The morning sun fell on the girl's cheeks, not leading to a single stir. Her shoulder length, bushy, black hair was sprawled across the ruffled sheets of the bed, shining softly in the ambient lighting.

The bedroom had few things to clutter it. A few picture frames with relics of the past and old family gatherings rested on the vanity cabinet. Most of the frames were sprinkled with a little dust, but one of them held a special position of authority over the others and was in pristine condition. It was of a little girl blowing out candles in the presence of any elderly woman, both faces lit up.

The doorbell rang through the apartment. Still, the girl didn't show any signs of life. In a pet bed on the ground, a pink and tan cat quickly stood up and looked around wildly. When she figured out the reason to her arousal, she stood in stretched her legs, then jumped up on top of the bed. The Skitty stared down her dormant owner. The Skitty jumped up in the air and slammed into her owner with her tail, shaking the girl awake.

The girl leapt out of her bed and was on her feet. She looked with innocent blue eyes onto the cat. "What was that for?"

The doorbell rang again.

"Shoot! Is that who I think it is?!" She ran to her closet and pulled out the first clothes she saw, then threw them on in a hurried struggle.

Skitty covered her face with her round tail in disappointment.

On the other side of the door stood a young man of twenty years of age. His black hair was slightly unkept, but didn't get in the way of his equally dark eyes. He looked disinterested in his surroundings, but there was a twinge of curiosity woven in his expression.

He wore a peculiar outfit, specially made for him, that was essentially a white trench coat with a purple trim and a large folded collar. It was modeled as an photonegative of the costume of his father, Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four. He tapped his big white boots on the wooden platform beneath him anxiously.

"I really hope all that stuff yesterday wasn't a prank," he said to himself, frowning.

The girl put a finishing touch on her outfit, a pink bow on the side of her hair that tied up a small portion of it. She brushed out the wrinkles in her blue and white blouse and skirt, and ran to the door.

"Coming!" She threw open the door and was face to face with someone she had just met. "Elron! What are you doing here?!"

He looked confused. "What do you mean? Didn't you want to join me on my journey?"

She blushed a little. "Well... Yeah, but already?"

"I planned to head out of Castelia City today, so yeah." This girl looks more and more unprepared the more I get to know her, he thought. Wasn't she the one who approached me about this?!

"O-oh, alright. I'll get my things together really quick." She slammed her door shut and hurried to her room before realizing her mistake. I can't believe I just shut the door in his face! I should've invited him in! She took a deep breath to recollect herself, then she started running around her room in a hurry to throw some things together. Skitty's head turned sinuously back and forth as her eyes watched her trainer flounder around.

After a few minutes, she shoved the final items into a suitcase and forced the cover shut. She pulled it off her bed, making it land with a heavy thud, and she ran towards the door with it in tow. Her pokemon simply shook her head and followed.

She opened the door back up, and Elron's focus was once again drawn to her.

He looked down at the suitcase she was carrying around and cringed. "Listen, Ira... That's too much stuff. You need everything to fit inside a backpack." I'm totally going to regret this.

"But!... But... I need all this stuff," Ira said. She hung her head and pulled her luggage back into the apartment.

Skitty looked up at Elron cautiously, as if his gaze would turn her to stone. She was observing every aspect of him that she could, worried that her trainer was getting mixed up in some shady business.

He looked down at her and she shuddered and ran behind the door. He knelt down and patted the ground, beckoning the cat to come see him. "It's okay, I'm not as scary as I look."

The cat peered around and saw him smiling calmly at her.

"Look, I even have pokemon of my own." He peeled back his cloak and revealed a belt with pokeballs fastened to it. After the pokemon got a good enough look at them, he reached out his hand.

Skitty felt like this man might be trustable, and slowly walked forward. She stood under his hand, and he petted her softly, and even scratched behind her ears. This human knew the kind of petting that she wanted, so she supposed that it was okay for him to be in her presence.

Ira came back out carrying a backpack crammed full of various "necessities."

