The next morning, Ross and Brent set out to Petalburg.
The ride to town went smoothly overall, since Ross had flown on Brent's Honchkrow many times before this. In fact, he enjoyed the journey quite a bit, since it netted him a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape.
And why wouldn't you want to see that?
Eventually, before they knew it, Petalburg was in sight. The pair (or trio) landed on a lake next to the local PokeMart, and Ross waved his father good luck for the day as he left for work.
"I'll fly you back at sundown. Don't cause any trouble!" were his father's words before he flew off into the sunrise, becoming a small speck in the air, before disappearing altogether.
What does he mean by that? Its not as if I'm a magnet for trouble...
And with that thought, Ross walked determined steps towards route 102, the place where his dreams would finally begin. He was as prepared as he could be for this excursion. He had memorized the layout of the entire forest in his head, mapped out the most probable routes a Ralts was likely to take, and even brought bait just in case that measure didn't work.
He was a man on a mission. And he was going to get that Ralts!
He pulled out a pokeball from his pocket and-
Wait...
...
Ross rummaged through his pockets, panic growing every time he came up empty.
Wait a darn minute...
...
Did I really just-
"FORGET MY BALLS!?" Ross screamed, glaring a hole into the sky as if the heavens had wronged him.
He had finally realized that, in all his excitement, he had forgotten to do what even the most basic of trainers do not.
He had forgotten to buy a proper set of Pokéballs.
Is that why dad dropped me off next to the mart? Darn it!
He backtracked towards the Pokémart, ignoring the confused looks of the people around him.
Meanwhile, in the faculty lounge of the Pokémon Trainer School, Rustboro city...
Roxanne, Rustboro city's gym leader, and beginner class teacher at the Pokémon Trainer School, was currently in the middle of leisurely looking over a list of the most recent graduates for the current year.
In all honesty, such a list was no longer necessary, as the ones within it had already graduated, deemed ready to face the wonders of the outside world.
However, the brunette kept them anyway, so that she would always remember the names of the students she had once taught.
She was just sentimental like that.
So, while fondly gazing at the names of the people she had helped shape over the years, her eyes eventually found themselves wandering to one particular student's name.
After which her face immediately contorted into a grimace.
"Walda Pepper..."
Roxanne frowned. Walda Pepper was a curious case. Sick for the vast majority of her childhood, Roxanne had to keep visiting the poor girl in order to properly teach her, since she usually had to stay at home in order to make sure that none of the other students got sick.
Thankfully, Walda's constitution had been improving as of late, which has also had the unfortunate side effect of becoming the cause of Roxanne's problems, not to mention that of Walda's parents.
Walda wanted to become a Pokémon Trainer.
Normally, this wouldn't be such a bad thing. Key word being normally.
Walda is special, in the fact that she possess some traits that would make becoming a Pokémon Trainer, not impossible, just a lot more... difficult.
She was socially awkward, for one. Her only contact with people had happened to be her father, her mother, Roxanne, and...
Pikachu dolls?
The other glaring problem, much to Roxanne's shame, is that her education was technically...incomplete. She had been able to learn everything in theory, but the inability to attend battle class to learn about anything even remotely practical, could cause her problems bonding with her pokemon later down the line. Plus, some measure of battle experience, no matter how little, was always useful.
Sadly, Walda had very little of that.
Walda believed that she could counteract that with her immense theoretical knowledge, but Roxanne wasn't so sure.
Not to mention, her condition could always worsen at the worst of times.
What would happen if she had to camp outside for several days on top of being sick? She'd be absolutely devoured!
With all of those problems combined, Roxanne couldn't, in good conscience, allow her precious student to travel the region all by herself. That would be like asking for something bad to happen.
But what can I do about it?
She furrowed her brows in contemplation, staring absent-mindedly at the list in her hands.
And then an idea wormed itself into her head.
Wait, what about...
She went back to her list, focusing on it more carefully than she had a moment earlier .Yet again, her eyes found themselves at another name, and yet again, her face shifted.
This time, it was into a smile.
Back at the forest of Route 102...
Deep inside the tall shrubberies that compose parts of the overgrowth, a lone Ralts could be seen searching for her next meal.
Or in other words, berries.
She had, before starting the day's gathering, been of the hope that she would find some of those delicious pink berries, and not the yucky red berries. Those one tasted like a how a Trubbish smells.
They could go to everyone else.
Anyway, outside of the randomness of the berries she got to eat, life at the forest was quite nice for the little one. The other pokémon were kind, there were plenty of berries to eat (even if they weren't all tasty), and the heart of the forest felt serene, just like her mother had used to feel.
All in all, life was good.
She wouldn't give it up for anything in the world.
"Alright! I'm back and THIS time I've got Pokéballs!"
Ralts stilled, dropping the berries in her tiny hands.
Run!
The spooked girl scurried away from the noise as quickly she could.
Only when she had finally gotten far enough from the sounds of footsteps, had she finally relaxed.
...A Human was here.
She had heard about humans from her mother. They were amazing creatures that could make pokémon rise far above what was normally possible for them.
"It is a great honor to be chosen by a human," Her mother had once said. "But remember, you should also be the one to choose them. A path of misery is what awaits you otherwise."
Gee golly...
Mommy was so smart!
Indeed she was, and so Ralts made sure to judge all the humans she saw, to see if they were the one for her. Yet, none of them were what she was looking for. Whenever one of them saw her, they would scream something, and then proceed to run after her like a lunatic. Who would want to go on a long journey with someone like that?
But Ralts was hopeful, perhaps this would be it! She had run away before because was she startled, but now she was ready to do some judging! So she mustered up her courage, and walked back the way she came.
Once she had finally returned to her old spot, she spotted the human she had run away from, who seemed to be placing some berries on the ground. She began taking in his appearance from afar.
His hair was brown, and he had a yellow pointy thing on one of his ears. The sack thingy that a lot of humans had was also present on his back. Ralts didn't find any of that important though. What was important was that he also had pale flowing thing, like mommy had!
With that little piece of information, Ralts was sure that this would be the one! No one could look like her mother and be a bad person, right?
Right?
She strode forward with whatever confidence she could manage, and caught his attention with a small cry of "Hey!"
The human turned towards her, and when he did, his eyes bugged out of its sockets.
"What!?' He said, seemingly flabbergasted.
Ralts took that as her cue. "Behold! You are in the presence of the most gracious and beautiful Ralts that the world has ever seen. And be grateful, because I have chosen YOU to be my human!" She said, doing a little pirouette in a show of gracefulness.
Mommy would always do these when she wanted someone to help her!
The human simply blinked, not having understood a word she had said. He paused for a good while, simply staring at her in silence. That's good! She thought happily. He wasn't immediately running after her, so she took that as a good sign.
"So...do you want to be my pokémon?" He asked her after a full minute.
Yes! Ralts was ecstatic. She had finally gotten through to someone! She was finally going to go on a journey.
Goodbye Forest!
I wouldn't have missed you anyway.
Ralts nodded her head, letting him know her decision, and he presented her with a...red and white ball thing.
Ralts glared it suspiciously. "What manner of contraption is this? Explain yourself, knave!"
"It's a Pokéball," He replied, somehow understanding her this time. "It helps with transportation. Just push the button on the center." He chose that time to stop there, content with his explanation.
Ralts, not at all liking the idea of having to go in the...thing, continued to glare at it, before finally sighing.
I have to get into this thing, don't I? I wasn't aware of this, but still, some sacrifices have to be made for the better good!
Resigning herself, she tapped the button on the ball's center.
Then a blinding white light soon claimed her form.
-Chapter End-
