Day 3(?): I don't know how long I have been trapped in this truck. The only light I have is this flashlight I found and what light sneaks through the doors, my phone having died soon after I was put in here. I only hear muffled voices coming from the cab of the truck, but nothing that can give away where we are going. When I look through the crack in the door, I can see various creatures darting around behind us, but nothing-

The truck came to a stop, sending the boy tumbling back from its doors. As he came to a halt, a large mass finally dislodged itself from its precarious perch on top of a shelf, landing on top of him. The boy let out a groan, as a door slammed outside the truck. As he struggled out from underneath whatever fell on him, the doors at the back of the bay came open, dazzling the boy with sunlight. Wasting no time, the young man charged into the light with a shout.

A cry of "FREEDOM!" ripped from the boy's lips as he leapt from the truck, falling to the ground and kissing it.

"Brendan, what are you doing? You were only in there for a few hours." Brendan looked up to see a confused looking woman staring down at him, as a troop of Machokes moved past him into the truck. One popped back out carrying the large Snorlax doll that had fallen on him when the truck had stopped moving, while others carried boxes; Brendan saw one labelled with his father's name, Norman Maple.

"It was way too dark in there, Mom, and Arachne just hung out in the corner and spun her web the whole time," Brendan complained, pointing back to the truck as a Spinarak scuttled out, just ahead of an angry Machoke with a face full of web.

Catching the frightened Bug as she leapt into her arms, Brendan's mother just shook her head and gestured to their new home. "Well, now that you have been released from your horrible prison, welcome to Littleroot Town. Do you want to go check out your room? The movers should have all your stuff in there by now. And after that you should go say hello to the neighbours. I heard the house next door belongs to Professor Birch, and he has a daughter your age."

Brendan nodded and got up, trying to sneakily get the taste of dirt out of his mouth. He wasn't quite sure why people were always shown kissing the ground, but he had figured he might as well give it a try once. Weaving around the stream of Machoke movers, Brendan made his way into his new home, paused to glare at his new Snorlax shaped nemesis, and then climbed the stairs to his new room. After making sure everything was in order, he left his phone to charge in an outlet and made his way back outside, heading to the house his mother had indicated as Professor Birch's. He rang the doorbell and waited.

A few seconds later, the door open, revealing a motherly looking woman. "Oh, hello dear. I'm Maria Birch. Are you the new neighbour?"

Brendan nodded. "Yeah, my name is Brendan Maple, and that's my mom Angela," he pointed back to his mother, who waved before going back to directing the movers. "Is Professor Birch in? I was hoping to meet him."

Maria thought for a few seconds before shaking her head. "I think he's out doing field work right now, but he should be back at his lab later today. If you wanted to pass the time, you could come in and meet my daughter, and then she could show you around the lab until he shows up?"

"That sounds like a great idea, Mrs. Birch, thank you." Brendan said, accepting her invitation and stepping into the house, following her directions up the stairs and to his new neighbour's room.

Brendan walked along the upstairs hallway before he reached an open doorway, and looked in. Inside the room, he could see a girl rummaging around a desk, transferring various objects from it to the bag she had sitting on top. Brendan knocked on the door frame, as she seemed to engrossed in her task to notice him.

"Ahh!" The girl jumped slightly at the interruption, before turning to look at her intruder. Brendan gave a little wave. "Oh! Are you the new neighbour? It's nice to meet you, my name's May!"

May approached with her hand held out, and Brendan reached out and shook it. "Nice to meet you, May, my name's Brendan."

May nodded and stepped back, before letting her eyes rove over his body. "Was that you that jumped out of the truck screaming earlier? Because you're still covered in dirt."

Brendan looked down at himself. With the distraction of checking out his room and then meeting his new neighbours, he hadn't really paid attention to how he looked, and the front of his jacket and shorts were still quite dusty. "Yeah, that might have been me. In my defense, that truck was really dark and our Spinarak just spun her web in a corner the whole time. Not a lot to do back there."

May laughed a little at his explanation and then grabbed her bag of off her desk. "Well, do you want me to show you around Dad's lab? He'll be busy until a little later, but I can show you a bit of what he does, he's been teaching me about being a Pokemon Professor. He might even offer you a Pokemon, he usually gives them out around this time of year."

"Awesome! Can we just stop by my house for a second? I need to grab some stuff from my room."

The pair exited May's house and made the quick walk over to Brendan's. Brendan introduced May to his mother and then went up to his room, grabbing his bag and phone. As he came back downstairs, he saw that his mother had already placed May in a couch and had broken out the photo albums, despite him only being gone for about two minutes. Extracting a partially amused, partially disturbed May from his mother's clutches with a promise of bringing her back later, the two teenagers began the walk towards the Birch laboratory, talking about their lives before they met.

"...and then Arachne had been with me in my room all day, so we never did find out what had covered the neighbour's car in webbing."

