As Eri, Wally and Joey walked out Joey turned to face the two

"Well, I gotta get home! Bye, you two!" Joey said before leaving

"He seems nice." Wally said As he and Eri began to walk onto the route

Wally then turned to Eri

"Did you just start on your journey?" Wally asked to which Eri nodded

"I always wanted to go on a journey but I was always sick." Wally said, "After I catch a Pokemon I'm moving to Verdanturf town the air is better there so maybe I can get enough strength to go on a journey."

Soon they got onto the grass

"So I just look around and- Oh!" Wally said before a ralts came out of the grass

Wally sent out Norman's zigzagoon

"Okay, so I weaken it first." Wally said, "Use tackle!"

Zigzagoon ran forward and hit Ralts with a tackle before it retaliated with a growl

"And then I throw a Pokeball!" Wally said before throwing a Pokeball

One shake.

Two shakes

Three Shakes

*Click*

And the ralts was caught

"I-I did it! I caught my own Pokemon!" Wally said excitedly "T-Thank you Eri for coming with me!"

Eri blushed at the thank you both not expecting it and not used to it

"Now then let's go-" Wally began

"Ralts?" A voice said from behind them

they both turned and saw a ralts with a blue helmet and orange spikes

and it looked like it had seen something horrifying

"What got it so spooked?" Wally asked

Then Eri's pokedex activated

"ralts the feeling Pokemon, A psychic and fairy type. A RALTS has the power to sense the emotions of people and POKéMON with the horns on its head. It takes cover if it senses any hostility."

Eri realized what the Pokedex meant

Ralts saw what SHE was feeling

She began to panic, she felt her horn grow a bit

And then something hugged her causing her to flinch

She looked down and saw the Ralts hugging her

"Why is it hugging you?" Wally asked

"Ralts..." Ralts said seemingly trying to comfort her

"T-Thank you..." Eri said beginning to tear up

"Are you alright?" Wally asked

Eri nodded wiping her tears

"Okay then... let's go back." Wally said

"Wait." Eri said

She turned to the ralts

"Do you want to come with me?" Eri asked the ralts

The ralts nodded

"Okay then." Eri said Eri pulling out a Pokeball

Ralts quickly went inside and after 3 shakes it was caught

"I'm gonna call you Melody." Eri said

They walked back to Norman's gym

When they entered Wally handed back Norman's Zigzagoon

"Thank you for the help, Mr. Norman!" Wally said

"You're welcome." Norman said before turning to Eri "As promised here's your reward."

He handed her a pokenav plus

"I accidentally bought two of them so you can have this one." Norman said, "Hold on I'll put my number in there if you ever want advice I can help."

The pokenav plus got Norman's number (in case of emergencies)

Wally was getting ready to leave

"Again thank you, Mr. Norman." Wally said before turning to Eri

"And you, Eri… Thank you so much for coming with me. It was all thanks to you two that I was able to catch Ralts. My very own Ralts… I will always, always treasure it! …Oh! I know! It's not much of a thank-you, but…um…Eri? Will you let me see your PokéNav Plus for a second?"

Eri handed him the pokenav plus

"OK, that and…ummm…there!" Wally said as he messed with it "I read in a book how you can use the PlayNav to take care of your Pokémon and train them. I've wanted to have my own Pokémon for so long…and do all those kinda things together… So I've had all these kinds of apps installed on my PokéNav Plus for ages! Embarrassing, huh? I'm going to try my best together with Ralts. You do your best, too, Eri! Oh, but my mom's waiting for me. I've got to get going! I hope we'll meet again, Eri! And you, too, Mr. Norman!"

And with that, Wally left

"That boy has potential." Norman said "Speaking of potential I can see some in you too. It's a spark but it will grow. I look forward to seeing you here as a challenger."

Eri nodded

And with that, Eri left

"Now I wonder what Birch wanted to talk to me about." Norman said before calling his old friend

"Norman! Have you seen a little girl with a horn on her head?!" Professor Birch asked

"...You just missed her." Norman said

"Dang it! Is she well?" Professor Birch asked

"From what I could see her clothes could be in better condition but she's got shoes on her feet and Pokemon by her side." Norman said

"Good, that's an improvement!" Professor birch said

"The fuck you mean that's an improvement?! Did she not have shoes before!?" Norman asked

"Well, she did stumble out of the woods!" Birch said

"EXPLAIN NOW." Norman said

"I was getting attacked by a Pokemon and she helped get me out of it and then once I took her back to my lab I went to get her some proper clothes but while I was gone may went into my lab and called Eri a thief which scared her off!" Professor Birch quickly explained

"Okay then. Good news I know where she's going she's heading to Rustboro City." Norman said

"Okay, I'll have my assistant there drop off some stuff for her at the Pokemon centre." Professor Birch said, "Thank you Norman."

And with that, the professor hung up

Eri walked through the route passing by an old shack near the ocean on the way there

She wondered who lived there

She kept moving along before reaching Petalburg Woods doing her best to avoid trainers

While Joey was nice she didn't want to go through that again and run the risk of them being not nice

She continued to walk noticing many Pokemon on the trees and around the area

Then she saw a man in a lab coat

"Excuse me young lady? Have you seen a shroomish around here? It's my favourite Pokemon." The man in the lab coat asked

Then a man in a blue pirate-like outfit

"I was going to ambush you, but you had to dawdle in Petalburg Woods forever, didn't you? I got sick of waiting, so here I am! You! Devon researcher! Hand over those papers!" The man said

Eri felt the urge to stop him so she stepped forward

"Hunh? What do you think you're doing? What, you're going to protect him? No one who crosses Team Aqua gets any mercy, not even a kid! Come on and battle me!" The team aqua grunt said

He sent out a poochyena

"Go!" Eri said sending out melody

"Alright, poochyena! Use bite!" The team aqua grunt yelled

Poochyena tried to bite Melody but she teleported behind them

Then Eri's pokedex activated

"Melody's" moves are teleport, double team, Confusion and disarming voice."

"Use Disarming voice!" Eri said her voice a bit wobbly

Melody let out a sound wave surrounded by pink energy which hit Poochyena head-on

"Oh, you little brat!" The team aqua grunt said, "Tackle!"

Poochyena slammed into Melody knocking her back a bit

"Disarming voice!" Eri said a bit more confident

Melody released another sound wave which took poochyena out of the battle

"You gotta be kidding me! You're tough!" The grunt said returning his poochyena "Grrr…You've got some nerve meddling with Team Aqua! Come on and battle me again! I wish I could say that, but I'm out of Pokémon…And, hey, we of Team Aqua are also after something in Rustboro. I'll let you go today!"

The grunt quickly ran off

"That was close." The Devon researcher said, "Here take this."

He handed her a blue and red Pokeball

"wait...didn't he say they were after something in rustboro?!" The Devon researcher questioned, "OH NO THIS IS A DISASTER!!!"

The researcher quickly ran away

and Eri followed

Elsewhere

"Well, I'll be..." a woman in a team Aqua grunt outfit said "A little girl taking down a team Aqua grunt. With ease too."

She looked at her whismur who let out a small cry

"Maybe she might be helpful in my quest..."

Uh oh! Eri's has gotten some attention

Eri's team

Mudkip -Nickname: Skippy

Shroomish -Nickname: Onion

(Shiny) Ralts -Nickname: Melody