I woke up to a gentle shake on the shoulder.

"Wake up Chris; It's time to get moving." said the blurry red and white figure in front of me.

"Five more minutes Mom..." I said as I rolled away. Wait, white and red? I wasn't at home, and that means... I shot up out of my sleeping bag, beet red in my embarrassment.

"I'm not your mom, but if you need five more minutes I guess I could spare them," Neo said as he tried to suppress a chuckle. Of course in that respect he failed and promptly fell on the floor laughing.

"All right, all right, I get it," I said in a slightly playful yet still quite annoyed tone. When this didn't stop him he got a face full of pillow, which seemed to quiet him a little.

"I'm sorry," he said, wiping a tear from his eye, "I just couldn't help myself. You actually called me mom of all things." With this came another bout of laughter.

My face turned even redder, which I didn't even think was possible. I guess Neo was just a morning person. It would help if he couldn't talk at the moment. At least then I wouldn't have to listen to him rubbing it in.

"If you're quite done we can get ready to go now," I mumbled, which finally got Neo's attention as he pulled out of his fit of laughter with a happy sigh.

"Ok, I guess we should get our stuff packed up so we can get out of here." He replied as he began to pack away his own bedroll, still laughing quietly to himself.

I complied by rolling my own up and stuffing it into my slightly oversized backpack. That backpack would have to have been my most valuable possession next to Neo right then. I was given my backpack the day before my ninth birthday. On the outside it might not seem like much, but thanks to modern capsule technology similar to that of a pokeball this backpack could hold the approximate mass of a full grown Arcanine. Of course, right now I was just grateful it was able to help me hold all of my stuff.

"Hey Neo, can you help me take down the tent so we can leave? Just go outside and pull out the pegs from the rope knots. Oh and make sure to wait until I'm out of the tent." This was the last thing left to do. Last night I had the sense to put away all the other items we weren't using at the moment. I figured it would be better if I didn't leave my possessions out for wild Pokémon to steal or destroy.

"Sure," he complied in the middle of what I was saying, and then went out to start removing pegs from the ground. I really should have expected what was coming next. Neo had left the tent right after I had told him to remove the pegs. This meant he had missed the part about waiting till I was out. This also meant that as Neo was removing the pegs holding the tent together I was still inside the tent. This was Neo's first time taking down a tent and though he had seen me put it up, he didn't know what happens when you take it down. When he pulled out the pegs the tent collapsed because the potential energy of the bent poles was released after the tent pegs were removed from the binding ropes.

"What the!" I shouted as the tent collapsed on me, of course only five seconds before I would have been out of it. That figures. As I struggled to get out I felt a strong set of claws help pull me out, and as I looked at Neo I saw he had on the biggest set of puppy dog eyes I had ever seen, like the Growlithe who just went on the carpet and turned around to find its master right behind it.

"It's alright Neo," I said with a reassuring smile," I know it was an accident, and I'm perfectly fine." For indeed it was. I knew he must have missed part of my instructions; otherwise he wouldn't have done this.

"Thanks, I was worried about you for a second." he replied with a sigh of relief.

I knew he was still a little upset with himself, so I decided I should try to distract him from his current train of thought. Besides, I needed to get the tent stowed away in my pack sometime before we left, so I just told him "Don't mention it, let's just get this monster put away."

For the next few minutes we silently pulled apart and put away the tent, eager to be on the road. We knew we were pretty close to our destination, so we wanted to be going. Once we were finished, we set off. I decided not to recall Neo, seeing as he seemed to love walking yesterday.

As we went along, we spotted a small berry bush up ahead, and decided to grab a couple for the road. As we got closer, the delightful smell of Pechan berries played across our olfactory senses, making our mouths water before we even got to them. Right as we reached the tree, however, we were thrown back with a huge explosion!

As we got up, trying to figure out what went wrong, two figures, one male and one female, and a Raticate walked defiantly towards us. The man held some sort of rocket launcher and sported an aqua marine bowl cut. The lady had blonde hair that split off into two sections in the back. They both wore jet black suits emblazoned with a big red 'R'.