May let out an amused snort, before launching into her own story. "Well, I remember a time when Dad was out studying a pack of Zigzagoon, and he ended up calling most of a swarm of-"

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

May's face morphed from one of amusement to one of pale terror almost immediately. "Oh God. That was my dad." She seized Brendan's arm and pulled him towards the path out of town; Brendan saw a sign with ROUTE 101 printed on it. "We've got to go to him, come on!"

Brendan nodded and started running with her, leaving the safety of Littleroot Town behind them. The pair sprinted up the path, Brendan falling in behind May when she warned him to avoid the taller patches of grass. After several minutes of their breakneck pace, Brendan and May eventually came up to a mostly clear portion of the trail, which only had a few trees as its most interesting feature. In a tree that seemed to be growing out of a little dip in the landscape. Brendan could see a fairly large man in a lab coat, looking terrified out of his mind and bleeding from his left leg.

"DAD!" May shouted, starting to run to him, but the Professor held up a hand and yelled back, somehow looking even more scared of his daughter approaching the tree.

"Don't come any closer, May! There are two Poochyena down here, trying to get at me. I stepped on one's tail when I was trying to get a picture of some Wingull. If you get near them, they might try to get you."

"What do we do then, Dad?" May asked, stress making her voice much harsher than what Brendan was used to.

"I think I dropped my bag over by you two. There are three Pokemon in there that I've been studying and training. They should be able to drive off these two-GAHH!" The professor's words had been punctuated by a shout of fear as a small black mass leapt at him from the ground, getting within inches of his legs.

May and Brendan began searching around for the bag, which Brendan quickly found in the middle of a bush. Opening it up, Brendan grabbed the first Pokeball he could, noting the piece of tape with "Torchic" written on it. May reached the bag a second later and grabbed the next ball, with "Mudkip" taped to it. The two rushed back to the tree Professor Birch was trapped in, which the two Poochyena were still trying to jump up. With a nod to one another, the two teenagers threw out their Pokeballs, calling for the creatures contained inside.

"Go, Torchic!"

"Go, Mudkip!"

As the light from the balls cleared, Brendan could make out a small orange bird and a what looked like a blue cross between a dog and a fish, both in fighting stances. The lightshow had not been ignored by the two aggressive Pokemon either, as they abandoned their attack on Professor Birch to face down the new threat.

"So we take one each?" May asked as quietly as she could, trying not to provoke the angry Poochyena any further.

"Probably the best idea," Brendan replied rather uneasily; He knew how to direct a Pokemon in battle, his father was a Gym Leader, after all, but nerves had robbed him of that knowledge, and he wasn't even sure what his Pokemon could do.

Any further discussion or thought was stalled when both of the Poochyena charged forward, ready to attack those that had interrupted their revenge. One of them slammed into Mudkip, sending the two Pokemon tumbling to the ground with May shouting at her Pokemon, trying to encourage it. The Poochyena facing off with Brendan's Torchic had paused a few feet away, trying to size up its new opponent. Torchic scratched the ground and chirped a challenge at the Dark type, before glancing back at Brendan for an order.

Brendan's eyes had locked onto the little bird's sharp talons as it was scuffing up the dirt, and took that as inspiration for his order. "Torchic, try scratching it!"

Torchic let out another chirp and hurled itself at the Poochyena, leaping up and lashing out with one clawed foot. The points of Torchic's foot skittered along the flank of the Poochyena as it tried to dodge out of the way, leaving the canine yelping as it stumbled a few steps away from its attacker.

"Nice job, Torchic!" Brendan cried, drawing the eyes of his Pokemon. The Poochyena took advantage of Torchic's distraction and rushed at the Fire type, limping slightly from the scratches on its side. Poochyena crashed headlong into Torchic, sending the little bird flopping to the ground with a squawk and a small burst of flame from its mouth.

Brendan cringed at the hit his Pokemon had received, but he began calling it back to its feet, his mind already working on his next move. "C'mon Torchic, get back up! Try hitting him with an Ember!"

Torchic worked its way back to a standing position and relocated the Poochyena, which had been circling the Fire type after shaking off the impact from its Tackle. Torchic tracked it for a few more seconds, then reared back its head, a small blaze forming in its beak. Torchic spat the resulting fireball at Poochyena, and the fire splashed over the Dark type, sending it scurrying away with a yelp and several new glowing patches in its coat.

The Poochyena was rolling on the ground, trying to put out the embers resting on its fur, when a yelp from May's side of the field drew the attention of both Brendan and the two Pokemon fighting in front of him.

Mudkip was staring at its opponent, breathing heavily. The Poochyena the Water type had been fighting was sprawled out on the ground, not moving except for some pained looking breaths. May was slowly moving towards her Pokemon to check it for injuries, while also keeping an eye on the downed Poochyena, nervous about it possibly getting back up.

Brendan looked back at his own battlefield, worried the Poochyena he had been fighting might have tried to sneak attack Torchic again, but the hostile Pokemon had taken the opportunity to flee, still smoldering slightly from Torchic's Ember attack. Torchic was hopping in place and chirping at its retreating form; Brendan could only assume that was the little bird's version of trash talk.

