I couldn’t believe it, but there was no doubt in my head that the trainer flying toward me was Ajia, despite the fact that I hadn’t seen her ever since I was eleven. Her Aerodactyl was flying toward us at an incredible rate, mostly because it was one of the fastest Pokémon ever discovered. The rush of the wind tossed back her dark brown hair, and she grinned and waved to us from atop the winged dinosaur, her dark brown eyes contrasting with her light skin. She was dressed in light blue jeans and a gray shirt with red sleeves.

The creature she rode atop resembled a large, gray-scaled, pterodactyl-like dinosaur with powerful gripping claws and razor-sharp teeth. Despite its fearsome appearance, it seemed to have a sort of respect for Ajia.

“Who invited you here?!” Tyson shouted.

“Shut up, I’m the one handling this,” the Rocket Executive said, watching, with great interest, Ajia landing next to us.

“You couldn’t have gotten here at a better time,” I said, sounding more than a bit desperate.

“Wow, when I first saw the battle, I didn’t realize I was needed that much,” Ajia said, laughing slightly while sliding off the Pokémon’s back. As she strode toward us, I noticed that she still wasn’t very tall considering that she was fifteen, but at that moment, I wondered at the weird coincidence that she was the one trainer to arrive out of hundreds flying over Kanto.

“You have no idea,” Spencer said. His Typhlosion and Pidgeot were the only Pokémon left standing in the fight against the Rockets, Firestorm having run back to me after realizing that he couldn’t attack with anywhere near as much power as he had the first time. Ajia walked forward with her Aerodactyl. Its previous attack had hit not only the Rocket’s Pokémon, but also struck the ground around them with intense power. The end of the rock barrier was shattered, putting us in plain sight, but also allowing us to see the Rockets. To my dismay, the opposing Pokémon hadn’t taken the full force of the attack. The Raichu was sparking from its cheeks and gasping for breath—most likely the effects of creating an electrical barrier.

It was only then that I noticed what had been sitting on Ajia’s shoulder the whole time. Perched there was a small Pokémon with a strong resemblance to Chibi. Its fur was short, fine, and a light yellow color with zigzag patterns of black on its neck and its large diamond-shaped ears. The Pichu turned to see me with faint recognition in its curious blue eyes. I recalled the day Ajia had gotten it and then remembered that the Pichu was a girl.

Ajia surveyed the force of the Rockets and smiled. I wondered why until she said something that surprised me. “Oh good, this shouldn’t be too hard and they’ve already been weakened, too. Maybe if they were at full power, it would be harder, but this’ll be nothing like some of the battles I’ve had with various other Rockets over the years.”

It sent a chill down my spine. So Ajia had fought Team Rocket as well, and from the vague hint, it didn’t sound as though her battles had been easy. I then realized the obvious: some members of Team Rocket were probably also incredibly skilled trainers that had traveled and battled all over, honing their skills for years, and maybe even participating in Pokémon League competitions. I didn’t ever want to battle against the ones that she had.

Something else was nagging at me as well. Out of all the trainers that could have been alerted by the signal, Ajia was the one trainer to arrive. What were the odds of the person showing up being both someone that I knew and an incredibly skilled trainer?

Pichu jumped off of Ajia’s shoulder to stand her ground with Aerodactyl. Ajia pulled out one more Poké ball and opened it to release an Espeon, a fairly small fox-like Pokémon with short purple fur, large pointed ears, and a long, thin, forked tail. Spencer had just recalled his remaining two Pokémon when Ajia joined the fight and seemed incredibly relieved as the three of them then rushed into the fray.

“Alright you three, Pichu, take out the Magmar; Espeon, keep any of them from dodging attacks; Aerodactyl, fly overhead and use Wing Attack!”

“Why didn’t you send out more Pokémon?” I asked, slightly confused.

“So that they all don’t get hurt at the same time. All of the Rockets’ Pokémon together are more powerful than all of mine, so—hold on, let me finish,” she said, seeing the surprised look on my face when she said that. “If I only send out a few Pokémon at a time, then when one gets hurt bad, I can recall it and send out another. That way they all don’t get hurt at the same time if they used a large attack or something.”

