"Before leaving, I suppose we can test out the Pokétalk."

Saying that, I took my Pokétalk out. It was shaped like a Pokédex, but the interior was completely different and it was yellow in colour. A pair of earphones were also prepared for me to listen to the translation all to myself.

After I finished setting up the Pokétalk, I sent out my Pokémon and started testing the product, "Surfer, Ziggs, how are you two doing?"

Surfer and Ziggs looked at each other, before Surfer said, "Do you really think that product would help Lows understand us?"

Ziggs replied, "Well, it still sounded too good to be true. I still have doubts about it..."

"Looks like I can understand you both just fine." I smiled upon hearing their conversation translated into English. The two jumped slightly in shock before looking towards me.

"Wow, this product isn't a fraud, after all!" Surfer cheered.

Ziggs looked at me and expressed his gratitude, "Lows... Now that I have the opportunity, I wanted to thank you for offering to join the team... No other trainer ever treated me this nicely. Usually, they'd just ignore me and leave me alone."

I replied, "No worries, Ziggs. I believe that we can make a good team together."

"I-I will make sure to work hard to be a good battler!"

"That's the spirit," I smiled, "Now, to Petalburg City we go!" Both of them cheered upon hearing me. However, just as we were about to enter the next route, a guy tapped my shoulder, startling me as I turned back.

There was a tall man with light steel blue eyes and hair, wearing a charcoal jacket with two black zig-zag stripes, a white undershirt and a red tie.

He politely said, "Sorry if I startled you. It was just pleasant seeing trainers having fun with the Pokétalk." He bowed, "My name is Steven Stone, the former Hoenn Champion. Nice to meet you!"

I nodded in response, "My name is Lows, a trainer from Pallet Town." However, a familiar feeling striked me despite this being my first time seeing him.

However, I brushed off the feeling as Steven continued, "Pokétalk is made by the Devon Corporation, which had years of experience making techy products. The company used research information from the Professors around different regions for the device, and updates will be made every now and then to make sure the translation becomes more accurate. I'm sure that you'll be able to make good use of it. From what I heard, Pokétalk still isn't available for sale though, so you probably received it from an event or something?"

"Yeah, there was an event that gave out Pokétalk to trainers." I nodded, "You seemed to know about the company, Mr. Stone."

"Well, I technically work at the company, so that explains some part of it." He answered. Then, he looked towards my two Pokémon and asked, "Just starting off, I assume?"

"Yeah, this is my starter obtained from Kanto, Surfer the Squirtle. I also recently captured Ziggs the Zigzagoon." I introduced my team to Steven. The two Pokémon politely smiled at the adult.

"What's your aim of participating in the Ever Grande League?" Steven asked.

"Well... there wasn't really an aim for me. I just wanted to explore around the region and obtain unforgettable experiences as a trainer. Most importantly, I want to form a team that aren't just battlers, but also my friends." I smiled with a sign of bitterness, "I didn't have many friends since I was born, so I want to take good care of the Pokémon willing to be alongside me for my first journey."

"Ah, I see." He nodded, "So far, there are many trainers that had ambitious goals, like winning the Ever Grande League and even defeating Brendan. You were certainly different." He then took out his Pokégear, "I'm interested in how you will do in the Ever Grande League. Let's exchange numbers so you can shoot me an update or two on how you're doing."

I happily obliged and exchanged numbers with Steven. He looked at his watch and said, "Looks like I have a meeting to attend in the company. I'll see you later, Lows. Good luck in your journey."

I bid farewell as he rode on his Flying type Pokémon's back and took off. I never saw this Pokémon before, but I didn't have time to scan it with my Pokédex.

Maybe next time, I thought.

At Route 102, I was able to battle some trainers. Though they were tough, my team worked together and emerged from the battles in the end. During our training, Surfer and Ziggs were able to learn new moves as well.

Soon, I found myself in Petalburg City.

Petalburg City

"Where people mingle with nature."

While I was looking around the city, I came across a teenage boy with tea-green hair, who looked a little bit frail, but the maturity of his age could still be shown through his gestures. Besides him was a Pokémon with swords on its arms. Not wanting to miss the opportunity like last time, I quickly scanned the Pokémon, [Gallade, the Blade Pokémon. It is one of the evolved form of Kirlia and one of the final evolved form of Ralts. Because it can sense what its foe is thinking, its attacks burst out first, fast, and fierce.]

The trainer greeted, "Hey, trainer. I'm Wally, the Lilycove Gym Leader." We shook hands politely, "A few years ago, there were only eight badges required for the Ever Grande League. However, to limit the amount of trainers eligible to participate in the tournament, they decided to increase the number of badges to ten." He explained.

"Wow, I didn't know that." I was amused, "My name is Lows, and I'm from the Kanto region."

