Mt. Moon dominated the horizon as Josh trekked through Route 3. He had almost wanted to travel back to Viridian after his battle with Brock, but there was no guarantee the Gym would be open when he got there. And Ash is from Cerulean City, Josh reminded himself, maybe she could give me the lay of the land, even some tips on how to beat Misty.

Josh had sent her a text asking about where to find the Gym once he got there, but she hadn't responded yet.

It was rare for people to move to Pallet Town, and even rarer for them to move from such a large city. Usually, it went the other way around. Josh and Ryan had spent countless afternoons after school fantasizing about how awesome it would be to live in Saffron or Vermilion, or maybe even Cinnabar. The idea of having basically an infinite number of people to battle every day, a Trainer School full of elite students to learn from, and a Gym Leader right next door to challenge — it would be a dream come true.

There was no shortage of stories for them to listen to either. Ryan's sister, Avery, went to college in Viridian to become a Pokemon Doctor. She only stayed at Ryan's house on holidays, lately. Professor Oak had gone to college in Saffron, from the best university in the country, they said. Josh's mom had always made a big deal out of that, constantly telling Josh that the Professor could get him a recommendation to go there, too. "For a real job," she would say. But Josh always countered that the Professor had been a Trainer before all that. If the Professor could do it, why couldn't he?

But Josh and Ryan's interests were always on the Trainers. On the battles. They hounded their friends for any details they had. Some upperclassmen's cousin who had started their Gym Challenge in Celadon City. A friend who got to watch the Trainers catch rare Pokemon in the Safari Zone from the observation deck. Ash getting to see a Gyarados that one time she went on a vacation to the Orange Islands. Those moments were breaths of fresh air from their boring lives in Pallet Town, and Josh gulped them down as hard as he could.

Josh's thoughts were interrupted by the rustle of grass on the other side of a crater he was walking past. The whole area was littered with craters from meteor strikes from who knows how long ago. But Josh's main concern was pulling out the Poke Ball that contained Hermes and having it ready to release, with his eyes trained on the patch of grass he heard the noise come from.

The grass parted and revealed a squat, pink Pokemon. Her hair curled neatly between her two big, blue eyes and her ears twitched nervously when she locked eyes with Josh.

The Pokedex in Josh's bag beeped, and he checked it. Josh's heart sank as he saw a checkmark next to the name. This one's been caught already, Josh thought to himself, do I even bother?

The Jigglypuff puffed up her cheeks as she stared at Josh, and he stared back.

Anything counts as experience, right?

"Go, Hermes!" Josh said as he threw his Poke Ball.

Hermes emerged in a white flash of light, surveyed his surroundings for a moment, and then immediately dive-bombed Josh, peppering his head with a series of pecks from his beak.

"Not me! What are you doing?!" Josh said.

Hermes landed in front of Josh and puffed out his chest. He squawked angrily and pointed at Josh with his wings. In the distance, Josh could hear the Jigglypuff start to sing a tune. Hermes squawked again, slapped his chest with his wings, and then again pointed to Josh.

"Are you still mad about the battle with Brock?" Josh finally asked.

Hermes nodded.

"Look, I'm sorry, I couldn't remember what Bide did until the last second," Josh said. "I had to switch Pan out, or we would have lost."

Hermes huffed and looked to the side.

"I swear, I won't use you like that again, okay?" Josh said. The Jigglypuff's song grew louder in Josh's ears.

"Look, I'll make it up to you," Josh said, then raised his arm to point at the Jigglypuff. "See that Pokemon? Let's catch i—"

But Josh's arm only lifted at the elbow, then fell limply back to his side. Josh couldn't feel his fingers or even his own feet. The song in Josh's ears was suddenly all he could hear. He felt lightheaded. His vision blurred, and Josh felt his eyes roll back into his head.

"Wai— whasshappening…"

#

Josh's vision returned to motionless clouds across a dark blue sky. He was lying on his back, on the grass, and his head ached from where he had evidently fallen. Josh sat up and rubbed the back of his head. He checked his phone for the time. It had been morning when he had set out on Route 3, it was now almost 4:00 PM. That Jigglypuff had knocked Josh out for almost nine hours.