I couldn’t help but stare: what she had said made no sense whatsoever. How on earth could she think she could win without much trouble, yet at the same time knew that the Rockets’ Pokémon were stronger?!

“Pichu, dodge and use Thunderbolt; Espeon, Confusion!” she called out.

All this time her Pokémon had been fighting the Rockets’. The Pichu darted around the Magmar, lunging out of the way of a burst of orange flame while zapping it with a jolt of lightning. The magma creature hardly looked fazed and was about to inhale for another assault when it was hit by a burst of purple energy from Espeon. Jumping forward, Pichu unleashed a wave of neon yellow electricity, striking the beast and sending it reeling back into one of its teammates.

“Aerodactyl, Supersonic; Pichu and Espeon, get out of the way and attack any who try to escape!” Ajia instructed.

The gray pterodactyl swooped forward and let out a piercing screech at the opposition. I clapped my hands to my ears to block out the horrible sound and looked on as the experimental Rhyhorn charged back, but was held in place by another purple energy blast by Ajia’s psychic fox.

I watched with fascination as her Pokémon continued to evade immensely powerful attacks while pulling off their own to overcome the Rockets’ stronger Pokémon. It then occurred to me that Pichu hadn’t been damaged by her own electric attacks, as was usual with her kind. She was so highly trained that she could completely control her power.

It was then that the Arcanine, tired from fighting the longest, collapsed from its wounds and exhaustion. ‘One down,’ I thought as the Rocket Executive recalled it. But after that, she released it again close to her. I wondered why until I saw her holding various small items. From way over here, I couldn’t see exactly what she was doing, but when she was finished, the Arcanine ran back toward us, cleared of all injury and its energy restored. And then suddenly I realized it: she had used a first-aid potion and an energy serum. I looked past her and, with a gasp, noticed that a Rocket, most likely Tyson, was holding a huge box likely to be filled with them. We couldn’t win. It was impossible.

“Oh crap, there’s no way we can win this,” Spencer said.

“*I could do it…*” a quiet, muttering voice said. In an instant, I looked down in my arms and saw Chibi watching the battle intently.

“Do what?” I asked.

“*Defeat them,*” he said in an even quieter tone than before.

“But…how? Powerful as you are, you’ve pretty much used up all your energy for now. The paper even said that you couldn’t keep attacking for a long amount of time,” I said.

But rather than answer however, he stood up and called out, “*Pichu, come here!*” Pichu turned to us and ceased her attacks before running over to stare questioningly at Chibi. Chibi said nearly the same long sentence he had to me and Pichu nodded. He gestured to me to put him down and I did.

But then, for whatever reason, what he had said finally clicked, and I knew what he intended to do. Because he was out of power, he wanted Pichu to channel all of her energy into him so he could attack both the Rockets’ Pokémon and the plane at the same time, to end the battle and get rid of any other items in the plane.

“Wait, Chibi!” I said; he stopped. “That won’t work. If Pichu channels her power to you, it’ll hurt you just like a regular attack would. Pikachus can’t absorb electricity. You’d have to be something like a Manectric or an Ampharos or—”

“*Or a Zapdos?*” he finished. I stared long and hard at him. He had no way of knowing exactly what Zapdos powers he had inherited from the experimentation, but somehow, he had to sense the legendary abilities he had gained, and I trusted his judgment when it came to that.

“Okay…” I said slowly.

Chibi turned back to Pichu and nodded again. Rudy and Spencer had been watching the whole time, and even Ajia had turned from the battle several times to see what was going on. Chibi put his hand against the one of the electrical generators on Pichu’s cheeks. Sparks flew wildly between them and I could see the flow of the electricity from Pichu to Chibi. The electricity circled around him for a few seconds before being absorbed into him. Chibi didn’t have generators on his cheeks; the energy was created from all over his body, from what I had seen from his previous battling, so the electricity went into him all over. I could tell from his face that it actually was hurting him, but he let Pichu continue.

Finally, it was done. Pichu slumped to the ground, exhausted, and Chibi struggled to stand and recover from the pain before walking forward toward the battle. He pointed first at Ajia’s Pokémon, and then at her.

“*Recall them,*” Chibi said urgently.

