All was calm in the Terran household. Tyler's family was rather well off for themselves, since Tyler's sister continuity sent them money, so with the extra income, no one had any complaints. Everyone slept soundly, no noise to be heard of at all.

Then, the clock Struck 7:00. Tyler jumped out of the bed, stretching his arms, feeling a sense of pure excitement slip over him.

A shout of 'AllRIGHT!” Startled his sleeping Torchic awake. “Tor...chic?” Flare asked, looking around, dazed and confused, then gave a shriek and jumped back as Tyler dashed past him, heading for the shower.

Not waiting for the shower to grow warm, Tyler jumped in, ignoring the shivering protest as his body woke up. Now that his burst of energy had faded, Tyler felt more calm, and was able to actually think for a few minutes. “I'm actually leaving... I almost can't believe it.” He whispered to himself. He was afraid of leaving home. What if his exploded, and he wasn't there? What f he became the target of an International terrorist ring, and was forced to join the Mafia?

Eventually, ambition won, and he set a date for his departure.

That day was today.

After preparing his bag, witch had a spare set of clothes, some berries, and a potion, he slid down the stair case, Flare on his shoulders, and onto the breakfast lounge. It was stll early, so no one was going to be up yet. Tyler hoped to make his breakfast, then a quick escape. He was simply not the type of person to say good bye. If he did so, he may never leave.

He made some pancakes, and got the last of Flare's food, besides what he was taking, and the both dined in silence, saving their energy for the countless travels ahead,

As soon as they were finished, Tyler walked out the door, taking as many steps as they could, stopping once the house was out of sight. He looked on his shoulder, where Flare looked at him with steely, blazing eyes, and he nodded in return. They were actually going to do this!

Tyler took the Revisor out of his pocket. There were three parts to it: The actual device, a screen that could be detached, and placed over the eye like a monocle, so it can be used while walking, and a headphone port. He placed the screen over his eyes, and checked the map. No matter what he was planning to do, Ecclima city was his first stop. There was a rest stop half way there.

“Flare, let's just start walking. We'll take on anyone we meet, but we won't start actual training until we reach Ecclima?” He asked. The Torchic gave a quick, excited chirp, with Tyler assumed meant 'Yes.'

He headed over to the shop, purchasing a pokeball, and a potion, and stashed him.

He started at the entrance to the city. “I'm ready when you are.”\

He turned around, taking a last look at the city.

Jenny yawned as she woke up to the ringing of an alarm clock. She looked over sleepily, seeing that it was 7AM. She smiled sleepily and curled back up, trying to fall back asleep. Unfortunately for her, the Cyndaquil named Muo had other plans.

Muo sprang onto the bed and started licking her face. She giggled a bit and then pulled the covers over her head to block the tongue that was trying to wake her up. Muo shook his head and crawled under the sheets, putting his back to her face.

She woke with a start, seeing a bright flash before her eyes. She jumped up and off of the bed, swiftly turning around and seeing that Muo had only lit the little flares on his back. She stared at him with a tired face, looking at the smirk that seemed to be on his face.

She stretched and walked into the bathroom, stepping into the shower after undressing. She took a quick and cold shower to wake up and hastily dressed into her daily clothes. She walked out of the bathroom and pulled her bag off of the now empty desk in her room. She sighed and looked around the fully empty room before walking out the door.

She quickly grabbed a poptart before going out the door. She left silently and stealthily, not wanting to wake her parents and get them mad. She tightened the huge red ribbon in her blond hair before walking down the road. Muo was right behind her since he really didn't like staying in his Pokeball much.

Jenny looked down at Muo and smiled. "This is gonna be great! We're gonna start a whole new life." She giggled and bent down, picking up Muo and putting her finger on his nose. "It feels like the day my parents gave me you as an egg. It was a gift from the professor to my sister, but they decided to let me have you so I could go out on a journey."

Muo nuzzled her hand and hopped onto her head, laying down and giving out a little sigh. She patted him on the head and smiled. "Don't worry. We'll just make one stop before leaving town. You know where we're going." Muo quickly perked up and gave out a small 'Cyn!'. She laughed and stopped at a house with a large garden in front of it. It was a basic design for a house in that town, but she thought it was beautiful.

Jenny nodded sharply and caught Muo before setting off at a run. "You ready, Muo? Our journey begins here!" She pulled on a headset and activated the revisor installed in it, making a screen slide out of one of the earmuffs and over an eye. She looked at the small map shown on the screen and ran even faster. "Next stop, Ecclima!"

She suddenly bumped into someone on the road, falling back but making sure that Muo didn't get hurt. She quickly got up and bowed. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" She looked at who she had bumped into and blushed slightly whenever she saw it was a guy. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I was just looking at the map on my revisor! I was distracted!" She bowed again, tightening her grip on Muo slightly from embarrassment. "Soooo sorry!"

The alarm on her wristwatch went off, beeping and beeping until finally with a moan, Alexis’ opposing hand reach over and clicked it off. She opened her grey eyes, they were dull with the remnants of slumber, groaning, she rubbed at her eyes with her hands. So . . . so early!! Oh, how she hated early mornings like this, she was NOT a morning person! And this was only made worse with the knowledge that she had to go through her painstakingly careful routine of making sure that she had herself properly disguised and everything necessary bound and made flat so that her body’s natural feminine physique would not betray her!

Taking her fists off of her eyes, she stared up at the ceiling of the Pokémon Center she had crashed in the night before. The Nurse Joy there had been nice enough to let her sleep on the couch in the lobby since Alexis happened to be short on funds from financing her trip by boat to the Renea Region. Unfortunately though, the couch she had slept on was anything but comfortable so Alexis’ poor back was stiff and sore. . . . “Owww. . . .” she groaned, sitting up and rubbing at her back, “Wow, that hurts a lot more than I expected it to. . . .”

