Josh had barely stepped outside of the Vermilion Gym when he felt a hand tap his shoulder. Josh turned to see a girl with shiny black hair and pink eyes. She looked about Josh's age, was slightly taller than him, and had a face that reminded him of Avery Oak. She was pretty. Josh was suddenly aware of how tired he must look. He hadn't gotten any sleep between the S.S. Anne and challenging Lt. Surge.

"Hi, you're a Trainer, right?" she said.

"Yeah," Josh said.

"Can I ask how many Badges you have?"

"Three," Josh said.

It really doesn't sound like that many when you say it like that, he thought to himself.

"Thank God," the girl said with a sigh, "I've been waiting for a good Trainer to show up all morning."

Suddenly, Josh didn't feel tired at all. "Thanks. Uh, what do you need a good Trainer for?"

"Promise you won't judge?"

Her eyes were big, sweet, and pleading.

"O-of course not," Josh stammered.

"Okay, so my parents are out of town, and they left me in charge of my brother and our pet Meowth," she said, "and, well, the Meowth got out and I can't get him to come back into the house."

"You don't have a Poke Ball for him or anything?" Josh asked.

"He's just a pet," the girl said, "he showed up one day and I gave him some food, and then he kept coming back for more."

Josh nodded. It wasn't that weird. Some people believed that Poke Balls weren't the best place to keep a Pokemon. Josh had had his own doubts just after starting his journey. He had checked Pan and Hermes inside their Poke Balls constantly as he was walking around. But, as Josh had learned, the small, virtual worlds they were living in while inside the Poke Ball let his Pokemon do just about anything they wanted. Josh would twist the caps to his Poke Balls and see Hermes flying through a cloudless sky, Pan basking in the middle of a grass field with the sun shining down on him, or Eevee being pet by a girl they had met once before.

Josh was content to let his Pokemon enjoy themselves while they were in their Poke Balls. It also saved Josh a lot of trouble from having them walking around with him — especially his Eevee. That Pokemon gets way too much attention, Josh to himself, it's going to go straight to his head. And I don't want one of my Pokemon turning into a diva. It's not that I'm jealous of my Eevee or anything. Definitely not that.

Even so, Josh knew there were plenty of people out there who preferred to let their Pokemon spend as much time as possible outside of their Poke Balls, or who preferred not to use Poke Balls at all. Ash liked to let her Clefairy out during full moons when she thought no one was watching. And Ryan's sister, Avery, hardly ever kept her Vulpix inside her Poke Ball at all.

Josh's thoughts were interrupted when the girl pulled out her phone.

"I do have a collar on him with GPS," she said, "so I know he's still here somewhere, downtown."

"All right, let's go get him," Josh said.

After beating that Persian on Route 6 and getting his third Badge, Josh knew he could handle a domesticated Meowth.

"I'm Sayuki, by the way," the girl said as they walked.

"Josh," he answered, "you write that with the character for 'snow', right?"

"Yeah," she said, "you speak Kantonese?"

"Honestly, no," Josh said as he scratched his head in embarrassment, "I took it in middle school. But I can only remember, like, 20 characters."

"Well, 'snow' is one of the better ones, if you ask me," Sayuki said with a wink.

Josh couldn't think of anything to say to that, but he willed himself not to look away and to keep eye contact. Walking shoulder-to-shoulder with her, Josh could see her eyes lit up and became brighter in the sunlight. They looked like little, pink diamonds. She was really pretty. And her hair smelled like—

Suddenly, Josh tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and nearly face-planted before catching himself with his hands.

"Careful!" Sayuki squeaked.

Josh bounced back to his feet as quickly as he could and smacked his hands together to clean off the dirt from his hands. His palms stung and there were already beady drops of blood forming on them, but he refused to let the pain show on his face in front of Sayuki.

"I'm good," Josh said quickly, "what's the GPS say?"

Sayuki looked down at her phone. "It says he should be here."

Josh looked around. There were standing in a town square. There was a large fountain in the center, made of an outer pool with golden Magnemite statues forming a chain on the outside ring. In the center of the pool, there was a golden Raichu statue riding on a surfboard. The water shot up from the pool around the Raichu statue at various intervals. It was still early, on a Sunday, so there weren't many people around.

Josh surveyed the area. Even in the middle of a city, there were bushes and shopping kiosks everywhere — perfect hiding spots for Pokemon, just like on the Routes he had been traveling through. His eyes caught sight of a curled brown tail slinking away between a pair of kiosks.

Josh headed for the kiosks and Sayuki followed. As they approached, a Meowth emerged from behind a pile of neatly stacked newspapers. It stared at them with big, slit pupils.

Sayuki knelt and spoke softly.

"Maru, please, come home already," she said.

The Meowth's eyes narrowed and it hissed at her. Sayuki reached out a hand, but the Meowth hissed louder and swiped a paw at her. Sayuki jumped back.