“Are you sure?” she asked him. He nodded firmly. Ajia gave me a questioning look and I just shrugged.

Finally, she pulled out her Poké balls and recalled all of her Pokémon but Pichu, who she walked over and picked up.

I was still slightly lost on Chibi’s plan. He turned to me and said simply, “*This ends now…*”

From all over his body, incredible amounts of power were generated. Lightning surrounded his body and his eyes blazed with hate as he looked on toward the Rockets. He then said such a long string of Pikachu words that I thought I would never be able to translate, but the words just seemed to grasp me, and though I didn’t really get what he meant, I knew what he was saying to them.

“*I was spawned from your experimentation. You twisted life itself to make it so that my parents would bear a hybrid child. You wondered at my rebellious personality? I’ll tell you why now, though most of you won’t understand. You tied me to the very legends you are trying to defy. My heritage is that of Zapdos as well as Pikachu and through that I have come to know how you intend to accomplish your plans. And now you will see the result of your work.*”

Massive streams of electricity formed themselves around his body, twisting and writhing like snakes sprouting from his skin. Every single hair on his body stood on end, giving his fur an even spikier look than before. Through all of this, he concentrated every ounce of power he had gained and fired it in the form of an immense bolt of lightning. It struck the Rockets’ Pokémon and though the Raichu countered with a barrier, it was already almost out of power and collapsed. Both the Rocket executive’s Pokémon and Tyson’s experiments were drained of power and injured nearly to the point of death.

Chibi had fallen to his knees, ache clearly visible in his eyes, but it was shrouded by fierce determination and vengeance. He then used the little amount of power he had left and sent a single lightning bolt flying towards the plane. Seeing what was coming next, the Rockets had recalled their Pokémon and gotten back into the jeeps and had begun to speed rapidly away from the transport jet. Chibi’s power penetrated it and, with a sickening realization, I motioned for everyone to duck back behind what was left of the ridge of rock.

I didn’t see it, but in my head, I knew exactly what was happening. With a roar, a fireball erupted from the overloaded power cells and engulfed the plane. It exploded into a huge column of fire that hurtled flaming debris everywhere. Then, suddenly, an immense roar filled the air, not from the fire, but from some sort of creature. There was a sound of rushing water and when I finally turned from the hiding spot, I saw that the Rockets’ Pokémon had been recalled before the explosion, but the forest had been caught on fire. However, it apparently had been doused by whatever had filled the air with its fierce call.

The Rockets looked on as what was left of the plane smoldered with remnants of extinguished flame. For a while all was silent until the Rocket Executive finally turned to Tyson and said, “The Pikachu was a failed experiment?”

“Err, well…all our testing led us to believe that its enhanced power only tired it out and powerful as it may be, it can only store about as much power as a Pichu. Plus, it was impossible to control…” Tyson explained.

“Well, I guess in that case I think you just handed them a secret weapon…you know, they’re coming up with ways to control even Legendary Pokémon, though I don’t think the boss would’ve wanted to use that technology on a Pikachu…” the Executive said.

“That’s why it was on the jet in the first place: to be sent for testing Legendary control devices on. What should we do?” Tyson asked.

The Executive considered for a while before saying, “Retreat. We’ll fight them again later.”

“But—” Tyson protested. “Most of their Pokémon are down, and I think most of us armed. We could just drive over there and shoot—”

“Yeah, but they could probably attack us with the Pokémon that haven’t been defeated yet,” she said. “We should leave…”

Tyson glanced down at the box he was holding: the box full of healing items he had gathered earlier. He could easily restore their Pokémon. He looked back at the Executive in bewilderment before throwing the box in the back and getting in one of the vehicles. The Rockets obeyed their order and the lead driver led the jeeps along a dirt path to the south.

I looked on as the jeeps pulled away. I then ran over to where Chibi lay unconscious on the ground. I gently picked him up and held him in my arms like before. His breathing was irregular and sparks shot out of his skin at random.

“Just how powerful is that thing?” Rudy asked.

“I don’t know…” I said slowly, looking down at Chibi. “I think that most of the abilities that he’s used today Tyson didn’t know about. Still…I can’t ever let him do that again, cause next time he’ll end up killing himself...”

