I woke up to the sound of a Pidgeot chirping obnoxiously. I sat up and blinked the sleep from my eyes. It was late morning, and the sun was already beating down hard. It would be a sweltering day. Am I in the forest? Why would I- wait a minute.

            Slowly, I turned my head to the side and flinched when I saw it. The Igglybuff was curled up in a ball right at my feet. Right. At. My. Feet. I swallowed hard and inched away from it, before picking up my bag. I had to figure out my next course of action. The best idea, of course, would be to make a run for it before my Pokémon woke up. But…it was my responsibility. I couldn’t just leave it there. It- well, she- had never been in the wild before, if Elm raised it. Since it was in it’s first evolution form, it was probably about level ten, max. I sighed and reached into my bag, pulling out the Pokégear.

            Seventeen missed calls already. Is that even possible? Ugh, the Professor must have given my parents the number. I quickly blocked the caller and pressed the radio button. Tuning it, I listened to the newscast.

            “Jared Wilson of Violet City, age fifteen, broke into the Newbark Town lab late last night. He confronted Johto’s Pokémon Professor, Elm, and threatened him with an unidentified object. He then dispersed with a Pokémon- an Igglybuff, as Professor Elm elaborated. Jared is described as a tall boy with black hair and green eyes, and is thought to be hiding in the woods around Cherrygr-”

            I snapped the device shut. Well, so much for wandering into Cherrygrove. How far would I have to travel before they gave up chase? Azalea Town? This could be a struggle. How would I buy food for myself, and the Igglybuff?

            As if on cue, my stomach rumbled and I sighed. The Igglybuff rolled over in it’s sleep and mumbled something. I felt a smile tug on the corners of my lip, but I quickly flattened my face into a frown. Nuh-uh. No cutsey cuddly stuff. I’m not a nine year old girl.

            “Iggly…” The Pokémon slowly opened it’s eyes and I drew in a deep breath. It blinked and opened it’s mouth to yawn, and I plugged my ears. Don’t sing don’t sing don’t sing…

            It paused, and I tentatively removed my hands from the side of my head. For a moment, it just stood there, waking up. And then it started bawling- literally, bawling. “No!” I cried. “Stop, please, just stop!” The sound quickly became unbearable, a screeching wail echoing off every tree in the forest. I moaned in horror and once again attempted to plug my ears, but to no avail. The Igglybuff thrashed around, tears pooling in it’s overly large eyes. Still shrieking like a banshee, it ran up to me and began beating on me with it’s tiny hands.

            “Ow, stop, ow, hey that hurts- agh!” I crumpled onto the ground while it cried and smacked my back repeatedly. I shielded my face with my hands and waited for death to come. If there’s a deity out there listening, I am so sorry I stole a Pokémon. Please have mercy. I mean I’m really sorry- I got stuck with this little shit, and now it’s going to kill me!

            Smack, smack, smack. “Igglybuff!” Smack, slap, backhand. “Iggly!” Maybe I misjudged it’s strength, because this ‘pink puffball’ was going to leave numerous bruises. “Iggggy!” It sobbed, jumping up and down on my back.

            “Gah! Stop…jumping…it hurts!” That just made it jump harder, driving the breath from my body. I groaned and lay still until it stopped jumping. Did it calm down? I wonder. Has it finally-

            “Oh my Arceus!” I screamed in pain. “You…you bit me!” I shook my arm, trying to get the Igglybuff to release it’s hold. Unfortunately, it seemed intent on chewing a hole through my bone.

            “Iffny…” Her cries were muffled by my shirt (and skin). “Iffnypuff!” I was beginning to think that she was intentionally biting harder each time I moved. In fact, this theory was proved when, after I tried to push her away, she used pound on me.

            “Ugh…” I doubled over in pain and clutched my stomach, the target of her fury. I looked up at my Pokémon, irrational fear glazing my eyes. “What…did I do to you? And how are you so strong?” I grunted. The Igglybuff released her teeth and backed up. Then she charged at me and kicked my face. Okay, so maybe the fear wasn’t so ‘irrational’ after all.