Wincing still, she looked down at the floor below her to see Undine still snoozing away on her back. . . . A snot bubble coming out of one her nostrils; at seeing this Alexis could only grimace in disgust. Considering she’s such a sassy thing, I’d think she’d have some more, I don’t know, female charm to her. . . . Shaking her head with a sigh, Alexis moved her foot from the couch and down to her Totodile’s stomach and poked at it with her toes lightly. “Undine, oh Undine~” she chirped softly, trying to awaken the Pokémon as gently as possible since she was prone to biting if startled from her sleep.

When the gentle approach failed to even rouse Undine in the slightest, Alexis groaned, pulled her foot back up to the couch and snagged a pillow out from behind her and looked back down to the snot-bubble producing Water-Pokémon.

For a moment, Alexis could only wonder how it was that this particular Totodile knew Water Gun instead of Bubble. . . . “Whatever, she’s a weirdo, just like her trainer.” Lifting the pillow above her head, Alexis took a deep breath in before readying herself for this, “Undine . . . WAKE UP!!” she shouted, throwing the pillow on top of the snoozing Totodile who awoke with quite the fright.

The Totodile scrambled up to her feet while blubbering her name, as most Pokémon did to speak. Hastily she peered from side to side, making sure she wasn’t under attack or something . . . and when she spotted the pillow she looked up at her trainer, who just happened to be grinning at her. “Well morning you snot-bubbling making sleeping beauty!”

At hearing what Alexis had called her, and given the manner in which she had been woken up, Totodile started sputtering her name out again and leap onto her trainer, hitting at her with her small arms. No, Undine wasn’t trying to hurt her trainer, she was just peeved with her was all. Alexis though only found herself laughing at her Pokémon’s little upset episode; honestly, she was just adorable when she got upset. Mmm, how she acted sometimes reminded her so much of a tsundere.

“Calm down, calm down, calm down now!” she chided, shielding herself from Undine’s ‘onslaught’ before reaching out to the Totodile’s sides and hoisting her up into the air. Alexis giggled, “I get it, you’re upset with me, but Undine, did you forget what today was?”

At hearing her trainer’s question the annoyance left Undine’s face and it seemed like a light bulb when off in her reptilian skull. At realizing what the day was, Undine started squirming in her trainer’s arms, trying to get down so she herself could get ready. Smiling, Alexis indeed set her down and watched her Pokémon scramble off for the restroom. . . . Yes, Undine was indeed one strange little Pokémon, she had a habit of washing her face every morning she could.

Laughing, Alexis reach over to the table across from where she had slept, and grabbed a hold of a cream-colored bandana and a set of light brown goggles. She secured both around her head, placing the goggles over top of the bandana as she got to her feet. With several stretches, and a few groans, Alexis deemed it time to slip out of here without alerting Nurse Joy, or her Chansey. Picking up her bag, Alexis waited for Undine to return from her little trip.

When the little blue Pokémon came on scrambling back to her trainer, all rinsed up and ready to go, Alexis smiled down at her and asked, “You ready for this Undine?”

To that, Undine once more sputtered out her name in excitement before scrambling for the automatic doors to the Center, and heading outside. Alexis followed behind her swiftly, calling out for her to wait. “Undine!!”

The Totodile banked left, and headed for more open road that lead into a flat, sort of plains area . . . the road between Florinzia and Ecclima City. Now, how did Undine know which way to go? Silly thing probably had been sneaking peeks at Alexis’ map on the Revisior again after she’d conked out. . . .

“Ugh, when did she get so fast?!” Alexis cried out to herself, trailing after her Totodile rather poorly; she had never seen Undine this hyper in all the time she’d had her. . . . Seriously, she was really excited to go on this trip. It was a good thing that Alexis had kept Undine in her Poké Ball most of the time she’d still been at home; if she had spazzed out like this back in Cherrygrove, and her dad found her. . . . Well, Alexis didn’t want to think about what her dad would have done to the poor little Totodile.

His hate of Pokémon was strong enough that he’d have done something pretty terrible to her, that much was for sure. But, that part of her life was over now! Her dad was back in Johto and she was here in Renea!

It wasn’t until Undine managed to slam herself right into someone down the road that Alexis finally caught up to the speedy little Totodile. Undine stumbled backward, and fell onto her bum at that, looking woozy and dizzy from the sudden impact. Panting and wheezing, tiny Alexis dropped onto her knees next to her Totodile, trying to comprehend just how she had gotten so fast, so quickly.

“I-I am SO sorry about her!” Alexis apologized, wheezing, “I swear, I don’t know when she managed to get that fast!”

Disguised as a boy, the person that Undine had slammed into wouldn’t know that Alexis was really a girl. . . . Or so, she could only hope as she looked up to the person in question.

Spencer slept soundly in the hammock he had set up near the entrance to the town his map said was called Florinzia. Nothing could disturb his sleep, not even the voices he could hear talking a few feet away. His eyes cracked open a hair. If he could hear voices then he must be awake. He gave a sigh to himself, and turned over onto his stomach. He would wait. Whoever they were, they had to be on there way soon.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one to wake up. In a second, he felt Pikachu land on his back. "Pikachu!!" The small mouse said, trying to shake Spencer with his small paws. Spencer attempted to tell it to go back to sleep, but all that came out was a small groan. Pikachu wasn't having any of that. He heard the static-like sound of Pikachu's cheeks charging up. He sighed, and braced himself.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Spencer screamed in pain as Pikachu shocked him. He knew it wasn't Pikachu's full attack, but it was still raw electricity. His hair standing on edge, Spencer flipped himself over. Pikachu looked down on him from a branch above, a smile on his face. "Jesus, Pikachu!" Spencer said sadistically. "I know it's early but still!" Pikachu jumped onto him, trying to hug him with his small arms. "Ah, you're the worst. Ok, let's go."