After I said that, it was quiet for a few seconds before Ajia broke the silence.

“So…I’ve been wondering…when were you finally allowed to get a license?” Ajia asked.

I sighed. The moment of truth had come. “I didn’t,” I mumbled.

“Huh?” she asked. “But you have a Charmander and also another Pokémon in a Poké ball. I figured the Pikachu wasn’t yours, but…”

“I found the Charmander in the forest and Rudy gave me the Poké ball to hold Swift, you know, my pet Pidgey,” I said a little sheepishly, knowing it was illegal for me to be using the Poké ball without a license.

“What happened? You couldn’t have failed the test and—” she started.

“No, in fact, I was about six questions away from acing it,” I interrupted. “Basically, I never got to receive my license. I got my grade on Friday so today I was supposed to go to a Pokémon League registration type place to get my license, but then all this happened, and…yeah.”

“Well, you know, if you guys wanted I could fly you back to Viridian. It’d have to be one at a time, but—” Ajia said.

“I could fly one of them with my Pidgeot,” Spencer cut in.

“Cool, thanks,” Rudy said.

At first, I was excited, but then I realized something and said nothing. I knew that eventually I would have to tell someone, but that didn’t make me feel any better. It was an agonizing secret that I’d held inside ever since September.

“I’m not going…” I mumbled slowly.

“What?” Ajia and Rudy asked at the same time.

“I said I don’t wanna go back home,” I muttered, turning away.

“…Why not?” Ajia asked.

I sighed. “Well number one is just mainly I’ll be in mega trouble.”

“Trouble? You were kidnapped.”

“No, you don’t get it,” I said. “If I hadn’t gone out wandering in a burnt forest, none of this would have happened. Therefore, it’s my fault. Them being afraid for me was practically the whole reason why I could never become a trainer, despite all those precautions the League took since five years ago. After all this, my parents would probably never let me go outside again.”

“You sound like there’s another reason…” Ajia said.

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Even after I get a license, my parents won’t let me go on a Pokémon journey, so that means that…that if I go back I’ll have to go with them when…we…move.”

“What?! You can’t move!” Rudy and Ajia yelled at almost the exact same time.

“We were going to at the end of the school year. My mom was sick of the big city, mainly cause of the crime. And this whole situation would make her want to even more,” I explained. “Anyway, what’s it to you guys if I move? You’ll be off on your journeys,” I muttered looking down.

No one spoke for some time until Ajia finally asked, “Where would you have to move?”

“Some stupid little mountain town in the middle of nowhere called New Bark,” I said with spite.

“Hey, that’s where I lived before I became a trainer,” Spencer said.

“Oh…er—” I started awkwardly.

“Nah, that’s okay,” he said. Obviously he didn’t have as much pride in his hometown as I did mine.

“Wait,” Ajia said, “couldn’t I just fly you back, let you get your license and then you could leave?”

“No, cause you need to be with a parent for them to give you the license, and you also need either your test, or a note from the Pokémon Handling teacher. That’s what your dad did, right, Rudy?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah…” he said.

Ajia thought for a few seconds. “Dang, I can’t think of any other possibilities. I think you’re stuck, but…no…you can’t go back and you can’t move! I’ll go back home and I can hide you in my closet and then we can play video games all the time!” she yelled randomly.

I laughed, but then thought about the situation seriously. “I don’t want to go back, but…if I don’t, I’m stuck as an illegal trainer with a lizard, a pigeon, and a suicidal, mutated mouse!” I ranted. “This is so stupid.”

Rudy laughed after I said that, but then he looked slightly alarmed. “Wait a minute…you’re gonna keep that thing?” he asked, staring at Chibi.

“Yeah, if I can get him to respect me. He could be a big help if he didn’t hate practically everything in sight,” I said, only exaggerating slightly. “I don’t have his Poké ball, so I’ll just keep him until he wakes up and then explain the situation.”

“So if you’re not going back home, and you’re not allowed to battle in official competitions cause you’re not a licensed trainer, then what are you gonna do? You can’t just stay here,” Ajia said, sounding concerned.

