We walked for a long while into the dark route that was lit by light poles. Gold was trying to break the silence I was enjoying on our walk in the path with no tall grass around

"So what brings you to NewBark town?" He asked, looking at me staring at the pretty Ledyba shining their lights in the sky "You moved here, didn't you? From where?"

"I lived in Kanto before. I much prefer this region more. It's so beautiful" he smiled.

"Yeah, isn't it?" I looked at him "We're almost there. I'm glad you decided to trust me and tagged along. It's never fun traveling alone"

"Well, that's something you have to get use to. Not everyone is going to hold your hand" I walked ahead of him. He caught up.

"I know that! I'm just saying, you seem like a cool girl. I saw the way you punched that crook. I like a girl who can show them who's boss" I giggled, actually finding that funny.

"You bet your golden eyes I am" I huffed, satisfied "Thanks for noticing"

"Sure. You seem too young to own a house in our town. Living with anyone I know?" I shook my head.

"The house I'm going to belonged to my mom and later given to my aunt after her passing. My aunt gave it to me when I was ready to leave. I didn't have the best life in Kanto, but I made it work" I admitted.

"That's good to hear. Who knows. Your place might be next door to mine"

"Gee, how wonderful will it feel to be next door to some kid" I joked. His jaw dropped.

"Hey! I'm only 16!" He looked up ahead of him "Anyway. Here we are! New Bark Town!" I looked ahead and saw a very cute quiet town that looked very peaceful and even had its own ocean view.

"Amazing!" I gasped and jogged forward to stand in the middle of the wide little park they had near by "If only I got the chance to move here sooner" I let Pichu's head.

"What was that?" Gold asked "Hey, I need to return the egg to the professor. Can I..?" I moved my bag away from him "Come on! What will it take for you to give it back?" He whined "I don't want to get in trouble!"

"I'll deliver it for you" he flinched "Where's the lab?"

"I-I don't want you telling him what happened earlier!" I walked pass him playfully.

"Don't worry! I won't!" I winked "I promise!" He didn't look like he believed me but took me to the lab anyways. Around this time, people are already home and probably asleep. Gold walked into the lab and held the door open for me, letting me into an empty lab filled with computers and such, with a man in a lab coat on the other side of the place.

"Yo!" Gold yelled out, scaring the professor. He turned around and looked at Gold like he was a wild Pokémon. I gasped surprised when seeing his face!

"Gold! What are you doing!? You know it's quiet in here!" The Professor glared "I'm by myself! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Gold sweat dropped nervously.

"Sorry, I got carried away!" The professor sighed and looked at Gold's empty hands.

"Where's the package?" Gold looked at me staring at the professor, still surprised "Oh!" The professor smiled at me "Hello. I didn't see you there" he offered his hand "I'm Professor Elm! It's nice to meet you!" I nodded.

"Yes! It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Valerie!"

"Valerie?" He thought to himself like he found that name familiar. I smiled more when he did.

"Yes! I'm Elizabeth's daughter!" He gasped and shook my hand again more

"No way! You're Eliza's little girl?! It's been so long!" I giggled "How have you been?! I haven't seen you since the funeral. You've grown so much"

"Yes. It's been over 7 years. I've grown a lot since then" I took out Pichu from my bag who was barely starting to wake up "Pichu had just recently left the hospital after the accident" he nodded, petting Pichu's sleepy head.

"It's a good thing she's still around" Gold made his way between our conversation.

"You two know each other?" He asked.

"Yeah" I closed my eyes "We go way back, you can say" I looked at Elm chuckling.

"Yes, you can say that. I wish I knew you were on the way here. Miranda told me that house your mom had was going to be used again, but she didn't tell me by who. I thought it was herself, which was odd" he means my aunt.

"I'm staying here and later going to set on a journey when I'm ready"

"You're going on a journey?!" Gold butt in again "So am I!" Pichu groaned at his loudness.

"Could you be any louder?" I said.

"S-Sorry!"

"But Valerie. You're almost 20 years old. You're wanting to start a journey now?" Elm asked. I looked down at Pichu and nodded.

"I never got the chance. I chose to take care of Pichu's bills alone. She's been stuck there all these years and I struggled in a job I couldn't leave. I finally got lucky and got myself here to start a new life" I huffed, confidently "I want to become a new person!" This made Elm smile.

"That's the spirit! I'm more than happy to help you out. How is Pichu, by the way?" I explained to him her condition and what happened in Saffron City "Oh my" he held his chin "They may have said she can't use attack moves, like her electricity, but she may be able to do other moves on her own" I agree "Even so, I'd love to give you a Pokémon to join your adventure!" I clapped my hands.

"Really?! That's so exciting!" Elm looked back at Gold.

"Where's the package?" Gold flinched.

"W-Well... You see..." I took it out my bag "She has it"

"You wouldn't believe what happened!" I faked gasped "So that guy that attacked me, who Pichu took care of, Gold came out of nowhere and came to help me! Things were going so crazy that he had to let go of the package. I was lucky to have caught it!" Gold's jaw dropped, looking at me like I was insane.

"Gold" Elm frowned "It was dangerous to get involved in a fight with a fragile box in hand. You should had been more careful" Gold looked surprised that Elm was calm.

"O-oh! I know. I'm sorry, I didn't want anyone running off with the box while I was taking care of that guy. I w-wasn't thinking property and almost made a mistake" he bowed to him "I'm sorry, Professor!" Elm waved his hands.

"As long as the two of you and even the egg is okay, that's all that matters" he smiled. I could feel Gold sigh and look at me taking care of the egg in my arms "If anyone is going to take care of that egg, it's Valerie here"

"Yes!" I smiled "Here you go" I handed the egg to Elm and turned around "I have to head home now. I had a long day" I waved "See yah later!"