Spencer jumped out of his hammock onto the ground. He untied it from the trunks of each tree it had been tied to and rolled it up into his bag. He was pretty good at this whole process; one could tell he had bee on the road for quite a while. Pikachu watched every move he made, as if studying how to do it himself one day. Spencer strapped on his sandals and threw on his sun glasses and hat. "Ok Pikachu." He said. "Just gimme a minute to pack up our food and see what we need. Then we'l go.. somewhere." He unzipped his bag and began checking if he was missing anything.

Tyler had been studying the map intently. After Ecclima city was Tuscana city, the first of the gyms he would have to challenge, if he wanted to challenge the gyms, then there was simply no way he could miss out on this... but, as he was right now, he stood no chance... maybe he could bypass the gyms, and return when he had a Pokemon that knew Fly, and return once he had his Pokemon raised up. That also seemed like a good idea to him... he would simply have to wait, and see what would happen.

He had just began to play a tune when a woman slammed into him high speed, and Tyler almost fell over, though he managed to steady himself in time. Upon hearing her apology, Tyler shook his head, “It's alright, I was looking at my own Revisor, so I share the fault.”

Flare leaped off his shoulder, eyes locked on the Cyndaquil. “Tor-CHIC!” It said, obviously happy at meeting another fire type so soon after beginning their journey.

Tyler took a step towards them, in order to say hello to the Cyndaquil, but was bum-rushed by a blue … something. He fell to the ground, but used a free hand to launch himself back up. Flare looked at the culprit, throughly pissd

The culprit was a young Totodile that had been charging at full speed, followed by a Trainer hat was doing her best to catch up. “It's fine, really.” Tyler said with a nod, Though Flare was breathing flames. Tyler lightly tapped him on the back. “It was an accident. Behave.”

He looked at the two that approached and ran into him. To be on the careful side, he took two steps because, Arceus forbid, next was going to a Graveler next.

One was a blonde that, heaven forbid, was a beautiful blonde woman who was blushing, witch made him blush in return. The other was a blonde male... and he immediately stopped blushing.

“ I take it you two are headed for Ecclima?” He asked, Flare returning to his shoulder, staring at the new people intently. “Name's Tyler, and I'm heading down that way as well...” He said, though he was looking at the woman more than the male... hey, he was a guy. Sue him.

Alexis got to her feet, still wheezing a bit from chasing after Undine. The rather speedy Totodile in question was still sitting on her rump, trying to gather herself up some and figure out what had just happened. Being back at her full, yet still admittedly pathetic, height, Alexis got a better look at who it was Undine had managed to run into during her full-on charge. . . . And it just had to be a guy, didn’t it? He accepted her apology at least, and Alexis noted that he was looking at another person; a rather good-looking blonde girl who was definitely not hiding her gender like Alexis happened to be. Despite getting her freedom this way, Alexis felt envious of this girl, being able to be open about her gender, about not having to hide the fact she was a pretty girl. . . .

Alexis looked down to Undine who was holding onto the side of her head with a slight moan, and Alexis couldn’t help but smile a bit at her. Silly thing. She heard the boy Undine had slammed into ask where both she and the other girl were headed, to Ecclima. As well as give his name.

Tyler? And it looked like he had a Torchic and the girl a Cyndaquil. Looking back to him Alexis stopped when she couldn’t help but notice the fact that he was staring rather intently at the other girl . . . and here went those uncomfortable feelings of awkwardness considering she herself was a girl underneath that disguise. Most would probably expect her to be staring too considering. . . . Even as a woman herself, Alexis wasn’t a fool, this girl next to her was something guys would ogle without mercy if they could. No matter how desperate Alexis was to keep her secret here about being female, she would only take her act so far. . . . And beyond the line she’d drawn for herself was looking at another girl the way guys did. Hopefully, people just thought she was mercilessly shy.

The very notion of looking at a girl like that made Alexis’ cheeks turn rosy and she quickly had to turn away and clear her throat to try and compose herself some. “Y-Yes, I am heading to Ecclima, along with my Totodile here.” She answered, pointing down to Undine who was sniffing at the other Pokémon curiously. Taking in a deep breath, she clasped her hands at her front and bowed before the two, “My name is Alex Hayes, and it’s nice to make your acquaintances, the both of you.”

Oh Arceus, please make him stop looking at that girl would you? Things are already awkward enough. she stood back to her full height, and looked off to the side. Undine, sensing her trainer’s discomfort, wandered back to her.

“Toto, Toto, Totodile!” Hearing the Pokémon prattle on in its own tongue, Alexis laughed a touch, knelt down next to the blue, scaly beast, and patted her on the noggin.

“Undine, I know I’m still new at this, but please mind me a little bit better, okay? Just a little.” she whispered to the Totodile, before she stood up.

As she straightened her spine though, Alexis let out a rather high-pitched squeak and clutched at her chest; her face going beet red. One of her hands shot to her mouth and her eyes clamped shut . . . had that really just happened?! Oh no, oh no, bindings came loose on me! The wrappings she wore around her chest had come partly undone on her when she had stooped down all of a sudden, and she had to fix them ASAP, otherwise, her cover would seriously be blown that fast. Peeling her hand away from her mouth, Alexis once more cleared her throat.

