Steel looked up. Her friends had returned from saying their farewells. She jumped up to her feet and grinned. The girl quickly dusted herself off, and ran off for the lab. She looked back to Galvin and Brass and waved them over. The boys glanced at each other, and with a shrug they walked into the building after Steel.

The lab was a quiet environment, not much more than scratches of pencils and hushed whispers, and with Steel’s excited steps, and the squeaks of his and Brass’s sneakers, they walked across the white tile floors to the desk where his aged grandfather, the famous Professor Oak, waited. Steel was already dancing in glee at the three pokeballs on the table. For any kid in Kanto, it wasn’t that much of a surprise that the three starters was Bulbasaur, the seed pokemon, Charmander, the lizard pokemon, and Squirtle, the tiny turtle pokemon.

The professor smiled, and ruffled his grandson’s hair. Galvin scowled and slapped away his hands.

“Aw c’mon grandpa, I’m not five!” The man smiled

“Yes that is right, Galvin, you’re eleven years old. The age when young boys and girls leave for their adventures…”

“C-can we chose now!?” Steel questioned in pure excitement. The professor chuckled.

“Of course, Steel, go ahead…” The girl squealed with delight, and rushed up to the table where three pokeballs rested. In the center was one with a fire sticker, to its left was one with sticker of a flower, and to the right of the flames was one with bubble stickers. Steel’s face lit up at the sight of the bubbles. She took the pokeball and let out the little monster inside of it. All that came out was a shell. Or so it appeared.

Stubby little hands, pale blue in color, clawed it’s way out, then the head, and its curled tail. The pokemon let out a loud yawn. Steel awed at it, and took the pokemon into her arms.

“He’s so cute! Imma gunna name the cutie Bubbles!”

“Squirt!” the pokemon gave a confident nod. The professor motioned Galvin over. He stood at the desk, slowly examining the remaining two. With a confident smirk he took the Bulbasaur.

Brass, being the last of the three, was left the last of the three pokemon, the Charmander. He took the pokeball, and let the orange scale fire lizard free. “His name shall be Flamin’ Billy!” The pokemon stared oddly at his trainer. Brass grinned, and hugged it tightly, avoiding it’s flaming tail.

“Hey Galvin, let’s have a battle!” Steel suggested. The boy shrugged, letting out his pokemon. The green dinosaur looked around, slightly confused. Bubbles jumped from his trainer’s arms to get down on all fours, in a defensive stance. Realizing what was going on, the Bulbasaur too got into a defense stance.

“Bubbles, use tackle!” As quick as it’s four little limbs could carry it, the tiny turtle collided with it’s foe. Bulbasaur growled.

“Tackle back!”

The green dinosaur Pokemon leapt at the turtle, a guttural growl escaping it’s throat. The blue Pokemon scurried back, and snickered as Bulbasaur hit the ground. Adding insult to injury, Bubbles slapped Bulbasaur’s face lightly with it’s tail. The plant bulb Pokemon jumped up, aiming a tackle at the Squirtle, who, at the same time, leapt at the opponent. The two collided, and dropped again, both a bit dizzy. The two Pokemon got up, and continued attacking each other, each striking hard. The trainers were so focused on the battle, the sheer intensity of it, that they could hardly get in a command, along with them striking so fast. Suddenly, without warning, the two Pokemon stood staring at each other, out of breath.

“Bubbles! Finish it! Tackle, I know you can do it!”

“Bulbasaur, use Tackle attack! One more hit!”

The two Pokemon growled, and leapt at each other head first, however, Bubbles dodged to one side, watching Bulbasaur smash into the ground. With a quick maneuver, Bubbles smashed into the dinosaur Pokemon, winning the battle.

“We did it, Bubbles! We won!”

+ + +

It wasn’t that far of a walk to the nearest city, Viridian to be exact, about an hour or two. Along the way the trio encountered a few Pidgeys and Rattatas. Rather minor Pokemon, unless attacking in flocks or packs.

Upon arriving in the city, the two boys noticed a look of glee that Steel never showed before. A joy of returning home. She smiled, balancing her self on the balls of her heels.

“It hasn’t changed much…” Galvin nodded, and motioned to the PokeCenter. Understanding what he was saying, she followed him and Brass into the red-roof haven for trainers. Sometimes, to stand in a center could be like standing in a melding pot, as all kinds of people could be in there, experienced ace trainers, bikers, beauties, lasses, fishermen, athletes, coordinators, or musicians.

Steel walked to the aquarium that was against the wall. There weren’t many pokemon in the tank, which made her glad to know her cute little Seaa wouldn’t be cramped. She climbed up the ladder and pulled out the second pokeball from her bag. A white beam of light shot out, materializing into the shape of a sea horse.

“Horseeeea!” It cooed.

“Hey Seaa, you don’t mind waiting in here, do you boy?” In response, the Pokemon swam in circles, and made squeaks of joy. Grinning, Steel slid down the ladder, and joined Galvin and Brass on the counter. The two males placed their pokeballs on the counter, and Steel added Bubbles to the four.

“Man, did you hear about those Rune guys?” A voice came from behind.

For a moment pride swelled up in Steel’s chest, Rune was a peace organization her parents made… and then there was the incident… and for a moment it took Steel to realize the tone in the boy’s voice.

Disgust and rage.