"Lows...?" Wally thought for a moment upon hearing my name, before he shrugged and continued, "Well, now you know, I suppose. It seems like you have taken a liking to my Pokémon as well."

I immediately replied, "Yeah, your Pokémon looks awesome! I wish my Pokémon could look this strong in the future as well."

"Thanks. I still remember when he was still a little Ralts seven years ago when I caught him. We had some ups and downs while training together, but it was worth it. You'll get there too!" Wally said, while his Gallade nodded in pride.

"You two seem so close together..." I was envious but happy seeing their strong bond.

"Just years of training that led to this. You'll get there one day, too." He smiled before instructing, "Now, why don't you come with me? There's a place I want to show you."

I followed Wally back towards a patch of grass at Route 102, "...and, here is where I first caught my starter, Blade as a Ralts. The Petalburg Gym Leader, Norman, borrowed me a Pokémon to catch my starter before I left the town for personal reasons."

"That's quite interesting. I haven't seen any Ralts around this area when I was around here..."

"Ralts is sensitive to the emotions of people and Pokémon. Who knows, when you show a strong desire for it to join your team, it might just appear in front of you."

Just as he finished the sentence, I heard rustling near the patch of grass. We looked towards the direction and saw a humanoid Pokémon with a white body, its face mostly covered with green hair and had two flat, red horns on top of its head.

C-Could it be...?

I scanned it with my Pokédex, [Ralts, the Feeling Pokémon. It is highly attuned to the emotions of people and Pokémon. It hides if it senses hostility.]

"I-It's a Ralts!" I couldn't control my excitement and squealed softly. I got closer to the Psychic type, hoping for it to join the team. However, upon noticing my presence, the Ralts was slightly startled and teleported away from my sight.

"O-Oh... There it goes." I sighed in disappointment.

"Don't get your hopes down yet," Wally comforted me, "I guess it just thinks that you were acting hostile. It shouldn't have teleported too far away from this place, so let's search for a bit."

I nodded and searched through the area, however to no avail. Even Wally scratched the back of his head, slightly confused.

Well, it's alright, I suppose. I shouldn't waste Wally's time by searching further.

"Wally, I suppose we can leave now-" Suddenly, Wally softly covered my mouth with his right hand and used his other hand to point towards a direction. I looked over and noticed the Ralts again. However, it was in deep trouble. There were two Pokémon attacking it, while their trainer mocked, "Come on, Ralts! You can't resist any further. No matter what, you're joining my team!"

Seeing the Ralts getting hurt made me uneasy. I couldn't just be a bystander and watch the Ralts getting caught by this irresponsible trainer. As the trainer threw a Pokéball, I ran over and went in front of the Ralts, blocking the Pokéball.

The trainer sneered, "What are you, some other trainer that wants this Ralts? I'm sorry, but this Ralts will be mine!'

"I don't care whether this Ralts wants to join my team. I just can't let it battle alongside an irresponsible trainer like you!"

"What did you just say to me?!" He was angry, "For me to give up, you gotta defeat me first! Let's battle, Poochyena and Electrike!" The two Pokémon in front of him growled fiercely at me. I looked towards Wally, who made gestures of encouragement for me to keep going.

I gotta do this.

I threw my two Pokéballs, "I believe in you, Surfer and Ziggs!"

The two Pokémon landed on the field and examined their opponents. The trainer commanded, "Electrike, use Quick Attack! Poochyena, use Tackle!

I didn't waste much time to command, "Ziggs, use Growl! Surfer, use Bubble on both Electrike and Poochyena!"

Surfer took no time to blow the bubbles from his mouth, hitting the two opponents. Ziggs assisted by growling at them. However, despite slowing down due to the attacks, Electrike was still able to land a quick hit onto Surfer, slightly damaging him.

"Surfer, use Tackle on Electrike! Ziggs, keep using Growl!" Ziggs kept growling, trying to revert their attention from Surfer. Finding an opportunity to strike, Surfer dashed towards Electrike and gave him a hard tackle, but its trainer remained calm and had a smirk on his face.

When Surfer ran back, I saw sparks emitting from Surfer's body. My Water type struggled to stand straight, while realization dawned on me that Electrike's ability, Static worked in the favor of its trainer.

"Now that Squirtle is paralyzed, Electrike, finish Squirtle with Spark!" Yellow sparks surrounded the Electric type, and as it was about to dash towards Surfer, Ziggs growled angrily and rushed towards Electrike on his own. Then, he slammed his head into the opponent, flinching Electrike.

Looks like he learned Headbutt... That's gonna help us to turn the tides for this battle!

Electrike, who just recovered from the flinch, started panting. At that moment, I was confident that the battle was in our favor. "Surfer, use Bubble! Ziggs, use Headbutt on Poochyena!"

The trainer hadn't given up yet, "Poochyena, use Tackle on Squirtle and Electrike, use Spark on Zigzagoon!"