“A-Ah, excuse me for a moment please!” she shouted, darting off the side of the path, and behind a nearby tree in order to fix what had messed up on her. After a few rather awkward moments, Alexis peeked out from behind the tree, her face still red and wandered back out to the other two trainers and their Pokémon. “I-I’m sorry about that. . . .”

Spencer slung his backpack across his shoulder. "We're set!" He told his Pikachu happily. They could use a bit more food, and a bit more money to get it with, but he was sure it'd work out. It normally did, anyways. "Pika!!" The yellow mouse squeaked excitedly next to him. Spencer smiled. At least his Pokemon was confident.

Suddenly, he saw a someone run into the trees near him. "Huh, I wonder what she's... GAH!" He quickly turned his eyes as he saw the girl start to adjust herself in a way he shouldn't see. A couple seconds later she ran off, going back to talk with the people she had been before. "Well that was... very odd." Spencer said, looking at his Pikachu. "And almost x-rated. I wonder if I should go say something before they think I was being a creeper or something." Pikachu cocked his head at him.

Spencer sighed. "To hell with it, let's just get a move on." He pulled a map out of his pocket and unfolded it to full size. "Now it looks like the next town is..." He scratched his head. "No... according to this I'd have to go back the way I came... but that leads to where the ship dropped me off..." He sighed. If only he could've scrapped enough money for one of those Revisor things... He decided to blatantly ignore what might prove to be amazingly awkward and ask those for some directions.

Spencer stepped out of the treeline towards the three standing there, his Pokemon close behind. "Hey, 'scuse me!" He said, approaching them. "But uhh... I'm totally lost, I can't read this thing." He said, holding up his map. "So if one of you could just point me..."He began to break off as he saw who he was looking at. A boy about his age and pretty blonde girl made up two of the three but the third... was the, boy? Spencer had just seen.

This was confusing. He was certain that the boy he had seen was adjusting her... lady parts... but now he was standing there looking like a boy! There was no mistaking that it was the same person but.... "Hey why're you..." Spencer began to ask the girl, but quickly stopped. He supposed she must have a good reason for dressing like a guy. He'd ask her about it later. That is, if he could without bringing up how he knew. "Uhh never mind. But, I am a bit confused about this map..." He said, trailing off a little sheepishly.

Tyler was brought back to reality when the man known as Alex gave an non-manly shriek, clutch his chest, and jolt off.. " Could it be that the man who shrieked like a girl and run off really be... nope, I'm just tired still. Stop thinking things," He told himself, as Alex returned, Tyler gave him a 'Wtf?" Eye, and focused on the newly approached man "You're heading out?" Tyler asked the man, who was with a Pikachu, "Ecclima city is in this direction." Tyler said, pointing to the road. "I'm actually heading in that direction, along with these people here... speaking of, we should really get going." He said, turned around to look at the inviting road.

He looked to all the people he just met, "So, what is everyone off to do? I'm heading to Ecclima, then Ezia, to challenge the Gym leader... maybe take one of the others. Heck, If I had my way, I'll be the champion...


He took a few steps, as stone met dirt. "I'm heading out now... would any of you care to join me?" He asked every one... though he gazed at the blonde the longest.

Jenny smiled and giggled as she lifted herself off the ground, placing Muo onto the ground and patting his head. "Glad you're not hurt, Muo. I'd kill myself if you did get hurt." She stood straight and slightly bowed. "I'm Jenny, and this Cyndaquil is my Muo. Pleased to meet all of you." She smiled brightly and picked up Muo again, petting him. "People tend to say we're a matching pair." She then looked over to Spencer and shrugged. "We'll, you follow this road you can get straight to Ecclima, then you can just ask for directions from there." When she turned to answer Tyler's question about heading out, she mentally jumped back. Was he... gazing at her? "Um... I'm heading there too! And if we're all going there, we can all head out together!" She nodded. "Then we wouldn't really have to worry about anything like bandits or wild Pokemon." She laughed. "Plus we wouldn't have to worry about getting stranded and not knowing what to do. We all have our own talents, I'm sure." She spun a bit. "I can cook. It'll be necessary for making Muo poffins so we can improve our contest skill." She looked to Tyler and paused for a bit while looking at him. "What are you bringing to the table?"

"Data-gathering." Tyler said, "If you need information, "I'm you're man. Plus, I know how the use the Terrain to our best bet, like witch berries are safest to eat, and that also comes in handy for a battle." He said with an odd smile, "I might want to give contests a try... heck, I'm up for anything, really. Anything to get experience under my belt." He said, shrugging,

Flare gave him a strange look, "What, you don't want to try a contest? We don't have to enter the cute division or anything like that. We could always enter the Cool Division... and I always hear that the Beauty division has plenty if fire pokemon." At 'Beauty' Flare gave a sharp "-CHIC"

Tyler laughed at that, "Get used to it, you pretty birdy you- ouch OUCH!" HE said, as Flare began digging his talons in his shoulder, "Alright, Alright, I give, you're going to draw blood!"

Flare finally stopped, "We argue a lot, but we're pretty good friends." Tyler joked.

Alexis’ face remained red as she got strange looks from Tyler, and a few from the new guy who just wandered on up to them to ask about directions to the next city. . . . He had seen her fixing her bindings, hadn’t he? Oooooh, first off that is embarrassing on my end for so many reasons. But it’s worse if he really did see that and knows I’m a girl! Clearing her throat, Alexis decided to put the matter to rest for the time being; and crossed her arms over her diaphragm. She just had to be more careful was all, from now on she would be as cautious as she could about hiding her secret from them.

