Finding the pickpocket turned out to be an impossible task. They had headed down the long stretch of path bridging Pallet Town and Viridian City, Route 1, with no luck. There were only a few trainers heading in either direction, and none of them recalled seeing a young man with short, brown hair. Matt had disappeared shortly after they got off the ferry, and there were countless acres of untouched forest surrounding Pallet Town which he could have easily ducked into. As the sun set, the two travelers were feeling exhaustion set in. Antoshi sat down in the grass with a glum look on his face. Fireball didn't know what to say, as he too felt the pain of their hard work going down the drain.

"Maybe I wasn't meant to be a Pokémon Trainer," he quietly said, staring blankly at the grass.

"I think you're an awesome Pokémon Trainer, Ant," Fireball said as he sat next to Antoshi. Antoshi smiled a bit as he looked at his friend, but it quickly faded.
"At least I still have my best buddy," Antoshi said. Fireball grinned at his remark, giving him a friendly pat on the back. Antoshi had been with Fireball since he was a small child. Fireball, a Cyndaquil, was given to him as a gift from his parents. He was skeptical of the little fire mouse at first, who was also just as skeptical around him. But on their first encounter, the little Cyndaquil accidentally burped up a ball of fire that singed off some of Antoshi's hair. The young Antoshi laughed in response, and his parents decided to name him 'Fireball.' Since then, Antoshi never caught any other Pokémon as he felt a deep bond of friendship with Fireball, watching him evolve through their training at home into a Quilava, and then again on their current journey into a lumbering Typhlosion. It all worked out, because the blond-haired trainer never needed any other Pokémon. Though he repeated some gyms after losing, Antoshi gained all of his badges with victories solely with his best friend, and knew it was no fluke that he never caught any other Pokémon. Eventually, he let Fireball out of his Pokéball more and more until he never felt the need to recall him.

"You know," Fireball started, "we can still get that last badge. Even if we can't go to the Indigo League, at least we'll know we could have." Antoshi nodded, feeling his spirits lifted a bit.

"Yeah," he said as it made sense to him more and more. "Let's do it. That was our quest from day one: to collect all eight badges. That last badge will be like our own trophy!" He then gave the big lug a big hug. "You'll always be my best friend."

"That's right," he agreed, hugging him back. "Friends 'til the end." As night was quickly falling, Antoshi took off his backpack, unzipping the 'emergency supplies' pocket and withdrawing a decent amount of tinder and firewood he'd accumulated while walking through forests and wooded areas. He stacked them up into a tent-like pattern, and Fireball calmly gave it a puff of fire to get a small campfire going. Antoshi unhooked the sleeping bag atop his backpack and unrolled it before sitting down atop it. They sat on opposite sides of the fire, blankly staring at it as it quietly popped and crackled, realizing their journey would soon be coming to an end. Antoshi yawned, and Fireball yawned louder. The boy grinned, yawning even louder than that, and Fireball raised the volume even higher. The two of them engaged in a loudest yawning contest for a moment until Fireball let out a disorienting, loud yawn that threw the trainer off his senses and caused him to fall onto his side. They both laughed as it became clear to them that there were things far more important than collecting badges. Having each other for a best friend was the best thing that happened to both of them.


Hours later, long after both of them had gone to sleep and their small campfire began to dwindle in size, Antoshi's brown eyes weakly opened. Amidst the sound of countless crickets chirping in the woods all around them, there was the audible sound of a stomach growling. He and Fire hadn't eaten dinner, since they had no food and nobody to give them a handout. He groaned, rubbing his stomach as he looked around, his head still resting on the pillow. His eyes widened a bit at the sight of an apple, barely visible with the flickering orange glow of the fire. He groaned even louder, reaching out for it. It was a bit cold, and he didn't want to leave his sleeping bag, but he was also being unnecessarily lazy about it.

"Come ooon over heeere," he quietly sang to the apple, trying to get the inanimate object to move closer to him. He groaned in defeat as the apple was too far to reach, letting his arm fall onto the cold grass. He sighed loudly, his body going limp for a moment before he suddenly groaned loudly in effort, trying even harder to reach for the apple. He was putting out more energy than was needed, groaning loudly as he inched ever closer to it. Just then, his eyes seemed to flicker a purplish hue, his hand flickering purple for a split second as well, causing him to utter a curious groan. Suddenly, the apple seemingly came alive, and lurched right into Antoshi's hand, stopping only an inch away as it inexplicably floated over the ground. Antoshi gasped in surprise, pulling his hand away, only to realize the apple was bonded with it. He sat up in his sleeping bag, eyes wide with shock as the apple floated freely over his open palm. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, and pinched his cheek with his free hand to check if he was dreaming.