"Come by tomorrow and I'll give you a Pokémon!" He said before I smiled at him as the door closed. Gold came running a bit after towards me.

"So that was your plan? Make up a situation?" He asked.

"I didn't lie, I mixed around the truth and blamed the guy for almost dropping the egg" I pointed at his face "Be grateful. If I was honest, he would had gotten mad" I had my ways of knowing how to say something without getting people on the wrong side. Everything I learned was through my horrid life as a working slave wasn't all that bad, since it made me who I am today.

"Yeah, I noticed. You saved me from getting my Pokémon being taken back" I placed my hands behind me.

"Elm isn't that cruel, but he does get upset on the little things. He wouldn't hold it against you, but the fact that breaking an egg could had been involved would had been serious" I looked around for the house that was right next to the ocean "He would had been disappointed, but if something serious was involved, he would had understood" I stopped and looked at him "But I know one thing for sure, even if we become friends or whatever, that's one thing, but if you ever dare to hurt an egg, I won't do anything to you. You deserve to hold all the pain that egg went through, an egg that almost didn't get the chance to live. Imagining dropping a new born baby"

"I know..." his face looked hurt "I get it, okay?"

"I don't blame you for not knowing anything about eggs. You probably thought it was a oversized breakfast egg, but that was a Pokémon egg. I'm glad that grunt came into the picture for you to show up and help me. That egg in that beat up box would had not made it" I patted his shoulder "Don't worry too much about it. It's done. We learn from our mistakes. I went easy on you. Be lucky" I turned away "It could had been a lot worse"

From then on, he stopped following me. I continued my search until I found the house that had the exact address I was looking for. It was even next to the ocean like I was told and saw from the pictures. It was in better condition than I thought from being abandoned for so long.

"Here it is, Pichu!" I took out the key to the house "This is where we will be staying at until we're ready to head to our adventure. We better train up and be the very best" I winked "Ready?" Pichu nodded confidently.

"Pe!" I giggled and opened the door to our new home. It's... much cleaner than I expected it to be.

"Is there people that come here to clean?" I hummed and set my things down, turning on the lights Auntie told me would be on since she said pays the bills around here and got them to turn everything on for me.

"What a beautiful house" it was very empty, minus a bed Auntie promised I'll have, but I had enough room to dance! "I look forward to the morning" I picked up Pichu playing around the empty room "let's go to sleep. It's been a long day. I'll call auntie tomorrow"

The next morning, Pichu was excited to get going. She bounced on my head over and over while I tried sleeping "Pichu!" I whined, getting out of bed, throwing the sheets she was in "Oh!" I hurried to see if she was okay. She just laughed it off "I'm sorry!" I sighed and looked around at my new room.

After so long of having that ugly apartment that broke down often, I finally got myself something I could be comfortable with. I wouldn't have gotten any of it if it wasn't for him...

"Let's make some breakfast then make our way to see the professor" Pichu jumped up happily. It's like she never became a 7 year patient in that hospital. She's so full of life!

There wasn't anything in the fridge, from what I expected from an empty house. We left to find some food outside the house to make something and ended up finding a farmers market and little cafés!

"Oh my goodness!" I gasped "Saffeon City could never!" Pichu jumped in joy and followed me to gather ingredients after ordering a white coffee in the café. All was nice and quiet until I noticed people were staring at me. I would had thought they would be looking at Pichu, but they were looking directly at me.

"Excuse me, Miss?" A tall man in a brown suit and hat with a white beard walked over to me full handed with grocery bags "I seem to notice the charm you have on your bag" I looked at my charms on the bag that I had on.

"Yeah?" He took off his hat, giving me a tender smile and heart warming eyes.

"Are you... Eliza's daughter?" I flinched, surprised to suddenly hear this. When he said this, the people around us gasped and wondered the same thing. How does so many people know my mom? I mean, it's a small town, but after about 20 years of being away?

"How did you guess?" I smiled anyway. Everyone took that news very well and started complimenting on how I looked just like her and how much I've grown, also only knowing me by my baby pictures "You all seem to know my mom really well. Was she popular?"

"Popular wasn't the word" the man in front of me said "But she was the granddaughter of the Pokémon egg couple. They're known to everyone here and just surprised to see you, after all" I nodded "What gave it away was not only your resemblance, but that charm you have there" he pointed at the egg charm "I know it from anywhere. I crafted it myself, they just added the charm to make it work" I giggled at this and made sure my groceries were secured.

"So that's how it is! It's nice to meet everyone" I smiled at everyone admiring me "I moved in last night in the house she lived in before. Unfortunately I won't be staying here for that long since I'll be starting a Pokémon journey"

"Eliza left over 20 years ago. You're barely starting to go on a journey?" The man in the white beard asked. I just nodded, trying not to get offended by the time I chose to travel.

"Yes I am! I have something I have to do" I faced the man in front of me "If you'll excuse me, I have to get home" he nodded and stepped aside.

"My name is Mr.Pokemon, by the way" he said. Mr.Pokemon? That's a specific name.

"I'm Valerie!" I smiled big and continued walking "Thank you for your time! I'll see you around!" I turned back around and jumped when almost running into someone. A boy, around Gold's age, stopped on time before he ran into me as well and looked up at me with cold silver colored eyes that made his long bright red hair stand out.

We stared at each other for a moment before he snorted and walked off without saying anything. I looked back at him over my shoulder. Strange... Somehow he looks familiar.

I shrugged at the rude behavior and went home to finally make something to eat. By the time noon came around, I set my photo album down on the floor and left to go see the professor, leaving the page of my mom holding a baby with bright red hair and silver eyes.