"Who are you and what do you want!" I shouted, trying to sound braver than I actually was, knowing quite well that that rocket could have killed me. The two villains looked at each other with a smug look before turning to me as they began their speech, with the man starting.

(Man)
"Prepare for trouble, you got that right!"

(Woman)
"And make it double,"

(Man)
"Cause we're here for a fight!"

(Woman)
"To infect the world with devastation,"

(Man)
"To blight all peoples in every nation,"

(Woman)
"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"

(Man)
"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

(Woman)
"Cassidy,"

(Man)
"And Butch of course."

(Cassidy)
"We're Team Rocket, circling the Earth all day and night!"

(Butch)
"Surrender to us now or you'll surely lose the fight, fight, fight!"

"Raticate!"

I honestly couldn't believe my ears. I had heard of Team Rocket and knew they were always up to no good. I was concerned because I knew that with them around and no one else nearby I could get seriously hurt, not to mention Neo who I knew would protect me. I decided to at least try to figure out what these two wanted all though I had a sinking suspicion I already knew. From what had been going around, I knew I was in a fight for more than just my partner and my safety.

"What's going on? Why did you fire at my Zangoose and I?!" I demanded.

The one named Butch stepped forward to respond. "We don't need to explain ourselves to you, but if you must know, we're here for your Zangoose, so be a good little boy and hand it over if you know what's good for you!" he said in a mocking voice that immediately made me think of the stuck up kid in kindergarten who's parents had a little bit more money than mine.

"Never!" I said in what I hoped was an intimidating voice. Even if it wasn't, Neo agreed wholeheartedly. I noticed that just then that the guy's voice was driving him up the wall as well, so I realized I wasn't the only one his voice was getting to.

He turned around and asked, "Ready to knock these clowns down a peg?"

"With pleasure!" I replied savagely.

This time it was Cassidy who stepped forward. "It can talk?! Well, things just got more interesting. If it's a fight you want it's a fight you'll get!" With that Raticate stepped forward and bared its fangs menacingly.

"Ready Neo? Let's go, Crush Claw!" I called out, and Neo began to charge a crush claw with his left claw, running surprisingly fast on his hind legs and closing the gap between him and his opponent with frightening speed.

"Raticate dodge, and use hyper fang!" Cassidy said, just in time.

"Neo, don't use the attack just yet. When it dodges, turn and counter its hyper fang with it!" This worked just as I had planned. When Neo reached the Raticate it jumped into the air, charging its own attack. At this point Neo leapt at the Raticate, swinging his Crush Claw at the approaching hyper fang. As contact was made, Neo's superior Crush Claw shattered the Raticate's fangs and sent it flying thirty feet in the air, landing right on top of Cassidy.

"I'll end you for that!" She began to rage, pulling out another pokeball. To her surprise however, Butch stepped in.

"You've had your turn," he stated, "but now it's my time to show why the boss likes us so much." With that he pulled out a custom pokeball with a white bottom and a black top, once again emblazoned with that familiar red 'R'.

"Go Houndoom!" he said as he called out a ferocious black dog. This was no ordinary Houndoom. This Houndoom looked like a demon from hell. It had pitch black ragged fur on its top half, with three ghostly gray stripes running across its back. Its eyes, if you could call them that, glowed a menacing crimson. Its tan maw was smoking around the edges, drawn back in a snarl as it constantly growled. The Houndoom's horns raked back a quarter of the way down its body and its tail was a writhing black snake. I swear I almost wet my pants right then.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked Neo nervously.

"As ready as I'll ever be," He replied back. I knew he was going to take this battle seriously. I could tell by the straight set line of his mouth and the look of utter concentration in his eyes as he stared down his opponent, that demon-dog of Hades.

Butch was the first to make a move. "Houndoom use flamethrower!" he commanded.

With this the Houndoom opened its jaws and let out a raging orange inferno.

"Neo, dodge it with quick attack!" I ordered in a panicky voice.

I swear Neo just barely grazed the edge of the flames. In about three seconds flat, Neo had reached the place where Houndoom had been. Unfortunately 'been' was the perfect word for the job. Houndoom had vanished. Butch looked at me with a smirk.