"Ow," he quietly uttered from the pain. He gazed endlessly at the apple, watching it slowly rotate in his hand as though it were underwater. "Wh-what's going on here?" he nervously asked, unsure of what to think of such an experience. Fireball groaned, turning over on the grass as his eyes slowly opened.

"What is it, Ant--whoa," he interrupted himself when he saw the free floating apple and quickly sat up. "How did you do that?!" he asked as he watched such a thrilling sight.

"I... I... I didn't," the boy replied in confusion as Fireball crawled over to him. "I mean, I just reached out for it and it just... stuck to my hand like this." Fireball ran his hand through the space between the apple and Antoshi's palm, grinning excitedly.

"That is so awesome," he cheerfully replied. Antoshi suddenly became nervous, shaking his hand and letting the apple fall into his lap. Fire became concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I--I don't know what this means," he worriedly replied. "I just get a strange feeling like... something bad is going to come of this."

"It's just an apple, though," Fire said, unsure of what the big deal was. Antoshi flashed back to the previous night's dream, the figure shrouded in darkness. His mind was telling him it was somehow connected with the apple incident, but he couldn't understand why.

"Don't worry about it," Fire reassured him, realizing the boy was deep in thought. "We should just get some rest now." Antoshi nodded.

"You're right," he agreed, smiling as he slipped back under his sleeping bag. "Sorry for waking you up, Fire."

"That's all right," he replied as he crawled back to his own resting spot, giving the nearly-smoldering campfire another puff of heat as he passed by. The two of them laid down, closing their tired eyes.

"Good night again, Antoshi," Fire said. Antoshi chuckled.

"Good night again, Fire." It didn't take Fireball long to fall back asleep, but Antoshi, still worried about what had occurred, gazed blankly at his hand in front of his face, still having a sinking feeling that the event was some kind of premonition.


The next morning, the duo awoke at the crack of dawn. They felt quite rested, and eager to continue their journey, until they remembered they were down seven badges. The mood between them became a bit solemn, but they knew the journey had to come to an end eventually.

"Ready to go?" the boy asked his friend with a bit of a smirk. He grinned and nodded.

"Absolutely," he replied confidently, the two of them heaving a sigh to let go of their inhibitions and pressing forward, through the straight, long path of Route 1. Antoshi felt a sense of thrill as he realized he was stamping down the same, beaten dirt path that his idol, the legendary Pokémon Master, walked down as he began his own journey so many years ago. Fireball felt good as he looked over and saw his friend gazing down at the ground with a joyous grin on his face. He smiled, knowing everything would work out in the end, as he kept his gaze ahead, until the sight of tall buildings appeared over the trees in the distance.

"We're almost there!" Fireball exclaimed, causing the trainer to lift his head and notice the sight as well. They both grinned and took off into a run, eventually having to stop for a moment as they ran out of energy. The upcoming city was farther than it seemed. Once they were ready, they quickly broke into a run again, acting as though nothing had stopped them, until they reached the outskirts of the city.

"Wow," Antoshi remarked at the sight of the bustling city. "Viridian City. 'The Eternally Green Paradise,'" he added, quoting an article he read on the city. His expression turned into a pained smile as he realized he was looking at the end. He and his partner trudged forth, toward the noisy confines of the city. Fireball looked at his friend, realizing his mood was shifting ever closer to sadness. He hummed thoughtfully, trying to shift his focus away from his predicament.

"So, um," Fire began, "what happened last night with the apple?" Antoshi gasped in surprise, as though he weren't expecting such a question, his mind having been focused on the loss of their badges.

"Well... I don't know..." he replied distantly.

"Was it the first time that ever happened? I never saw anything like it before." Antoshi looked to the partly cloudy sky as he recalled any similar occurrences.

"I remember something strange happened to me," he said, "when I was younger. It happened before school one morning. Some bullies were starting to pick on me."