Also, Ash had finally responded to his text message:

The Gym is at 3 Chome-2-18 Tsurutamachi. The cheapest Poke Center with overnight rooms is at 1 Chome-3-5 Higashihanawada. Good luck against Misty (-_^)

How Ash could keep long addresses like those straight in her head had always amazed Josh. He could only make his way around Pallet Town by using his own house as a reference. But that was the difference between a city girl like her and a small-town kid like him.

Josh looked around, still blinking away the drowsiness in his eyes, and saw a series of Pokemon knocked out around him. Several Rattatas, Spearows, and even some Pidgeys. Josh didn't bother checking his Pokedex — he knew these three species also had check marks. Hermes and Pan were standing on either side of Josh. Their bodies were covered in scratches, and their bodies rose and fell with heavy breaths. They were exhausted.

"You guys protected me while I was asleep?" Josh asked.

Pan nodded eagerly, but Hermes only gave a chirp as he looked away.

Josh stood up. His bag was sitting next to him, and there was an improvised pillow of leaves, grass, and twigs sitting under where his head had been. Despite having lost almost the whole day to a single Wild Pokemon, Josh smiled.

"Thanks, you guys," he said, "even you, Hermes. I know you helped, too."

Again, Hermes chirped indifferently. But he did glance at Josh for a moment, and then quickly looked away again.

"There's a Poke Center up ahead," Josh said, "I'll get you guys hea—"

Pan's vines emerged from his bulb and whizzed past Josh's head, and Josh heard a loud crack behind him. Josh whipped around.

The two halves of a rock perfectly split down the middle were sitting on the ground. Josh looked up. The culprit was a lone Geodude, sitting on a ridge that overlooked the patch of grass he was standing in. Josh's Pokedex beeped again, but this time Josh didn't recognize the sound. That beep means it's a new entry, Josh thought to himself. The Geodude dug its arms into the ground around it and threw two more stones.

Pan destroyed one of the stones with his Vine Whip, but the second one arced in the air and Josh had to jump back to avoid the stone falling on his head. Josh looked at his two Pokemon. They were both clearly worn out, even one Rock Throw would probably knock out Pan, and Hermes wasn't a good choice to take on a Rock-type even at full health.

Another pair of rocks flew into the air and began to fall toward Josh.

"Save your energy, Pan," Josh said quickly, side-stepping another stone as it landed where he had been standing a second ago.

Pan nodded and lunged forward to evade the second stone. Unlike Josh, Pan only barely got away in time, his short legs and exhaustion meant that Pan could hardly move. That was another issue, Josh realized. Even at the best of times, Pan wasn't a fast Pokemon. He would never make it up to that ridge before he gets hit by one of those Rock Throws.

The Geodude dug his hands into the ground and launched two more stones into the air. The ridge the Geodude was sitting on reminded Josh of a pitcher's mound. That was when the idea came to him. A ridiculous idea that Josh would have laughed at a year ago before he had any Pokemon. But that was also the same Josh who had never battled a Wild Pokemon before and had never been put to sleep by a Jigglypuff's song. Battles against Wild Pokemon had no rules.

Josh ran to Pan, lifted him, and rested him on his right shoulder. The Grass-type yelped and gave Josh a confused look.

"Trust me, Pan," Josh said, "Vine Whip, now!"

As he had done a thousand times during baseball games and practice while growing up in Pallet Town: Josh turned to his side, stepped back onto his right leg, then lunged forward. At the same time, he threw Pan into the air with all the strength he had in his right arm, launching Pan straight for the Geodude.

The Geodude's mouth gaped in surprise, and Pan's vine shot forward, nailing it in the center of its face, and knocking it out instantly. Pan landed on his face but rolled onto his feet and cheered with glee. Josh dashed forward and threw a Poke Ball at the Geodude, which clicked as soon as it hit the ground.

It had taken all day and an eight-hour nap, but Josh had caught his second Pokemon.