            I’ve done some questionable things in my life, but stealing a Pokémon had to be at the top of my list. It was also the most embarrassing thing I’d ever done, because now I was getting beaten up by an Igglybuff. A one foot tall pink puffball. How much did it weigh? An ounce? It was pretty pathetic. On my way to Newbark Town last night, I encountered and group of Houndour and still managed to scare them away by simply waving my arms and shouting. But this tiny, ‘adorable’ Igglybuff didn’t seem afraid of me at all.

            The Igglybuff stopped kicking my face and climbed onto my head. Grabbing a clump of my hair, she tugged on it until I screamed. “Get off me, demon! Go away; I don’t want to deal with you either!” I grabbed my bag and, taking a desperate measure, swung it at the Pokémon on my head.

            Of course, because it was just my luck, the Igglybuff hopped out of the way and my bag came crashing into my skull. I groaned in pain and brought a hand to my head, but realized that my bag had opened and it’s contents were scattered on the ground. “Oh, crap.” I mumbled. “I hope my Pokégear didn’t break…” I crawled over and started to refill the bag, but the Igglybuff wandered towards the wreckage. I froze and stole at glance at her, but she ignored me. Waddling over to where most of the stuff had fallen, she picked up a sandwich bag and ripped it open. I stared, perplexed, as she reached and pulled out- you have got to be kidding me.

            The Igglybuff took a handful of cookies and shoved them into her mouth. Then she grinned at me with her mouth full. “Igglybuff!” After finishing off her breakfast, she bounced over to me and hopped onto my head, giggling happily. “Iggy!”

            “Yeah…right.” I muttered, shaking my head. “Iggy.” Something snapped in my brain and my mouth fell open. “You were hungry. You beat me up…because you wanted food!”

            As soon as I glanced up at her beaming face, I knew it was true. Her attitude had completely turned around now that she was full. I sighed and wiped the blood off my arm and nose. “Great, I have a bipolar Igglybuff to deal with. Just wonderful.” My only answer was a slap to the forehead.

            An hour later, my Igglybuff was still sitting my head, and somehow managing to root through the bag, which was slung over my back. I walked through the woods, looking in every direction except up. By now, the sun was high in the sky and the Pokémon were out and about. I itched to catch one of the Furret that kept running by, but I had no Pokéballs to do so with. While the Igglybuff stared in amazement at my spare socks, I contemplated the rest of my life.

            If I had a decent Pokémon, I could battle for money, buy hair dye or something, and shoot to the top of the ranks. But now that I was stuck with this vile creature, I wouldn’t be able to win a battle for sport, much less risk betting on it! Which meant that I’d never be able to show my face in a Pokémart, so I could never buy more Pokéballs, and I would always be stuck living in the woods! And of course, I’m sure that would amuse the hell out of Falkner. I clenched my fist to keep from screaming in anger. As usual, I was going to be lagging behind my brother. I wondered if he’d heard the news about his sweet little sibling yet.

            I stopped walking and stared at a patch of light in the distance- artificial light. The Igglybuff let out a whine of protest and nudged me, as if asking why the ride was coming to an end. But I ignored it, even when it started prodding me harder. After a minute or two, I could tell that the slapping was about to start, so I started moving slowly. That must be Cherrygrove City, I thought.

           I chewed my lip nervously as I steadily drew closer to the light. What if there were police officers lying in wait for me, or something crazy like that? Or…what if a person recognized me right off the bat? What if- I really needed to stop thinking.

            Suddenly, the Igglybuff tensed and gripped my head tightly. “Iggy…” It mumbled quietly. I frowned and glanced up, and she looked down at me. “Buff.”