"He tries to claw me every time I get close," Sayuki said as she straightened up and walked back to Josh. "He's never been like this before. I don't get it."

"So, what do you want me to do, exactly?" Josh said.

"I don't know. Don't you know ways to make Pokemon obey you and stuff?"

Josh was at a loss for words. He had been on his journey for four months and had caught nine Pokemon. But he couldn't really say he knew of a way to 'make' his Pokemon do anything. Sometimes, they just plain didn't listen.

Pan always listened to Josh, but Josh knew that was because Pan had been trained by Professor Oak. The Professor had a way of calming and coaxing Pokemon that had always fascinated Josh. Josh thought back to when he had asked the Professor about how to handle Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Josh had been too awestruck by watching the Professor's Pokemon to remember anything useful that the Professor might have told him.

"Umm… Have you tried food?" Josh said finally.

"Food?"

"Yeah," Josh said, "I always give my Pokemon food whenever they do a good job. I make them sandwiches."

Sayuki arched an eyebrow at Josh. The Meowth stared at them both. Josh dropped to his knees and unzipped his backpack, and pulled out a wrapped sandwich. Josh pulled out a thin slice of meat from the sandwich and dangled it in front of the Meowth. The Meowth's eyes followed Josh's hand as he moved. Finally, Josh threw the meat forward. The Meowth made no effort to catch it, and the meat landed with a plop on the pavement. The Meowth stared at Josh and narrowed his eyes.

"All right," Josh said with a sigh, and then he turned to Sayuki, "Are you sure you want me to do this?"

"Do what, exactly?"

"I could catch him," Josh said, as he pulled out a Poke Ball from his bag, "that way you could take him home."

"You can do that? Just give someone else a Pokemon inside a Poke Ball?"

"Yeah, sure," Josh said. "That's how I got my first Pokemon."

Sayuki bit her lip as she thought for a moment.

God, she's pretty.

"Just don't hurt him too bad?" she said finally.

"I'll try," Josh said.

Pan's Sleep Powder would be easiest, Josh thought to himself, but I have to weaken it first. Eevee and Amphitrite would probably hit too hard. In that case…

"Hermes, I choose you!"

Josh's Pidgeotto emerged in a flurry of feathers, immediately dive-bombed Josh, and began peppering his head with pecks.

"Ow! Not me! What's wrong with you?"

Hermes landed in front of Josh and flapped his wings at him, squawking loudly and glaring at him. Josh recognized that from the last time his Flying-type had gotten this way.

"Are you angry at me?" Josh said.

Hermes landed in front of Josh and nodded his head.

"Why? What did I do?"

Hermes squawked and puffed up his chest. Josh thought back to the last few times he had used Hermes. The first memory that came to mind was back on Route 25, against the Wild Gyarados that he had to run away from. Then, against the Wild Persian and Amphitrite on Route 6. And then Hermes evolved on Route 5… and that was it. He hadn't used Hermes at all during the tournament on the S.S. Anne. And he hadn't used him against Lt. Surge.

"Are you angry I haven't used you in battle lately?" Josh finally said.

Hermes quickly nodded his head.

"Look, I couldn't use you against Lt. Surge," Josh said, "that's a huge type disadvantage."

Hermes narrowed his eyes at Josh.

"And against Ryan, I thought having a Water-type would help," Josh said. And then, a thought came to him. "But you could have out-sped Ryan's Kadabra. You actually might have been better."

Hermes rolled his eyes at Josh.

"Do you usually talk about stuff like this with your Pokemon?" Sayuki asked.

Not really, Josh thought to himself, but maybe I should.

"It's a team thing," Josh said, then he turned back to Hermes. "Hermes, the next Gym I'm going to challenge is Celadon. That's a Grass-type Gym, so I'm going to use you most of all. I know you hate being held back, so I promise I'll really let you let loose when we face Erika."

Hermes perked up and cocked his head to the side.

"Every Gym Leader we face will be stronger than the last," Josh said, carefully watching Hermes' eyes widen at his words, "that means Erika will be tougher than Misty and Surge… And I'll need my strongest Pokemon to take her on."

Hermes puffed up his chest and chirped loudly. Josh recognized the fire in his Pidgeotto's eyes.

"So help me out, huh?" Josh said, "We gotta weaken this Meowth, Gust!"

Hermes nodded, turned, and faced the Meowth. The Meowth hissed at Hermes, but the Flying-type flapped his wings and sent the Meowth flying backward, and slamming into a wall. Behind Josh, Sayuki gasped.

Might have motivated Hermes a bit too much, Josh thought.

But the Meowth sprang back to his feet and sprinted at Hermes with incredible speed. He bared his claws and slashed at Hermes with blinding speed.

"Maru! Stop it!" Sayuki squealed.