"Houndoom, Iron tail!" He said with a note of utter finality. I then saw where Houndoom was. It had jumped at least a hundred feet in the air while Neo was dancing around the flamethrower. Now it came down with incredible speed towards Neo.

"Neo, above you!" I shouted desperately, but I knew it was too late. The Houndoom had just reached Neo and had swung its tail towards his head. Neo looked up just in time to get iron tailed square in the chin. "No, Neo!!! This can't be happening!" I shouted desperately as I watched him drop, unconscious.

"Oh but it can, and has." sneered Butch cruelly as he recalled his Houndoom and walked toward my Zangoose. Just as he reached it though a familiar creature tacked him to the ground. I looked through tear stained eyes to see a familiar Absol smiling back at me. She then turned back towards Team Rocket, and with a siren call summoned a razor wind to throw them all back. They were cut up pretty bad and Butch had sustained a large wound to his side which was bleeding profusely.

"I'll get you for this!" was all he could say through his coughs of blood. Cassidy was simply shocked that her companion was injured like this and quickly went to his aid.

"We need to get out of here before you get yourself killed, that Absol is way too strong," she said in a worried tone. Butch nodded his consent and wiped a stream of blood from his chin.

With that said Cassidy pulled out a small sphere and threw it on the ground. It exploded in a flash a light and left the equivalent to a haze attack. Neo, the Absol, and I started hacking our lungs out while we heard Cassidy scream, "We'll get you next time Runt!"

As the smog cleared, I went over to Neo. "Are you ok buddy?" I asked, concerned that he might have taken some serious damage to his claw from that hyper fang as well as on his head were the Iron Tail had made contact.

"I'm alright, my paw and head hurts a little as well as my pride but it's nothing a little time can't fix," he said with a smile.

"That's good; I was getting a little worried for a second. I guess I shouldn't have been though, you sure showed them."

"You can say that again," he replied," with how fast they ran, I don't think we'll be seeing them for awhile."

"Well now that that's over, let's try to get the rest of the way to Oldale. I believe we're pretty close."

"All right, but once we're there, we check to see if the locals have any Pechans, deal?" he remarked, his stomach reminding him of the once standing Pechan tree that had been replaced by a small crater.

"Deal," I said, thinking I probably would have anyway. "And as for you," I started, turning towards the Absol, "how can we ever repay you?"

"Sol," she said with a content look on her face, and then the strangest thing happened. I heard her voice in my head!

"I would like to travel with you, for a time."

I was dumbfounded. An actual Absol wanted to be my Pokémon. "S-sure," I stuttered in utter amazement to what she was offering. "We would be honored if you would join us, isn't that right Neo?" Neo nodded his earnest agreement. The Absol just laughed at that, but it was kind laughter.

"Alright, then it seems we will be partners for a time. It has been a long time since any human has been able to claim me for their own and I am wont for the road and battle again. I am happy you have accepted my request."

"You're welcome," was all I could manage to say. With that, a new friendship was born, but all I could do was wonder why. I knew, however, that things were only about to get more confusing if I dwelled on it so I just decided it was time to keep going.

"Alright, is every one ready to go?" I asked cheerfully. My companions trilled their excitement as we set off, prepared for whatever may come on the road to Oldale.Chapter End Notes:Yes I did mean to type pechan berries as in the show that is what they are called contrary to the game version 'pecha'. And if you are wondering, yes absol will be made into a major character but other than that, I won't give any more spoilers. Oh and I'm sorry if this chapter doesn't seem up to par. About halfway through typing it I was interupted for a couple of hours and that really threw me off. If not for that this chapter would have gone in a completely different direction and I'm fairly certain would have been a bit longer. As always all criticism as well as positive comments are appreciated greatly. I respect the opinion of anyone willing to share theirs and strive to make my chapters better every time. Also, if anyone has any request side adventures I would be glad to do a chapter on it, just keep in mind that Chris is near oldale town so depending on the location of your request it could take ahwhile.

Post Script: I am happy to announce that I have revised this chapter and hope this time it doesn't seem as rushed