As Brendan moved towards Torchic, planning to check it over for injuries, it calmed down from its incomprehensible rant towards the fleeing Poochyena and stood there sucking in some ragged breaths; The Poochyena must have landed a harder Tackle than Brendan had thought. He crouched down and gave the Fire type a rub on the head, noting how warm it was. "Nice job, Torchic. You're pretty strong, you know that?"

Torchic was suddenly scratching the grass at this compliment, unable to look at Brendan, though the boy could swear the feathers under his hand had raised a few degrees after he had spoken. Brendan chuckled at this. "You're embarrassed about this? I'm serious Torchic, you were a huge help. Are you doing alright?" Torchic gave a small nod at this, "Alright then, come on, we should go see the Professor."

Brendan started walking to the tree Birch had climbed up, and Torchic started to follow him, but it stumbled and fell to the ground after the first few steps. Brendan heard the thud rushed back to the Pokemons side, concern etched across his face. "Oh crud. Are you sure you're doing alright, Torchic?"

"Torchiiiic." Torchic let out a pained chirp and tried to stand back up, but its legs gave out again and it crumpled back to the ground, one of its small wings reaching for a point in its torso. Brendan knelt down and picked it up, one of his hands brushing over the point Torchic had tried to indicate. When the bird let out another, louder, squawk in reaction to this, Brandon decided to stop probing and stood back up, restarting his walk back to the Professor at a much slower pace, trying not to jar the little bird in his arms.

May had reached her father first, and was trying to help him get out of the tree. Professor Birch had a pained look on his face, and he seemed to be keeping his wounded leg off the branch he was standing on as much as possible. As Brendan approached the tree, May hurried over to him, a worried look on her face. "Brendan, I don't think Dad can get down by himself, and I can't catch him. Do you have a phone? We need to call the lab and get a stretcher out here, maybe a taller Pokemon." Brendan nodded and pulled his phone out, tossing it to his friend. As May stepped away to call the lab, Brendan walked over to the tree, looking to introduce himself to the man he had just saved.

The Professor preempted Brendan's attempt to introduce himself, however. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Brendan. It's a good thing you and May were around, I don't think those Poochyena would have gone away any time soon. Might have even brought a Mightyena in to try and get me. I'm just sorry that your first day in town involved having to save the supposed Pokemon expert of the region."

"It was no trouble, Professor. I couldn't just leave you out here. I was just wondering how you managed to get up that tree if your leg is hurt so badly."

Professor Birch winced at that observation. "Adrenaline is one hell of a pain suppressant, Brendan. I'm definitely feeling it now though. Probably not going to be walking for a while, one of those Poochyena got a pretty good bite in on my calf, might have cut into a tendon." Professor Birch looked down at Torchic, who was nestled in Brendan's arms, and concern flooded his eyes. "Is Torchic hurt, Brendan? He looks kind of ragged."

Brendan glanced down at the Pokemon in his arms, who looked back at him, face still a little contorted from the pain. "So Torchic's a boy? Neat. I think his chest might be hurt, he was trying to point at it and he didn't like when I touched it."

Professor Birch nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face as he went over the fight in his mind. "Yes, he might have a little bruising there, that Poochyena did hit him rather hard. I don't think anything will be broken, but we should put him through the scanner back at the lab anyway. A bit of Potion and some rest should fix him up either way."

The pair had been absorbed in their conversation, and so they hadn't noticed May finishing her call and then flagging down the two assistants that sprinted into the clearing a few minutes later. One of the Machoke from the moving company was trailing behind them, having been co opted by the assistants. The lab workers began unfolding a stretcher they had brought with them, while the Machoke moved to the tree, standing under Professor Birch, ready to catch him. Birch hopped out of the tree, letting out a small cry of pain as the Machoke caught him. It deposited him in the stretcher, and the assistants picked it up, carrying their boss back to the lab. Brendan and May fell in behind the stretcher, where they walked in silence for a bit before May spoke up.

"I'm really glad you were here Brendan. I don't think I would have been able to save my dad on my own." May said, relief playing over her face as she watched her father talk with the assistants, discussing what they were going to do when they made it back to the lab. "Dad's gotten in trouble out here before, but this was the most dangerous it's been for him in a long time."

Brendan was surprised by this. "Really? Two little Poochyena was the most dangerous he's ever dealt with? You'd think he would have seen more than that as a Professor."

May shrugged. "He told me about some issues he had with a rampaging Gyarados about fifteen years ago, but he's mostly been relying on outside data for his research for a while. Probably because he seems to attract trouble the instant he sets foot outside of Littleroot."

Brendan accepted that with his own shrug and the pair continued following the stretcher. Brendan began petting Torchic's head again, drawing some happy chirps out of the injured Pokemon. Thoughts about his first day were whirling through his head as he made the walk back to Littleroot, though one stuck out in particular;

"I wonder if dad ever had stuff like this happen when he was thirteen?"

I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the property of Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.