The rather attractive blonde girl introduced herself as Jenny, and her Cyndaquil as Muo. Then went on about what abilities and talents she brought to the table in terms of her usefulness in travelling. . . . Oh boy, usefulness?

Alexis inwardly shrank back a bit as she asked Tyler what he could do, and she heard how capable a traveller he was. She wasn’t exactly useful herself when it came to travelling, though, she hadn’t even said she was going to Ecclima with these people anyway.

Tyler had gone on about wanting to take on the gym leaders in the region, and maybe become the champion whereas Jenny had said she also wanted to try out contests for herself. The gym challenge and contests. . . . Something then occurred to Alexis, she’d never really decided what it was she wanted to do when she became a trainer.

She just, she just had never set any goals for herself since she was always worried about her dad! All she’d ever wanted to do was get away from him, and be able to have her own adventures with a Pokémon, bond with them, and be as close with them as her mom had. Alexis . . . just wanted the experience of travel, little else.

Seemed they were all headed to Ecclima, and that they all had their own plans for what they wanted to do.

“Totototototo!” Alexis heard Undine start to sputter out, and she was cast out of her thoughts as Tyler’s Torchic, Flare, began to attack him for a comment he’d made. Alexis had missed everything beforehand, so she wasn’t sure if he deserved it or not. She stood there rather quiet, her hands clasped in front of her chest just staring at the little scene. What was she suppose to do?

Tyler gave in and she heard him say that both he and the Pokémon were good friends, despite the fact they argued.
Alexis lowered her eyelids a bit and stared down at her feet, she didn’t have anything going on like these people. They knew what they wanted to do, and they were good friends with their Pokémon, they had long histories with them undoubtedly. She could tell by the way they interacted with each other, Undine and her though had only met a few weeks ago, when Alexis had snatched her right out of her life . . . whatever life she had going on. But she seemed happy enough, was Undine happy being her Pokémon?

Was she really okay with being confined to a person’s commands? Alexis wasn’t sure if she was comfortable with keeping Undine anymore, thinking about it, but if she let her go now, she’d be all by herself in a place that was completely foreign to her. Tyler, Jenny, and this guy who’d shown up who might know her secret, they were sure of what they were doing, and of themselves. . . .

And here she was, disguised as a guy, with a Totodile next to her that was new to being a trainer’s Pokémon, who also didn’t really listen to her very much. Alexis sure had a lot going against her now, but this was the path she’d chosen.
Was she even going to be travelling with them to Ecclima anyway. . . ? I think they may’ve assumed that I was going to come with them since we all were headed in the same direction, but the longer I’m travelling with people, the more of a chance there is for them to find out my secret. . . . Alexis shuffled back a few small steps, completely unsure of what she was doing; she was starting to scare herself.

If they found out, when would her father? When would he discover her and drag her back home, what would he do to Undine? That guy with the Pikachu, he might know, and Tyler was giving me funny looks. . . . What do I do? Alexis let out a slight whimper as her form hunched over slightly. Undine was giving her trainer looks of concern; she could tell something wasn’t right. So, she pattered over next to Alexis, grabbed onto her pant leg and tugged on it with a muttering of her name to try and break her trainer out of the state she was in.

“Huh?!” Alexis’ heart jumped when undine tugged on her pant leg. She looked up and around, finally looking down to her Totodile who looked upset by the fact that something seemed wrong. Alexis’ heart was racing, but she mustered up a smile for her little blue friend, “Mm, I’m okay Undine. Thanks for your concern.”

Clearing her throat, Alexis stood back up to her short height and looked back at the others around her. “You were talking about heading to Ecclima, and I’m going there myself. I’m sorry to inform you though that I’m . . . not very experienced when it comes to travel and I don’t think I have a lot to offer in terms of my usefulness.”

Alexis adjusted her footing under her in nervousness and clutched at one of her arms, though she stopped this when she realized that her particular posture and pose gave a very clear air of femininity, “A-Anyway, I don’t exactly have any plans of my own. I didn’t really think about whether I might want to challenge the Gyms here, or perhaps participate in contests before I left home. But, I think Undine and I might be up for travelling with people, I might not be very useful, but I’m at least good at following instructions. I can at least do what I’m told to.”

Even if it were rather hard keeping her secret from these people, part of true adventure was making friends and travelling with others, right? This long journey would be lonely if she and Undine were going to brave it themselves. . . . Alexis would think through the details of her journey as they came, if there were problems coming her way, she would overcome them as they showed themselves to her.

Spencers eyes blinked behind his sunglasses as Jenny asked Tyler what he could bring to the table. Well shit. I oughta just leave now then! He was a good survivalist, for himself and Pikachu at least. He'd never had to worry about other people and their needs though. He doubted that the well kept blonde would be alright with sleeping in a hammok every night, though Alex probably would... she looked like she had traveled from a long distance too.

When Alex say she wasn't very nervous, he couldn't help but smile softly. She seemed so nervous and hesitant, and even her pokemon was picking up on it. He wondered if she was in over her head with something, with her pretending to be a guy and all. He decided he'd attempt to relieve some of her tension. "Well that makes two of us, Alex." He said lightly. "I'm damn near worthless as far companionship goes." At that statement, his Pikachu turned and glared at him. "Piiiiiii-" It growled threateningly.

"Oh hush Pikachu." Spencer said. It quieted up, but held it's glare. "I've never traveled with anyone besides myself, so I suppose I don't really know... I mean, I have a hammock in my bag for myself, but I dunno what real use I have besides... Wait I know!" He said with a grin. "I'm not too bad at growing berries! I had a pretty good berry farm running back in Johto. Though if we're moving about a lot, that probably won't be worth much..."