"Crap," Josh said, "keep your distance Hermes, Sand Attack!"

Hermes flew up, hovered, and kicked up a cloud of sand and dust that covered the Meowth's face. The Meowth hissed and darted towards the fountain. The Normal-type dove in, and emerged with his face clean.

… That was actually pretty smart, Josh thought.

"Hermes, Gust," Josh said, "give it, like, 50% power."

Hermes chirped in annoyance but sent another blast of wind toward the Meowth. The Meowth dodged, and the water in the fountain behind him jumped in a geyser from the blast. The Meowth reached a paw up to his forehead, Josh heard a metallic clink as the golden coin on the Normal-type's head split into two. The Meowth threw the coin like a shuriken, and it exploded into a hail of coins as it hit Hermes in the chest. The coins flew out in all directions, some landing on the ground, some landing in the fountain, and some landing on Josh's arms as he shielded his face.

"Maru, stop! You're gonna get me in trouble!" Sayuki said.

The Meowth bared his teeth and yowled at her in response.

Josh looked around. Some of the coins were still spinning and rolling around the ground. There was a crowd of people surrounding them now, watching. Oh right, Josh realized, Pokemon battles aren't allowed in most places in cities. I better end this quickly, before Lt. Surge shows up.

Josh withdrew his Pidgeotto.

"Do you wanna try talking to him again?" Josh said to Sayuki.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he mainly seems to be angry at you for something," Josh said, "just see if you can work it out because at this point I'm either going to hurt your Meowth or we'll all be busted for starting a battle in a city."

Sayuki nodded, took a breath, and approached her Meowth.

"Maru, did I do something to make you upset?" she said.

The Meowth sheathed his claws slowly and nodded.

Sayuki looked down at the ground as she thought for a moment. Then, her eyes widened.

"Wait," she said, "did you overhear that I was going away for boarding school?"

The Meowth hissed at her again.

"You weren't supposed to hear that," Sayuki pleaded, "I'm sorry, Maru, but my parents paid a ton of money for me to go to that school. I can't take you with me. It's been my dad's dream for me to go there, just like he did."

Josh stepped forward.

"You know, if you get your Meowth in a Poke Ball, he could go with you wherever you went," he said, "and you could let him out whenever you want. I know most schools let you do that outdoors, at least."

Sayuki and Maru looked at Josh, and then at each other.

"I never thought of that," she said, "I always thought Poke Balls were just for Trainers."

"Not at all," Josh said, as the Meowth climbed down from the lip of the fountain and cautiously approached them. "I know lots of people who keep their Pokemon in Poke Balls and don't use them for training. I know a girl who's caught a ton of Pokemon. And she never battles."

Except for that one time on Mt. Moon, Josh remembered, Ash probably would have thought of this way sooner, too. Ash would rarely raise her hand in class, back in Pallet Town, but she never got an answer wrong. Josh pulled an empty Poke Ball from his bag and handed it to Sayuki. She took it and gingerly held it in both her hands. Only then did Josh notice her nail polish — bright pink, like her eyes.

"Wow," she whispered. "You would really let me have this?"

"Sure," Josh said. "Like I said, it's how I got my first. Why don't you do the honors?"

Sayuki nodded and knelt to her Meowth.

"Come on, Maru," she said sweetly, "let's make it official."

The Meowth cocked his head as he stared at Sayuki for a moment. Then, he reached a paw forward. Sayuki held out the Poke Ball and tapped it to Maru's paw. The Poke Ball snapped open, and the Meowth disappeared into it in a flash of red light. The Poke Ball didn't shake once.

I would've just thrown it, Josh thought, but I guess that was pretty cute, too.

Sayuki stood up and turned back to Josh, holding her Poke Ball as though it were precious cargo.

"My first Pokemon," she murmured.

"Twist the top," Josh said.

"Huh?"

Josh reached forward and twisted the top while Sayuki held it. The red half of the Poke Ball became translucent, and Maru appeared in miniature form. He looked around his small hologram space. In an instant, a giant scratching post appeared next to him. He meowed happily at Sayuki.

"Oh my God, that is the cutest thing ever!" Sayuki squealed.

"He can see whatever he wants in there," Josh said, "and he can see what's happening around him as long as you keep his Poke Ball out in the open like this. You can get a special keychain for him if you don't want to keep him in your bag. And if you ever lose the Poke Ball, you can go to a Poke Center PC and get it back through there."

"Wow," Sayuki said, still staring at her Poke Ball, "they really think of everything, don't they?"

"Yeah," Josh said, "and if you have any questions, just ask any Trainer around… or you could, like… I mean, if you want —"

"Give me your number," Sayuki said quickly.

She had taken the words right out of his mouth. But, as Josh would begrudgingly admit to himself later that day as he left Vermilion City, he never would have worked up the courage to say it himself.