Chapter 1: Falling into Uncertainty Route 25-Kanto/The Couple's Pond Afternoon/Tuesday She slapped him. Hard. He stepped back wards in surprise and she took the chance to shove him into the pond that lay behind him. With that, she turned around on her heels and stormed off sending a loud "Pervert! See you never, Chris!" over her shoulder at him. He rose soggily out of the clear water and sighed. In retrospect, it had not been a very good date from the start. He had arrived late at the Poke-Center. He had refused to take part in the Nugget Bridge battles for fear that he would lose, which made him look like a coward. Their "romantic" stroll through the series of hedges on Route 25 had been interrupted when they stumbled into an area that had been closed-off and had to take a detour and completely miss out on the beauty of the area. Then, all he had wanted was a little kiss to end the day, and had unintentionally tripped and brushed against her chest. She really didn't take that well, he thought as he got up from the knee deep water. She really didn't take anything else well either...what was that detour about anyway? Something about a murder...or thats what he thought Officer Jenny had said. Chris sighed, wiped his brown hair out of his eyes, and started to trudge out of the water, very glad at the fact that no other couples were here today, and suddenly plunged into the water back-wards: he had tripped over something submerged in the mud under the shallow water. Now really happy that no one was here to watch this turn of events, he got up and plunged his hands into the water and grabbed hold of something. He yanked it out, and suddenly he was holding a small puppy in his hands. A Growlithe, small with orange fur. It was cold and it didn't make a single movement while Chris held it. Chris held his breath for a moment, then yelled. Jumping out of the pond, Chris laid the Growlithe on the ground and checked to see if it was breathing. Fearing the worst, he was relieved to find the Growlithe was taking shallow and irregular intakes of air. By now he was not very happy that no one was around to help, he sprang to his feet and pulled his red pack off his soaking back. He rummaged through it and pulled out a blue blanket. It was cold but not wet. He drew it around the Growlithe and started going through his backpack again. His fingers closed around a few bottles and he took them out. A Revive and two Potions. Reaching over, he sprayed them into the Growlithe's mouth. Almost immediately after, the Growlithe began to shiver and it's breathing became significantly deeper and calmer. Chris relaxed and sat down on the ground across the puppy and waited until the Growlithe regained consciousness. He was worried, Revive usually took effect immediately. He didn't know what it meant when the pokemon didn't wake up following the administering of the drug. All he could do was sit and think about how dripping wet he was and where he might change into a fresh shirt and jean. A few minutes passed and suddenly Growlithe made a soft noise. It's entire body shook and it opened it's eyes slowly. Chris scrambled to his feet and greeted the newly awakened pokemon. "Growlithe! Are you ok, boy?" he stopped. He didn't really know if the Growlithe was a boy or not... "Who are you?" asked the Growlithe. "I'm Chris an-" Chris froze, lost balance and fell back-wards into the pond for the third time of the day. All this was lost on him however as he dragged himself out of the water. "Y-You...spoke?!" he said with an accusing point of his index finger. "You asked me a question and didn't expect a verbal response? What kind of weird person are you?" the Growlithe asked in a bemused voice. "But...your a pokemon! Pokemon don't talk! They just say their names or-or growl or something..." Chris asked with something like uncertainty on his face. "R-right?" "Huh? I'm a pokemon?" the Growlithe shook off the blanket and walked over to the water's edge. It peered into the reflective surface and examined itself. "Oh, I guess I am. A Growlithe by the looks of it." A few moments of silence passed in which Growlithe examined it's face. "Oh yeah...lookin' good." "You...can talk!" "Hmm, yeah looks like it. Strange huh?" said the Growlithe as it peered up at him. "You're wet." "I...I just fell in the pond didn't I?" admitted Chris."But that doesn't matter...you can talk!" Growlithe looked at him closely. "No, since when I woke up, you were wet," said Growlithe slyly."What happened? You fell in?" "I-I jumped in to save you!" lied Chris. "I was in the water?" "Yeah! Look, your not wet anymore because of the blanket but your still sorta cold!" said Chris while he leaned over and patted Growlithe's fur. "Oh yeah, I am kinda cold." Another moment of silence passed during which Chris seemed to try and accept that a pokemon could talk. The expression on his face indicated that he had failed. He opened his mouth but stopped as if trying to select what was the most important thing to ask from a long list of questions. Finally he seemed to have found his voice. "So why were you in the pond?" asked Chris slowly. "Uh..." the Growlithe stopped for a second and closed it's eyes. "Dunno..." "What? What do you mean...'dunno'?" asked Chris apprehensively. "I mean I don't remember." "You don't remember how you got in the pond?" asked Chris. "No, I mean every thing is blurry." said the Growlithe with a look of concentration. "You can't remember anything?" said Chris. "No...It's like a dream...it's blurry...I remember it was...night, the moon was out...then...a bird and fire, and thats about it..." said Growlithe slowly. "The moon...fire...a bird? Whats that about?" asked Chris with a confused expression on his face. "Dunno...all I know is that the bird was big and the fire was warm but not hot..." Chris looked down at the Growlithe and for a second considered the option that he may be dreaming. He pushed away that thought almost as soon it appeared. The day had been too real. Far too real to be a dream. "Do you have like a trainer? A home?" asked Chris now looking concerned."You probably have amnesia...who knows how long you were in the pond...it's a miracle your alive...you need rest..." "A trainer? No...I can't remember..." replied Growlithe. "He does now," a stranger's voice rang out from behind them near the exit of the series of hedges. Growlithe looked over in curiosity while Chris fell over in shock. A man appeared. He was dressed in a black ragged cloak. Chris recognized him as the holder and judge of the Nugget Bridge challenge. For the first time, Chris noticed the man had a red "R" on his under shirt which could only mean one thing: Team Rocket, which happened to be a synonym for bad news. "Wha-?" Chris looked over. Something else had caught his attention. The air around him suddenly seemed warmer. Somehow...sharper. Growlithe looked stunned at the sight of this man. Like something had just dawned on it. Like it had just learned something incredible...or horrible. "Growlithe...?" "Come here, boy,"said the newcomer with a laugh as he held an outstretched fist with a pokeball clutched in it. "A talking pokemon, what a score!"