"Bullies?!" Fire roared, surprising his young companion. "You shoulda told me about them! I would've jumped right in there and gave 'em all a good shot to the nose!" he exclaimed, punching his fists through the air for emphasis. Fire glanced down and realized the trainer was staring at him strangely. "...Go on."

"Anyway, they started to back me into a corner. I didn't know what to do so I just shut my eyes and clenched my teeth real hard. They were about to start hitting me when something inside me just... lost control. I screamed so loud, as loud as I could, and then everything went quiet. I opened my eyes and I saw the three of them just lying on the ground. I didn't know what happened, I thought someone came to save me, but there was nobody around. They weren't really hurt, just knocked to the ground, so I ran away as fast as I could. They never bothered me anymore after that and I never knew why."


The duo stepped onto the sidewalk as they entered winding twists and turns of the city streets. The many people on the narrow sidewalk then had to deal with an over six-foot, massive Pokémon sharing the small pathway of pavement with them. People kept having to sidestep or bump into him, occasionally complaining at Antoshi for letting his large Pokémon walk freely on the streets.

"Hey!" Fireball shouted back to one man. "Leave him alone or I'm gonna give you a black eye to match that black suit!" As expected, his words were no more than angry growls and roars, which caused the man to start trembling in his shoes and quickly flee from the upset Typhlosion. Antoshi contemplated putting Fireball back in his Pokéball for a little while, until they were able to challenge the Viridian Gym Leader. As he thought it over, several other people ended up bumping into him.

"How rude!" a woman exclaimed.

"You saw me towering over you, lady!" Fireball snapped. He huffed angrily and turned around as Antoshi pulled out his Pokéball.

"Hey, Fire, maybe you should go back into your Pokéball for a sec," he quietly suggested. Fire's attention was pulled away from his trainer when he noticed a familiar, brown-haired frame in the distance, peering out from an alleyway. His eyes went wide, realizing it was the human that stole their year's-worth of work, and didn't waste a second before charging toward him.

"It's him!" Fireball exclaimed as he tore through the crowd, pushing people out of his way amidst their loud shouting and complaining. All Antoshi saw was his Pokémon barrelling through a crowd of innocent people and panicked, keeping the Pokéball in his hand as he gave chase.

"Fire, wait!" he shouted. The determined Pokémon didn't even look back as his trainer shouted to him, gritting his teeth angrily as he thought about how he was going to teach that guy a lesson about not stealing. Matt seemed to smirk, without even glancing at Fireball, and calmly retreated back into the alleyway. Fire furred his brow, seemingly hot on his heels as he turned the corner into the alley.

"Get back here!" Fire shouted as he disappeared from Antoshi's sight. The boy gasped, picking up the pace, apologizing to people as he bumped into them, dashing around the corner, into the alley, where it was somewhat dark, but there was nobody in sight.

"What a terrible trainer," he heard someone say on the sidewalk.

"No control over his Pokémon," another person replied. Antoshi tried to not let their comments get to him, as he ran down the alley.

"Fire?!" he shouted, realizing there was a small maze of alleyways interlocked with each other. He ran as much as he could, his eyes constantly scanning around for his Pokémon, calling his name only to get no response. He was panicking. After a few long moments of non-stop running, his eyes began welling up with tears, realizing both his badges and his Pokémon were gone. He huffed loudly, grabbing the chest of his shirt as he could feel his heart sinking into his stomach. He was scared, feeling lost and alone without his friend, wiping the endlessly flowing tears from his eyes as he sobbed, his trembling legs slowly carrying him out of the alleyway, and back onto the streets, where the pedestrians noticed him crying.

"What's the matter, lad?" an old gentleman asked, placing a hand on his shoulder while a handful of other people surrounded him.

"I... I lost my Pokémon," he tearfully explained, clenching the Pokéball in his hand. The small crowd around him became concerned as he stood there, clenching his teeth as he tried to hold back his sobs, but it was futile. Fireball meant everything to him on his journey. The badges they lost paled in importance to his best friend. All he could see when he shut his eyes and wiped away the tears were memories of his friend, ceaselessly accompanying him on his long journey, always willing to move forward, always eager to reach their next destination, to obtain their next badge. It was the fact that they had each other that pushed them both forward. As he stood there, he could feel the amount of time they spent together, long before they even started their journey, the memories they had, all dissipating.