I really hadn’t thought about that. I was determined to find some other option, but I had to face it—there was no other option. “You’re right,” I sighed admittedly. “I’m being a retard, I gotta go home. I can’t battle, so I can’t earn money, and I’d just end up like unsuccessful trainers that either have to go home anyway, or hang out on the streets, or—”

“Or join Team Rocket,” Ajia added with a laugh. “Come on, then,” she said, pulling out a Poké ball to release Aerodactyl, who stretched its wings and waited expectantly for Ajia to mount it. She climbed up onto its back and pulled me on behind her. Firestorm jumped up behind me and held onto my shirt with his clawed hands. I had almost forgotten he was there.

“Alright then…” Spencer said, releasing his Pidgeot. The large bird of prey still looked worn out, but hadn’t been wounded as badly as his other Pokémon. He mounted it and motioned to Rudy to get on behind him.

I checked my watch and saw that it was now almost five. The sun was just beginning to sink beneath the horizon, casting an orange and scarlet glow across the sky, slowly blending into navy blue. I sighed as Aerodactyl and Pidgeot slowly ascended into the air and imagined what would happen when I got back. Sure, I would have definitely preferred it if the Team Rocket situation had never happened, but it had been my only chance of being on my own as a traveling Pokémon trainer.

Thinking about Team Rocket made me suddenly remember something else. Like lightning, I snatched my wallet out of my pocket and dug through it the find a small white card. Desperately, I read it repeatedly, hope slowly spreading though me as I made my decision.

“Ajia, turn back!” I said suddenly.

“Uhh...why?” she asked.

“I can’t really explain it completely, but I need to get to Vermilion to learn more about the S.S. Anne’s next journey,” I explained.

“Well, where’s it going? I could take you there,” Ajia offered.

“Err, well…I don’t really know,” I admitted.

“What?” Ajia asked, now thoroughly lost.

“Okay, okay, here,” I said, handing Ajia the card the guy with the Charizard had given me. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but it’ll be fine if you know.”

Ajia quickly read the card and concentrated hard on it, as though trying to figure something out. Finally, she said, “It sounds pretty suspicious if you ask me. I mean, not telling where the ship’s going or what you’ll be doing.”

“That’s just cause the guy who gave it to me didn’t want Team Rocket to find out anything, just in case they found one of the cards. He was about your age,” I added.

“Okay…” Ajia said, still uncertain. She leaned forward and instructed to her Aerodactyl to turn south. There was a slight whoosh of wind as it changed our course.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Rudy called out to us from atop Spencer’s Pidgeot.

“Vermilion,” Ajia said simply, grinning at Rudy’s puzzled look.

“Rudy, when you get back home, tell my parents what happened and that I’m okay!” I yelled back to him.

“But what’s going on?!” he shouted.

“I was chosen to do something, okay?” I said, deciding not to say anything more on the subject. Even if I’d wanted to, I couldn’t, seeing as Aerodactyl was zooming away from Spencer, Rudy, and Pidgeot at an amazing rate, and we were now out of earshot. The ground whizzed by below us, and the air whipped at our faces. Finally, I caught a glimpse of the ocean in the distance as Aerodactyl slowly began to descend. It finally swooped low and landed just on the edge of Vermilion.

“Well, good luck,” Ajia said. “Are you just gonna stay at a Pokémon Center for a month?”

“Yeah, probably,” I said, knowing that it was cheap to stay in the rooms at Pokémon Centers, hospitals for Pokémon. Still holding onto Chibi’s limp form, I dismounted Aerodactyl and watched it push off the ground to soar low above my head.

“Here,” Ajia said, pulling out a pencil and a piece of paper. She quickly scribbled something down and tossed it to me along with an unused Poké ball. “For your Charmander. And just in case something else happens, that’s my PokéGear number.” I caught the ball, grabbed the small paper as it drifted down, and then waved to her. “I’ll see you later, Jade!” Ajia called out before Aerodactyl streaked off into the distance.

I walked on slowly through the outskirts of Vermilion, searching for the Pokémon Center, but keeping my eyes mainly on the vast expanse of sea that surrounded two sides of the city. I sighed as I slowly accepted what I had gotten myself into. Tomorrow was my fourteenth birthday. And it would be a day of new beginnings.