I have his hand wrapped in mine, with the other girl staring at us. "Bronze, Lilly, are you okay? You're both acting really weird today."

"I'm fine." He assures her. "We're just really excited to get our first Pokemon!"

"Yup!" I say, putting on a fake smile.

"Ooooh. Yes. I wanna chose Chespin, he's such a little cutie."

I nod eagerly, even though I have no idea who these Pokemon are. It doesn't really matter anyways, does it? I'm going on adventure... Arceus, the prospect terrifies me. It's the only way to get home. Maybe I just have to get to the next town, to ask for an airplane ticket.

Yeah, right. Nothing's ever that easy.

We walk down a secluded little path into a city that's slightly bigger. I see a few stores, some with Pokeball signs. That's good- I'm going to need them.

"Aquacorde Town, huh? Pretty." says the girl again, her huge curly ponytails brushing my side.

"Yeah." I tell her. It's peaceful, but that's when I see a girl across the street, a calm young woman with long blonde hair pulled back by some sort of beads. She reminds me, uncannily, of my sister. Tears well up again, and I want to run to her, but what if she's not? What if Bronze and I are really all alone here?

I never realized until now how scared I am.

"Lilly! Keep it together!" Shauna says teasingly. "Tierno! Trevor! Do you guys have the Pokeballs and the 'dexes?"

"Yes!" An orange haired kid holds up five shiny Pokedexes, nothing like Ashley's.

"Yup!" By his side, a plump looking kid with black hair waves a little case which must contain the Pokeballs in the air.

We walk over to them and sit down. "Trevor, why don't you hand out the Pokedexes?" the girl asks.

"Of course, Shauna. Here's yours, yours, and-" The orange headed kid, Trevor, pauses in front of me, placing one down in front of me with a gentle slap, "That's for you. Tierno and I already have ours, as you know."

Trevor opens up the case, which contains three Pokeballs. "So, Lilly, are you picking first?"

I nod slowly, and run my hand over the Pokeballs, stopping finally on the one that feels right. It's warm to the touch. I pick it up and throw, and with a flash of light a fox appears before me, it's tiny fangs in a huge smile that quickly turns to a scowl when it sees me. "Something's not right here." He growls.

I pick him up, as if to embrace him, and whisper, "I'll explain later."

Bronze picks a frog of some sort, patting it gently, and says, "Will you help get me home, Nero?"

I hope for both our sakes that the others didn't hear.

"Oh, and I pick this one! Thistle!" She snuggles with an otter... chipmunk... thing. I don't even know what to call it. "Lilly, we should have a battle!"

"Ummm... okay. Go- what's your name?!"

"Rune." The Fennekin says, "It's Rune."

"Go Rune!"

He sighs and gets into battle stance, but before I can say anything he's spitting out embers and the little otter thing is running away. According to my Pokedex, it's a 'Chespin'.

"That was easy." He says.

"I'm supposed to give commands..." I mutter.

He looks at me. "Mhm."

"Well, you're a Vulpix right?"

"Excuse me. I am a Fennekin. Do I look like a sleazy, whimpery, brown piece of vendor trash to you?!"

"No, just a smartass." I say reproachfully. "Listen, I have a lot to fill you in on, if you want to know the truth about me."

The others are staring at me now. I blush violently, and not really knowing what to do, walk to the next route and trip on my too-long legs. "People legs are hard."

"You're twelve, shouldn't you know how to walk?!"

"Well, that's what I'm getting to. I'm not... reallly a human. I'm a Flaafy."

"And I'm a banana. Great, I got the crazy one. This will be fun."

I glare at him. "You know I'm not lying. Pokemon intuition. Test me."

"Mhhhm." He stares at me for a while, surveying me as if I asked him the meaning of life or something else deep. "You smell like Pokemon. Something else, too-"

"Yveltal!" chirps a small, feminine voice. "The chosen has come!"

"Hi," I say, swirling around to face the Pidgey. "Do you want to go on a journey?"