Pikachu grew bored of glaring at him. The small creature walked up to Alex's Totodile, looking at it curiously. "Well I suppose I might as well take the Gym challenge. I mean, why not right? So I suppose we could spar with each other and train together, Tyler." He said. "Heck, we might as well just have a little troop set up with the four of us!" He grinned, and gave Alex a look. "Should be a fun journey, right?"

Jenny yawned a bit and looked down at Muo, then to the others. "I have a sleeping mat and a hammock, so if someone needs to use one of them I can offer it. If two of you need mats, that's fine too." Jenny giggled. "I've always loved sleeping in trees." Muo looked up and glared at her, the dots on her back glowing slightly red. "I mean, Muo usually uses one of them because she's so well raised, but she needs to learn to grow up and out of the norm like I did." Muo jumped out of her arms and when she landed, stomped her foot.

Jenny laughed. "They told me you were naive, Muo, not sassy. Did they get it wrong?" Muo instantly let the flames erupt from her back. "Cyn!" Jenny laughed again and picked Muo up, hugging her. She then looked to the group and smiled. "Well, I think we should all get going. I think we can make it by nightfall if we start now." She put the now cross-armed Muo on her shoulder and began walking.

Tyler nodded, "She's right, we probably should get moving.... there's a rest stop nearby, in case we don't make it. to Eccliima." he said, before turning around, took a deep breath, and took a few more steps, entering Route 1 with a smile on his face... he was actually DOING it!"


His eyes began looking around the area . There were plenty of trees to sided of the road itself, towering into the sky. The road was nice and soft, unlike the hardness of a city, and, if Tyler wasn't wearing shoes, he'd guess that it was nice and warm. There was plenty of grass as well, lining he sides . All on all, the place looked like something you'd see in a painting, or a TV show.

His journey was beginning. He already had a feeling... that, when he next returned to Florinzia, he would be a different man.

Ten too twenty minutes later came the first sign of life. There was a pokemon in the grass. It pecked the ground, gave an annoyed, "Spear!" hoped a couple steps, flapping it's wings in annoyance, and continued it's search.

Tyler flicked his Revisor on, and went to the Pokedex app, " Spearow, the spear Pokemon. Spearow flaps its small wings busily to fly. Using its beak, it searches in grass for prey.

"Hmm... a Flying Type..." Tyler said, thinking about it. "Why not? Flare." He said, and The Torchic flopped off his body. "Tor-CHIC!" The Flame bird said, alerting the Spearow to their arrival. A small conversation passed between the birds, and the Flare let out an enraged cry, small trails of flame forming around it's mouth.

"I guess you're ready then?" Tyler said, a smile forming around his mouth, like it did when Flare got angry. The birds stared at each other. If Spearow can fly, I doubt it can fly that high... it looks young, witch is an advantage to us.... Best case, we strike first, fast, and hard, and go for a follow up... Tyler though to himself, looking around.

"Alright, Flare, let's take the first strike. Dash in there, and launch and burst of fire. Keep your guard up." He ordered.

Torchic wasn't the fastest of birds... but, Spearow wasn't either, so they both ran at about an even pace. Spearow flapped it's wings as tit ran, launch a gust of wind, Witch was slowing Flare down, and, occasionally causing a nut or some such to nail him, and the sand to rise up, but not enough to obscure Flare's vision, though it was quickly getting to that point.

Flare put and end to that with a well placed, Ember, witch caught The Spearow a few feet off the ground, and Flare went in with a follow up.

Spearow had a decent recovery rate, getting back up in Time to Dodge Flare's Talons, managing a few feet in the air. Flare gave an angry chirp, turned around, and caught the Spearow with another ember, this time as Spear pecked Flare. They both steeped back, and charged again, Spearow not bothering to fly this time.

"...now, Flare. Front Flip, and nail him with scratch!" Tyler ordered. Because Flare had a small composition, and since Flare often flipped when he was happy, that was quite easy. Flare front flipped, narrowly dodging a peck, and nailing the Spearow across the face."

Spearow was about to get up, when a shadow loomed over him. He looked up, and gave a surprised "Spear!" as Tyler loomed over him, pokeball in hand. There was a flash of light as the Ball engulfed the bird. There were a few huffs of resistance, then the ball was still.

"'allo, new friend." Tyler said with a nod, picking up the Pokeball, as Flare returned to Tyler's shoulder, looking a little tired.

So, it seemed like it was decided then. She was . . . going with them to Ecclima City, and hopefully the lot of them would get there before darkness fell. Nothing spelled disaster like a bunch of newbie trainers stuck out in the wilderness at night, even if there was a rest stop between cities. Alexis heard Spencer address her, asking her if this would be a fun journey why his Pikachu was looking at Undine in a curious manner.

Alexis looked over at him uncertainly; ‘fun’ wasn’t quite the word she was thinking of in regards to this trip. It was a very distinct possibility that he’d seen her fixing her bindings and already knew about the fact she was, well, a she. . . . But, she had already decided hadn’t she? She would face the problems that were to come as they came upon her, simple as that. If Spencer knew about her secret, then she would just have to hope he would keep it what it was, a secret. She mustered up a smile, it was a bit of a nervous one, but she still got one up before she answered him. “Yeah, this journey should be a hoot and a holler.” she said with a small laugh, starting to walk, like Jenny and Tyler had.