"Are you sure you want to take that much stuff?" asked Elron. "Not only do you have to haul it around everywhere, but you also have to stuff it back in everytime you get something out."

She thought it over and nodded her head. "I'm good."

He sighed. "Alright, fine. Don't complain to me later then." He stopped, remembered something, then pulled out a pokeball. "Here, I have something for you," he said, handing the red and silver metal ball to her.

She was mesmerized. "What is it?"

"Let it out and find out."

Skitty watched with a slight grudge as Ira pressed the button and let out a small silver quadruped. It had a few holes riddling its body that seemed to not let any light out of them, in essence just like a cosmic black hole. Its head was too big for its body with its stubby legs, and there was a little horn-like hump on its back.

Ira's eyes widened. "An Aron!"

Elron laughed. "Yeah, I actually started out with an Aaron just like that. Well, it's your second pokemon, but you get it."

The minuscule but heavy pokemon looked at its blue eyed trainer with even bigger and bluer eyes. It tilted its head inquisitively.

Ira leaned down to touch it, but the creature scurried away as soon as she did.

"She might do that for a while. Just like mine, she's a rescued pokemon. I had my hometown's professor keep an eye out for one, and luck would have it that one turned up."

"Erynne," Ira said. "I'm naming her Erynne."

Elron looked at her weirdly. "Are you sure, mine's na--"

"I'm sure," she said.

"Well, in that case." Elron pulled out one of his own pokemon, the fully evolved form of Aron, Aggron. "Aaron, why don't you come out."

The humanoid metal beast appeared on the floorboards out of a red beam of light, making the floor creak when it did. Aaron looked glad to be out of his pokeball.

"Wait!" said Ira, arms flailing. "Erynne. Aaron. The name's are too similar!"

"That's why I tried getting you to change it," Elron explained. "You can still change the name."

She shook her head "no," then smiled. "Na, I'll keep it. It's kind of cute! Erynne, come here!"

That almost nonexistent pronunciation difference is going to be a pain, he thought.

The Aron coyly ventured closer to its new trainer.

"That's it! Come a little closer!" She gestured with her arms for her to come closer.

Suddenly, Erynne panicked and charged right into Ira, knocking her down.

"Are you okay?!" said Elron, startled. This feels too similar to me.

She started giggling, then wrapped her arms around the pokemon and managed to somehow stand up.

No way, is she seriously that strong?!

She caressed the pokemon for about an entire second, during which a new pokemon to trainer bond had definitely been made, but after which her legs gave out underneath her and her and her pokemon came crashing down to the ground.

Erynne didn't apparently understand that she was really heavy, because she nuzzled Ira as if asking "what's wrong?" Elron and Aaron didn't particularly feel like trying to explain though, as you never talk to a woman about her weight.

Ira got up and brushed herself off, smiling all the way. "I don't know what to say. Just, thank you!"

"No problem," he said. "I figured that Aaron could use a sibling to keep him in his place. Maybe even learn what kind of a pain he was when he was little."

Aaron glared at him.

"What? You know it's true."

The Aggron shrugged and agreed, but also pointed to Elron.

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess I was a bit of trouble too back then. Those were some good times."

"Did you have anyone travelling with you back then?"

Elron got silent, and so did Aaron. "Yes, I did." Try not to think about it, Elron. You know you're past that. He paused, then sighed, forcing a smile. "Let's not talk about that now though. You ready to go?"

She could tell that she had stepped on some toes, so she dropped the subject. "Yeah, let's go. Ready, Skitty, Erynne?"

The pokemon nodded consent.

"Alright, return you two!" Ira returned the two to their pokeballs, and attached the pokeballs to the straps of her backpack. She went into her house for a brief moment and turned off all of the electronic devices, then locked her door.

"Come back in for now, Aaron," Elron said, returning his pokemon. "Let's go!"

And so the two of them took their first steps on their newest adventure. For one it was just another trip, but this time with another person, which he had not had for two years. For the other it was a completely new experience, and the world looked so wondrous that even the familiar surroundings of Unova seemed foreign and exciting.

Elron ended up carrying some of her stuff in the end.