The ocean's waves splashed against the shore as the sun set slowly over the horizon. A light sea breeze swept over the beach, the salty air soaking into everything on Kalo. My eyes scanned the crowd of people lined up on the beach, most of them tourists from other parts of the world, watching the town's best surfers show off. 

The surfboards skimmed the ocean's waves, gliding along the crystal clear water, as the surfers balanced with ease, steering the board and guiding it along the waves. The surfers' figures shone plainly against the vividly colored sky, which was dyed with bright shades of pink, purple, red, orange, yellow and light blue, painted brilliantly across the vast sky. I spotted a Dewgong colony poke its head on the surface of the water for a brief moment, then disappear into the depths of the sea.

My impatience soon caused me to grow bored of listening to the crowds "Oohs" and "Ahhhs", and I made my way slowly home, trudging along the empty dirt roads. At thirteen, I had seen just about everything this town has to offer, its beaches, and easy lifestyle appealed to many people that lived overseas, but not to me. I guess whenever you grow up somewhere small, you grow tired and bored of if all.

But I must admit, Kalo does have it's charms. It is home to the most festivals, cookouts, and parties in one town across all of Kanto. Most people usually come to Kalo thinking we are a complete party town. Oh, how surprised they are once they get here! Yes, we may have many festivals and celebrations, and they are close together, but they are short and the town would otherwise be extremely silent without them.

The streets were gradually darkening with the sky around me. Above me, wingulls circled around the island, looking for food, and cawing all the way. As I trudged my way down Main Street, I looked in at the shop windows as I passed, waving to the shop owners, as I knew most of them.

I soon came across the Day Care Center, where my mother was working. I checked my watch; 5:30. She would be at work for another hour. So I opened the gate that bordered the Day Care Center, and watched the numerous pokemon playing happily in the green grass. A treecko was climbing a palm tree with a mankey, both chatting all the way.

I continued walking and reached the large, building that had bamboo walls and a straw roof. I opened the screen door and walked into the building, glancing around for my mother. Across the mine field of pokemon toys and random pokemon, I saw my mom brushing a Vulpix, next to Elaine, her co worker.

"Hey, Willow." Mom greeted, barely turning to look at me.

"Hey Mom." I said, making my way over to her and Elaine.

"What's going on, Honey?" I shrugged.

"Nothing. I got bored watching Marty and all of them surf for the tourists, so I came here. Do the tourists ever leave here?" I asked stupidly, with a hint of annoyance in my voice. My mom let a light chuckle escape her lips as she place the brush down and pet Vulpix once, before turning to me.

"Willow, there's a family that lives in Pewter City, and they sent a package over to Kalo on a plane that was supposed to be delivered to a family member. Anyway, about seven weeks earlier, that family had a Mightyena that gave birth to a litter of Poochyena." I nodded, having no idea what this had to do with Tourists.... Mom continued, "Well, the day the package was being sent out, a Poochyena had climbed into the package, and accidentally got shipped here. The family that received the package got Poochyena with it too, and they gave him to us for us to take care of until the original family, the Parkers, can come to retrieve their pokemon. Unfortunately, they do not have the money and need someone to bring him back home." Mom stared into my eyes, and I still couldn't figure out what relevance that had to tourists. Mom's shook her head. "I'm gonna miss you, Willow."

I froze. "What? You want me to go to Pewter City because some ignorant person shipped a pokemon out here?" I asked, taking a few steps back, my eyes widened. My voice turned sarcastic. "Are you crazy?!"

Mom arched an eyebrow. "Huh? I thought you would like leaving Kalo for a while. You're always complaining about how boring life is here. Besides, I know I can trust you with Poochyena. POOCHYENA!!!" Mom called loudly, as a tiny dog slipped across the wooden floor as it frantically tried to regain its footing as it raced down the hall towards my Mom. The perky little dog, jumped up and down, panting and barking with an unnatural mood of happiness.

Mom picked the puppy up and pet it, smiling. I stared at the fur ball, its freakishly cute eyes, soft, gray coat, the trying-to-be-tough-look on its face was just too cute to resist, but I didn't want to sound like I wanted to do this. I raised an eyebrow and stared at my mom.

"You seriously think I'm going to go overseas with that...fur ball?" I asked rudely, trying to ignore the Poochyena looking up at me with its big, cute eyes....

"I don't think you will. I know you will. Now, all you have to do is bring the Poochyena back home to Pewter City, then you catch the first boat home. Simple."


I thought that was how it was going to go also. But I was soon proved wrong - WAY WRONG!