With a bunch like us wandering around together, things really should prove to be interesting. she thought, looking back to Undine and Spencer’s Pikachu. Instead of just walking around, silent like a bump on a log while being stared at, Undine was prattling on to the Pikachu in Pokéspeak. She didn’t know what Undine could possibly be going on about to the little electric mouse, but she sure was talkative.

It was somewhat cute to see, really it was. Alexis was certain that the little Totodile would be a very talkative thing to her if she could speak English. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, if Undine was happy then Alexis would grin and bear with everything.

Alexis looked over when she heard a commotion from nearby; she saw Tyler’s Torchic going at it with a Spearow; and him subsequently catch the tiny bird Pokémon. At seeing that, she had no reaction. She just felt numb to it, after all, Alexis wasn’t really someone who was fond of catching a Pokémon right out of its life and home. Still though, she wouldn’t say anything about this and she would simply put up with it, and be glad for her acquaintance’s new capture and friend.

Whether or not Alexis herself would even come to own more than one Pokémon beyond Undine was a rather large question, after all she’d decided long ago, when her mother was still alive, that she would only ‘catch’ a Pokémon if it, itself wanted to come with her.

She laughed thinking about the irony of her situation. Here she was, supposed to be a trainer and yet she wouldn’t forcefully catch anymore Pokémon beyond the only one she had. Maybe she really wasn’t cut out for this, but then, no one said she had to do things the old fashion way, right? If Alexis had decided to conform to the old school way of doing things, then that would be utterly boring.

Spencer smiled as he walked along with the others. He was a bit taken back at Jenny's remark, it seemed he had misjudged her. He was just glad he'd kept his mouth shut instead of voicing his assumptions. Either way, it really didn't matter if she was the kind to sleep in hammocks or demand a real shelter anyways. They were all just trainers now, so every part of their lives before this point was of little matter now, a fact for which Spencer was very glad.

Pikachu seemed to be having an in depth conversation with Alex's Totodile as they walked along. What was it she had nicknamed it? Spencer wondered for a minute, before remembering. Undine, that was it. He wondered for a minute why he'd never nicknamed his Pikachu; he was the only one in their new group who called his Pokemon by it's species. Nicknames really never appealed to him. The reason it's species was called what it was was only due to what they could say, so it seemed natural to leave that as their name as well...

"Pikachu!!" Exclaimed Pikachu, in responce to something Undine had said. Spencer wondered what the two were going on about. The only vibe Spencer could get from his Pikachu was curiosity. Whatever they were talking about, it was sparking Pikachu's interest. "Well! It looks like you've made a new friend, Pikachu." Spencer said lightly. Pikachu made only a small squeak in responce before continuing his conversation. Spencer laughed. "Cool story bro."

As Tyler attacked and caught a wild Spearow, Spencer watched with interest at his Torchic's fighting style, and how Tyler directed it with commands. It fought like a fighting type, even though it wasn't part fighting until it's evolution... He supposed that had been Tyler's doing through training. "Good catch, Tyler." He said. "Once I catch my second Pokemon, you and I ought to have a battle or something."

At his words, Pikachu turned and looked at Spencer curiously. Pikachu knew better then anyone that Spencer was rarely drawn to Pokemon battles, it was normally Pikachu that sought them. Spencer didn't say anything to it. He'd explain to him later why he wanted to fight battle Tyler; part of it was just to get to know the guy better, but he was also curious to more of his battle strategy. If Spencer was to take the gym challenge, he ought to see as many fighting styles as possible, to better prepare himself.

Alexis’ eyes were cast up to the skies. She was actually going through with this; she was really going ahead with her journey. Part of her mind wandered on back to Johto, to her father; she wondered just what he was doing about her disappearance. Probably alerted Cherrygrove’s Officer Jenny about her vanishing, and had the police searching for her. Obviously though, she had not been found! Alexis would have been out of the city before her father was even aware of her leaving, she had skipped school and snuck back into their house after he had left for work, grabbed her things and was off. . . . That was only about two weeks ago. Her father probably thought that she was still in Johto, that wouldn’t have surprised her.

Given that she had been gone such a short time, it would seem very unlikely that she were almost a literal world away from her home region. . . .

It was liberating in a way, to know that she were really out on her own now, without her father hovering over her, watching her every move so closely. Even if Alexis were bound by the limits of her secret, she was still freer than she had been in years. She was here now, here with people who might become her good friends in time. Sure, she couldn’t be certain of much considering that she barely knew any of them, but it was not as if she had many friends in her life before this.

And she was starting everything out on a clean slate; in a place no one knew her. She had herself, and Undine. Maybe she’d get more friends along this journey, without having to force them into coming with her. It was during this peaceful pattern of thought that Alexis’ rather nasty luck with random rocks happened to act up on her.

In the dirt road that led to Ecclima City, the surface seemed to be mostly smooth and completely without fault . . . except for this one spot, right where Alexis happened to be stepping. The tip of the poor girl’s foot caught on a stone that was sticking up out of the ground, and she went down, flat on her face.

When this happened, Undine let out something akin to a squawk and scrambled over to her gravity-challenged trainer.

With a groan, Alexis looked up, one of her eyes shut she seethed out an, “Ouch. . . .” and got herself to her rump. Rubbing her head she looked at Undine and laughed at herself, “I think I’m more or less okay Undine, no need to spazz out on me, kay?” In response, the Totodile let out a sigh of relief, and scratched her head a bit, wondering herself just what she ought to do with this woman who was her trainer.

Alexis gave her a smile and took her hand away from her head, her ring finger brushing her cheek, she felt something wet. “Hmm?” Her eyes went to her finger and she noticed it was red; seems she had gotten a bit of a cut when she’d fallen down.

