Chapter 2

"Welcome to the Fortree City gym!" the woman announced.

Before Olivia stood a labyrinth of some strange rotating walls. On the other side of the puzzle was a battlefield. Framing the battlefield were two wooden windmills with an open window between them. Despite living in Hoenn for years, Olivia only moved to Fortree City fairly recently, and never got to see the gym's interior until now. It was truly a spectacle.

The woman introduced herself. "I'm Winona, the leader of this gym!"

"Woah..." Olivia exclaimed, but her voice trailed off.

Winona tossed a pokeball into the air. "Come on out!" she exclaimed. The pokeball opened, creating a flash of light and an unforgettable sound. A large blue pokemon came out of the ball and hovered before Winona and Olivia. This pokemon had wings that are white and fluffy, making them look like small clouds.

"Altairrrr!" the pokemon cried.

Winona climbed on the back of Altaria, her signature pokemon. "Hop on!" she encouraged Olivia.

Should I trust her? I mean, she seems nice and all, but its so hard to trust anyone anymore. Olivia thought, before shrugging and climbing on behind Winona. Altaria let out another cry and quickly flew the duo over the gym puzzle to the battlefield on the other end.

"So, now that we're alone..." Winona started while dismounting her pokemon, "what happened to you? Why were you on the ground paralyzed in the middle of the city like that?"

Olivia slid off the Altaria. She took a deep breath. "My parents and I - don't really get along. We had a disagreement and they kicked me out until I prove I can be a good, strong trainer."

Winona nodded, then put her hand on Olivia's shoulder. "Hey, I can help you in your first steps to become a trainer. I am a pretty experienced one myself."

"But I don't even want to be a pokemon-battler!"

"I think it's worth giving it a shot, especially since that seems like the only way you can make up with your parents," Winona suggested, "Even if you disagree sometimes, they're still family."

"I guess that's true..."

"Come with me to the nearby tall grass in Route 120, I can teach you how to catch a pokemon, and then we'll go from there."

"Ok..."

Winona climbed back atop her pokemon, followed by Olivia. Altaria let out another cry and flew out the nearby window, before turning eastward, heading towards the nearest location with wild pokemon. It wasn't far away at all, and it felt like seconds before they landed once again.

"Welcome to the tall grass!" Winona presented enthusiastically. Behind her were several pokemon just living their lives in the wild, mostly gloom and linoone. There was even a tropius gliding through the sky overhead, before it flew over the trees, out of sight.

"So... what now?" Olivia asked unenthusiastically.

"Catch one of the pokemon living around here! If you want, I can give you some tips on how to catch one, but I have a feeling you already know how," Winona smiled.

This was true. As a fifteen-year-old living in the wonderful world of pokemon, Olivia had seen her fair share of television shows that gave her a good understanding of how catching and raising pokemon works. One of her favorite shows featured the longest reigning champion of the Kanto region, who has held the position since he was only ten years old, beginning about twenty years ago. Olivia's parents never seemed to be big fans of most of these shows, especially the one with Kanto's champion, but that didn't stop Olivia from watching what she was interested in.

"I don't need help, I think I can do this on my own," Olivia replied.

"Alright, well here are some pokeballs you can use to catch one." Winona handed a white bag containing ten pokeballs to Olivia. "Once you have a pokemon of your own, come back to the gym in Fortree for your first gym battle!"

"Ok."

Winona climbed aboard Altaria once again and began to fly off. "See you soon!" Winona shouted as she and her partner pokemon flew into the distance.

Olivia looked around her, analyzing her options for what her future pokemon partner could soon be. There still weren't many options, only gloom and a few linoone. "Well, I definitely don't want a gloom, they're so ugly..." She then turned towards a nearby linoone, "but linoone is kinda cute. I think I'm going to try to catch one of those!"

The linoone she was focused on turned its head towards her and sniffed before baring its fangs. "LIINNOOOOO!" the linoone cried, and jumped at Olivia

Olivia wasn't expecting the wild pokemon to immediately be so feral, which made her panic. She ran away from the linoone in fear. However, the linoone was quickly gaining ground on her. Soon it would be close enough to attack.

"AAAaAAaaaa!" Olivia screamed. She had no chance of escaping from the linoone like this. She made a snap decision to reach into the bag in her hand and pull out a pokeball. She tossed it behind her, and it made a direct hit on the face of the attacking pokemon, before opening up, ensnaring the linoone, and falling back to the ground. However, Olivia kept running, hiding behind a nearby tree.

The ball on the ground shook once. Twice. And then there was an explosion of light. The ball was now nowhere to be found, and in its place stood a confused and still angry linoone. Once it realized its target was gone, it walked back to where it was before being provoked.

Olivia sighed with relief and took a step back from the tree she was hiding behind, not realizing what was behind her. She slipped and almost fell into a river below. Instead of fully losing her balance, she managed to correct herself just in time. She looked below, where she almost fell. "Oh no!" she shouted, noticing that nine pokeballs had fallen into the river below, and quickly sank to the bottom. Nobody would see them again for a long time.

"What do I do? I lost them all..." Olivia cried into her hands and knelt to the ground. She lost all of the pokeballs given to her by the nicest woman she had ever met, and now she couldn't catch a pokemon, meaning she couldn't fight the gym and make progress on what her parents forced for her to do. She couldn't see how things could get any worse.

But it did. Around this time, the sun finally set, triggering the paralysis-bracelet around her arm. She fell to the ground, paralyzed and cloaked by the nearby tall grass and trees, where she remained for the next several hours.