Surfer was able to strike first. However, instead of the Bubble attack I was expecting, Surfer released a spiral of water from its mouth at Electrike, hitting it. The Electrike was finally down, unable to continue its attack.

On the other side, Poochyena tried to tackle Surfer, but Ziggs was desperate in trying to stop it with his Headbutt attack. Poochyena eventually collided with Ziggs instead of Surfer. Both Pokémon fainted from the impact, unable to move.

That was close... At least I was able to win. I hurriedly checked on the two, healed them and praised them for their efforts.

"I-I can't believe it! " He glared at me, "I won't forget about this!" He then ran towards the PokéCentre, leaving us and Ralts alone.

I immediately went ahead and checked on Ralts. "R-Ralts, are you alright?!"

The Psychic type weakly cried, "T-That trainer's Pokémon did a toll on me..."

"We'll make sure you recover from this. Trust me, alright?" I asked. The female Ralts nodded, and I carried her in my arms while rushing towards the PokéCentre. Fortunately, that trainer was already gone, or else the situation would have been quite awkward.

I went towards the nurse and showed her Ralts, "Nurse, we need some help..."

The nurse checked for Ralts' injuries, "Oh my, what happened to this little one?"

"Well, it's a long story..."

"Don't worry. Ralts is badly injured, but I think we can get her back in good shape in no time."

"Thank you so much..." I watched as the nurse took Ralts away with her. For that period, I could only wait in the PokéCentre before the nurse gave us any updates. I sat on one of the chairs provided, while Wally sat right beside me.

He reassured me, "It'll be okay, Lows. The nurse did say that Ralts will get better, right?"

"Yeah, but Ralts still shouldn't get treated that way..."

"You're right, she definitely shouldn't." He patted my shoulder, comforting me a little.

It felt like forever before the nurse came out of a room and walked towards me, delivering me the update, "Ralts is currently resting right now. After that, she should be fully recovered."

I was relieved, "T-Thank you so much!"

The nurse smiled in response and went back to work. Wally said, "I guess you can take care of it from here onwards?"

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Wally. Your help means a lot." I also apologized, "Also, sorry for wasting your time."

"It's nothing, really. At this time, no trainer would schedule a battle against me. Most of them would be at the early stages of gym badge collecting yet." He smiled.

"I guess you're right."

"I'll leave and do something else for now, though. I look forward to battling you soon, Lows." He said.

"You bet. I'm sure I'll have a good time in the gym battle against you, Wally." He smiled upon hearing my response. Then, he did a small hand wave and started walking towards the door of the PokéCentre. Before leaving, he looked back towards me, "Lows... when we meet again, I hope you still have that trait in you."

"What trait?"

"..." He grinned, "Your passionate love towards Pokémon."

With that, he walked out of the door and left the PokéCentre.

After a few hours, Ralts was able to recover from a good rest. The nurse handed Ralts towards me, and I held the Psychic type with my hands and thanked the nurse for her hard work in curing Ralts.

I walked out of the PokéCentre and went back to Route 102. Then, I gently put Ralts on the ground and said, "Ralts, you're all recovered to head back to the wild now. Take care of yourself, alright?"

"You're going to leave now?" The Ralts looked at me, a sign of disappointment shown in her expression.

"Yeah, we gotta continue our adventure in the Hoenn region. We'll see you another time, Ralts."

"Wait," The Ralts said, getting my attention, "I initially teleported away from you not just because I was startled by the sudden presence, I was also unsure whether I should join a team after living in the wild for quite a while now. But seeing what you did... gave me the desire to battle like your two Pokémon."

She continued, "I trust you, Lows. I would like to join your team."

"Are you sure about it?"

"I'm sure. I don't usually regret my decisions, despite this being a big one." She smiled, "I'm sure this is a decision worth making in my life."

I grinned, took out a Pokéball and said, "I'll name you Grace, then. Grace, welcome to the team." Then, I lightly threw the Pokéball towards her. She gladly let herself get caught by the Pokéball, and thus, we have our third member on the team.

I won't let you regret joining my team, Grace.

Welcome to the team.

After travelling for a short while, Wally found himself back at Lilycove. He saw someone at the entrance waiting for him.

When the two noticed each other, Wally grinned and slightly waved his right hand at the person.

"How's it going?" Wally asked.

"Just the same! I just wanted to see you, that's all. You?"

"I've just been travelling around today." Wally answered, "Oh yeah..."

He continued, "I stumbled across your brother today.

Looks like he did come, after all."

Lows' Pokémon Team:

Surfer (Squirtle, Male) Jolly Nature, moves: Tackle, Growl, Bubble, Water Gun

Ziggs (Zigzagoon, Male) Naive Nature, moves: Tackle, Growl, Headbutt

Grace (Ralts, Female) Calm Nature, moves: Growl, Confusion