Tyler placed his newly captured Spearow on his waist. Hw would call him out later, but, right now, he needed rest.

Already, Tyler himself felt a little bit stronger. Not even a day out, and another ally was his. Tyler thought about that, "Huh, I bet IK wouldn't have been able to do that yesterday." He said with a knowing smile, and he gave Flare a little pat on the head, and then adressed Spencer. "A fight sounds good to me. Heck, We'll make it a double battle, just for the hack of it. " HE said with a smile, already looking for the day when that would come.

"Already, he has an advantage. Not only could that Pikachu give Spearow the What-for, he's seen how Flare fights..." He thought to himself, but said nothing about it. Deep down, he knew he shouldn't be analyizing a new found friemd...but it was something his Sister had always drilled in him 'Be ready to fight at any time.


Oh, how he wished he was in Libran already. He wasn't strong enough though, so he would simply have to get that strong. He had a lot riding on this... at the very minimum, his goal was to show her just how good he had gotten... and he simply could not fail at such an important task. He would not.

There was the sound of someone falling behind him, and he noticed that the one known as Alex had fallen. "I have some Salve for human wounds." Tyler said, reaching into his bag, producing a medical kit for humans. "Would you like one? Even the smallest of cuts can get infected."

Spencer winced as Alex fell to the ground. She had fallen right on her head and everything... But luckily for her, Tyler was to be her doctor in shining medical kit, or something. Or maybe not, he still thinks she's a dude... Spencer mused. He wondered how to play that out. 'Very carefully' was the only answer that came to mind.

As Alex sat up, Pikachu took the opportunity to jump lightly onto Alex's head. "Pikachu! Don't.... Ah whatever." Spencer said with a chuckle. "At least he won't shock you...." Spencer had known Pikachu long enough to know that he was the only human who ever got sparked, for whatever reason.

Spencer looked at Jenny. He realized he hadn't actually said a single word to the pretty one... "So, it's Jenny right?" He asked politely. "So what's your story, then? I figure we should all get to know each other so.... yeah..." He trailed off weakly. He'd never been good when it came to girls.

”Toooooooo. . . .” Undine let out a whine, seeing that Alexis had managed to gain a cut from her little tumble. Even if she and her trainer didn’t always get along or see eye to eye, she didn’t like seeing her get hurt. Alexis looked from her ring finger to the Totodile with a little nervous smile, the cut she had gotten was small, and it didn’t hurt very much. But the thing was bleeding like mad, as all wounds taken to the face tend to do.

She’d be okay, once the blood clotted on it, she’d barely notice it was even there. I seriously need to watch where I’m walking, that could have been much worse. she thought with a little sigh.

It was then Tyler offered her some salve for the cut, getting a first-aid kit from his bag. Alexis looked at him with a bit of a blank look, blinking a few times in surprise. He actually carried a medical kit with him? Wow, someone was really prepared for his journey it seems.

Alexis smiled at him; nervously she let out a laugh and proceeded to wipe her hand on the nearby grass. It was really a nice gesture, but she’d be okay. “Thank you for the concern and offer, but I think it’ll be okay. I’ll rinse it off with some soap and water when we get to the rest stop.” Alexis said to him, “I’ve dealt with worse scraps than this and survived.”
Undine looked between Alexis and Tyler, not entirely sure what was going on, “Totodile?”

Truthfully, Alexis was glad to have someone actually concerned for her wellbeing around, even if she didn’t know anyone here too well, the feeling was nice. . . . How could it not be? Although, Alexis’ father had been worried about her, he’d never really been concerned for her, per say. Alexis knew, she knew her father meant well, he always did, but she always felt like he wasn’t going about things the right way. If she fell over and got a scratch he’d tell her to do something about it, and not really ask if she wanted help or anything. . . .

With that she felt something plop itself on top of her skull. Alexis’ eyes trailed up and saw something yellow resting on her head, Spencer’s Pikachu. She heard Spencer starting to chide it, but he just gave up, saying something that it least it wouldn’t shock her. She let out a happy laugh, reaching up and scratching the Pikachu’s head gently. Alexis had enough experience as a child with electric-type Pokémon to know to always be careful when touching them, if you startled them, you’d get shocked.

Undine pouted a bit at the attention Pikachu was receiving from her trainer, even if Undine didn’t always act like it, the Totodile was a jealous thing at times.

“Oohhh, aren’t you cute Pikachu?” Alexis cooed quietly at the Pokémon on top of her head. With that though, something started tugging at her pant leg; the culprit of course was Undine. Alexis looked at her, “Now what’s wrong Undine?” she asked, taking her hand off the Pikachu’s head.

“Totototototo!” the little blue beast started prattling on as she held her arms out, motioning for Alexis to hold her. To this, Alexis let out a light laugh, so young and so new to being a trainer’s Pokémon and she was already beginning to be spoiled and easily jealous.

“Oh you,” she laughed. Alexis’ reach out and pulled Undine to her, holding onto her with both arms, to this Undine turned into Alexis, clutching onto her middle with both of her short blue arms, nuzzling her head into her trainer’s chest affectionately. “You just love attention don’t you?” Alexis laughed.

Undine had her eyes shut, and a smile was upon the face of the Big Jaws Pokémon, as she let out a light noise in response to her trainer’s question. Shaking her head at her silly Totodile, Alexis got to her feet with a grunt, Spencer’s Pikachu still on her head as Undine was still in her arms. She had to look somewhat silly with two Pokémon on her. . . .

She looked over at Tyler, her face a little bit pink, knowing full well what she looked like. “W-Well now, we should get a move on, right?”