“Yeah, they’re some nasty people…” Steel clenched her jaw. How dare they speak of Rune like that!? It was made for peace, nothing more! In no way was it to harm anyone, none the less after the incident, the whole organization was dead or severely handicapped.

“I heard they tried to rob a Pokemon Center!”

“No way, did they?”

“Nah, the cops got ’em before they could get away.” Steel couldn’t take this! This couldn’t be true! There was only the good Rune, her parents’s one that was made to benefit both people and Pokemon! She suddenly reeled around and grabbed the boy by his arm.

“You take that back!!”

“Wha…?”

“TAKE IT BACK! RUNE IS NOTHING LIKE THOSE AWFUL THINGS YOU SAID!”

“Let go, man! You’re hurting me!” Galvin and Brass turned around just in time to view Steel slapping the trainer across his face. They two friends were startled. As for the other boy talking about Rune, he looked horrified. Nurse Joy slammed her hands on the counter, rattling the awaiting pokeballs. Every trainer jumped.

It was an unwritten law in the world of trainers, to never make Nurse Joy mad, for she was a frightful woman when she was angry.

“Steel Selma, remove yourself from my Pokemon Center!”

“Bu-”

“Leave now, I will not tolerate fighting in my center,” the nurse looked at Brass and Galvin with a sharp glare. “You two!” The two males tensed up.

“You’re her friends right?”

“Yes ma’am!”

“You will get your Pokemon from your friends, once they are healed.” Steel’s shoulders slouched. She handed Galvin Seaa’s Pokeball, and slowly dragged her feet as she exited. The nurse continued to glare, as the girl left. When the doors opened and then closed with Steel, she smiled once more, accepting more Pokemon, and placed a tray of healed Pokemon before a trainer. The trainer took his Pokemon and quickly left. Brass had the same idea, and quickly skedaddled out of the building. Galvin sighed.

“Wimp.”

+ + +

Brass was quite glad to be out of that freaky environment. He shoved his hands into his back pockets, and whistled. With a quick sweep around, he couldn’t find Steel. He frowned, pulling his hands from his pockets. Where could she be?

Home.

It made sense after what happened at the PokeCenter, that she would want to somewhere comforting, and what’s more comforting than home? The boy made quick steps for the residential area of the city, passing the gym along the way. He made a note it was boarded up.

He ran up and down streets searching for Steel, and, as he expected, Steel was standing in front of her house, or, what he thought was her house.

“Hey Steel.” She jumped, and spun around to face him.

“Hey…” He looked at the house and sighed. It, too, was boarded up. It was just a simple one floor, white house with blue shingles. The grass had grown tall over the years of lack care, and weeds were everywhere. She brushed back a strand of her hair, staring at the house.

“I just cant believe people think Rune is evil…”

“We know they’re not. I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding…”

“It is! There is no way it could be evil!” Steel huffed.

“You sure?” Brass smiled.

“Positive!”

“Then don’t worry about what they say,” he laughed. “After all, you know Rune better than anyone else!” She giggled and smiled back.

“Yeah, I do, don’t I…” Steel spun on her heels and kicked a rock. “Well, lets go to the PokeCenter. Galvin is waiting for us, I bet.”

“He probably is…” The two walked down the dirt road, with big toothy grins on their faces. They soon reentered the area with the gym, Poke Mart and PokeCenter, where most trainers stood at the gym, confused about the fact that it was locked, when suddenly an elderly man jumped in the middle of their path.

“Hey thar, kiddies,” he exclaimed in his hoarse voice. “Lemme teach you two about the ways of catching Pokemon!”

“Er… sorry sir, but we-” Brass was interrupted by the old man, who chuckled back at him.

“Nonsense! Kids these days don’t know how to do anything!”

“Um…” with the feeble amount of strength the old man ripped out his false teeth from his mouth and threw them at a Pidgey, nailing the poor bird pokemon in its head. It sent an angry glare at the old man. He turned around, smiling and proudly showing off his gums at the two new trainers.

“Ansh thas es down.” The two nodded and ran off to the PokeCenter. Outside, on one of the benches, was Galvin, casually reading a book. He snapped it close, knowing his two friends were there. He stood up and reached into his pockets. He placed Brass’s Pokeballs into his hands. Facing Steel, he bumped her on her head.

“Don’t do anything dumb like that again, okay?” With a heavy sigh, he dropped the two Pokeballs into her hand. She gave him a big grin.

“Okay,” Steel quickly pocketed the pokeballs, and hugged her friend. “Thank you, Galvin!”

“Hey, it wasn’t a problem.” He smiled. Together, the trio walked down the dirt road to the Viridian Forest. Both friends were aware that Brass was already dreading this, due to his bug phobia. They entered the entrance building to the forest, to find it empty. Galvin raised a brow at the oddity of it. He shoved it aside, assuming the man was on his lunch brake.

Entering the forest, Steel’s eyes went wide. She saw the cutest Caterpie ever. She let out a squeal of delight, and lifted up the bug. As for Brass, he let out a shrill, girl like scream. Galvin let out a sigh, and rubbed his temples. Suddenly, a bush rustled. All three of them stopped. A man, dressed in white and brown, emerged. He shined a flashlight on them. Steel gasped. This man was wearing a Team Rune uniform! A low ranking one at that. The man stumbled with a walkie-talkie.

“Intruders! There are intruders at the forest entrance!!”