            “What’s wrong?” I asked nervously. I reached behind my back and pulled the bag of cookies out of my backpack. “Are you hungry?” I was not keen to repeat the morning’s incident. But when I handed her a cookie, she batted it away. I cried out as it landed on the ground. “Great,” I sighed. “More food wasted.” But after a few moments, I shouted, “Five second rule!” and grabbed it. Then I brushed the dirt off the cookie and practically swallowed it whole. Not that it did much for my rumbling stomach, but I hadn’t had food since dinnertime the night before.

            Surprisingly, the Igglybuff didn’t complain when I dove for the cookie. She just gripped onto my hair to stay on my head. After I finished of the cookie, I patted her on the head. “Good girl,” I said. “As long as you don’t hit me, we’ll get along just fine.” I lied. Yeah, no. That thing had scarred me for life- probably physically as well as mentally.

            “Igglybuff…” She whimpered as I walked. I glanced up, wondering if the cookies were making her sick. But she didn’t seem sick; she was terrified of something. I frowned and walked more slowly, hoping to calm her nerves. But when I came close enough to see the house that the light was emitting from, she shrieked in horror. “Iggy! Igglybuff! Iggggy!”

            “What’s wrong?” I asked in exasperation, not expecting an answer. “No one is going hurt you-” What kind of village has a house with metal walls? And why are there no Pokémon around here?

            I stared at the house a few hundred yards away, my eyes boggling. “That is not Cherrygrove City…” I mumbled. I’d never heard of there being a house in between Newbark and Cherrygrove, so I wondered how far I had to be from the paths. I began to worry that I was permanently lost, but I forced myself to keep moving. Maybe whoever lived there could point me in the right direction- and hopefully they didn’t have a radio or television.

            “Igglybuff!” My Pokémon screeched. “Ig, Ig, Iggy!” Now she was furious and scared, which is never a good combo on anyone. And if this was my Igglybuff…

            “Whoa, whoa!” I said. “Calm down. I promise I’m not going to hurt you.” I plucked her off my head and held her up to see. “Why don’t you just have a cookie or something?” I felt my heart churn as she started to cry. I usually hated cute things, but something about her devious personality amused me. And it was kind of depressing to watch her cry, especially after what happened last time. I had to keep moving though, and I couldn’t let a whiny Igglybuff stop me. But every time I took a step, she screamed louder.

            In the end, I just covered her mouth and made my way towards the ominous building. I entered the clearing and made a move to walk up to the door, but at that moment a person walked out and I jumped back into the foliage in shock. I peeked back out and watched the person. She tossed a Pokéball into the air and caught it, laughing. Then she walked up to a bike and hopped on, speeding away in another direction. But as she turned the bike, I caught a glimpse of her shirt and gasped. A large red R was labeled across the front of her shirt. Team Rocket.

            I stumbled backwards, further away from the house, but not before I saw another group of people come from the woods and enter the house- which, come to think of it, was a bit big for a normal home. Because it wasn’t a house- it was a base.

            I clamped a hand over my mouth and whirled around. Grabbing the Igglybuff off my head and holding her against my chest, I took off running. As I crashed through the forest, I realized how stupid I’d been. Pokémon know when something’s up, and despite the incurable devilishness of this Igglybuff, she had tried to warn me. But no, as usual, I didn’t listen to anything anyone had to tell me.

            After about ten minutes of charging through the woods, I slowed down and checked to make sure that no one was following me. When I was certain, I sat down on the ground and released my tight hold on the Igglybuff. She whined until I gave her another cookie, and then curled up in my lap. I sighed and lay down, using my backpack as a pillow. So much running in less than twenty four hours had made me exhausted. But I couldn’t go to sleep right yet- I had to figure out this whole Team Rocket thing. Why were they here?

            What could an organization like that want with a stretch of woods between the two smallest towns in Johto? There weren’t many people, the Pokémon weren’t rare, and the woods didn’t exactly provide the best base. So why are they here? I wasn’t even sure that I wanted an answer.