can Zigzagoons use?" "TELL HIM TO USE TACKLE!"

"Oh, okay! Got it! Zigzagoon, use Tackle!" The Zigzagoon used tackle smacking the Ralts square in the... Ralts. I don't know. The Ralts growled intimidatingly at the Zigzagoon, scaring it a little. "Uh, use tackle again!" The Zigzagoon smashed into Ralts with less force probably due to its apprehension. The wild Ralts retaliated with a stronger growl, further scaring the Zigzagoon.

"Wally, the Ralts looks tired. Do you have a Pokeball?" Wally nodded. "Okay... throwing it now!" Wally threw the Pokeball onto the Ralts. Shake. Shake. Shake. Ping. Wally leaped into the air and cheered. I just smiled, looking at the boy's enthusiasm. He wasn't all that bad. "Thank you, miss Laurel! I'll go back to Mr. Norman right away and tell him the good news!"Wally ran straight to Petalburg, leaving both the Zigzagoon and I in Route 102. One day, kid.

Trudging back to the gym, with the Zigzagoon in hand, Wally was kneeling at Norman's feet, chanting all sorts of praise. Norman looked more than a bit embarrassed by the attention, so I broke the awkwardness for him. "Hey! Mr. Norman! Here's your Zigzagoon back." I gave him the Zigzagoon who happily licked Norman's face. Lucky-

"Laurel! Thank you ever so much for helping Wally. If there's anything I could do to help you, I'll do it." My mind was going into overdrive at this point, so I couldn't resist myself from asking this question. Actually, I really should have worded it like-

"Do you know where I can stay for the night? I'm still lost and it's late."

But I didnt. The question I actually did ask was-

"Can I stay at your house for the night? I'm lost and it's getting late." Norman looked taken aback by the question. "Well, okay, as long as you behave in there. I actually do have a son-" NOOOOOOO "-that's about your age-"...yay? "But I don't think he's home. His mother called me and said he was going to be out for a while." ...Still yay? "Laurel, you can stay in his room while he's away. I don't see him coming back for a few days." I nodded respectfully then walked to his house in Littleroot.

If only I had known what'd happen next...

I looked up from my food. "Huh, this Laurel chick. She hot?" My dad nearly choked on my food as mom somehow glared at us both at the same time like a Charmander. "Well, I can't answer that without being arrested on pedophilia charges, but she had long, chestnut hair and a rather fair complexion. I'll leave you to decide." She was hot.

I thanked my mom for the meal and went up to my room. Something happened when I went up into my room, but what if I'd cared to listen to my dad when he said-

"Brendan! Wait!" I would have - and should have - turned around to listen to him. "She asked for a place to stay, so I allowed her to stay in your room since I didn't know you'd come back. She's definitely asleep by now so try not to wake her up!" My face would have drained of its color since I was planning to sleep, so I would have decided to sleep on the couch instead.

...But no. I didn't listen to him. Instead, I stripped to my boxers and leaped onto my bed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Those screams echoed through all of Littleroot. That entire mess was a blur, but I could distinctly remember these questions being thrown around.

"Who the hell are you?!" "Who the hell are you?!" "What are you doing in this room?!" "What are you doing in my room?!" "Why are you naked?!" "Why aren't you naked?!" "WHAT?!" "What?!"

My dad groaned from downstairs. "He should have listened." I could faintly hear my mom snickering.

10 minutes, one demolished Brendan's bedroom and two very embarrassed teenagers later, Laurel and I managed to somewhat sort what happened out. "Okay, okay, let's calm down." I tried to say as she kept whacking me repeatedly with a pillow. "Hey! Let me explain!" Laurel reluctantly stopped. "Alright. I'll listen. Speak up or I'll keep hitting you."

"Okay, so, I went through the usual tirades of a trainer, swam along a river, biked up a bike road, beat a gym, biked down and swum back here somehow without any exhaustion, and I got home soaking wet so I wanted to sleep in my underwear and apparently there was a girl in my bed sleeping in it!" I ran out of breath explaining. "Well, I went through the usual thing too, getting off a crappy boat, getting lost in the woods, having to fend off a team Aqua grunt and swallowing my pride to get a place to stay!"

We had a staring match so intense Ohm and Ark would be jealous. Dad yelled at us to come down, so we went down. Well, I literally went down because Laurel pushed me down the stairs. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." I fell face first on the floor, eliciting a triumphant snicker from Laurel. I'll get you good...

My dad clapped his hands. "Alright! You two, start over and introduce yourself." I looked at dad, then looked at Laurel, then looked at dad again. "Seriously?" "No allowance until you introduce yourself to her." I was about to say that he never gave me allowance in the first place, but I thought better of it. "Ergh... Hi. I'm Brendan." I extended my hand. "Fine, I'm Laurel." She took my hand and shook it.

I noticed the time. "Hmm, it's getting pretty late." I commented. "Can we continue this tomorrow?" Laurel yawned in response. "I was having a great night's rest until you screwed it up." Too tired to even make a witty comeback, I waved it off and crashed onto the couch, quickly falling sound asleep.

In hindsight, I should have put some clothes on first.