For their first morning on the road, Max and Lucy each found the process of waking up and getting ready for the day to be not dissimilar to any other morning. The primary difference was the close confines of the tent, which really only Max took notice of. Lucy was up and about as soon as her alarm finished. On all fours, she crawled over Max, who had roused as his mother’s voice played. Much like last night, Lucy presented a clear view of herself from all kinds of angles as she reached over to her bag, which lay alongside Max’s, and grabbed a set of clothes for the day. Max lay where he was, taking in the view and trying to nonchalantly rearrange himself. Clothes retrieved, Lucy stood up and yanked off her sleep shirt, granting Max a full view of her, before bending over and sliding on her new panties, followed by her other garments.

Now fully clothed, Lucy unzipped the tent and exited into the dewy morning with Speck at her side. Max, a little wary of her potential return, quickly grabbed his own clothes and slipped them on, still in the sleeping bag. With his modesty intact and his stiff penis now covered, Max joined Lucy to survey the morning, as well as prepare some breakfast. The meals were packaged ready to eat, and while they were not the most delicious things in the world, essentially being a kind of cereal with dried fruit, they packed enough energy and were filling. Max and Lucy sat on a log which had clearly been dragged into the meadow area for seating, and discussed their plans for the day.

“I want to see what pokemon are in this area,” Lucy was saying. “I think I saw Purrloin on the Pokedex list and I really want to catch one!”

“Why not just stick with Speck?” Max asked, “I think he’s strong enough and you two get along really well right?”

Lucy looked over at the black, shaggy ‘mon. “Speck is great and I definitely want to train with him, but I want to start building my team. It doesn’t really seem fair to rely on him without trying to get stronger myself. Plus I really want to start catching Dark types.”

Max already knew the answer before he said anything, but asked nonetheless. “Don’t you think it’s going to make it harder, only focussing on one pokemon type?” He knew Lucy had already talked about this with their mother, but was equally aware of how stubborn Lucy could be when it came to her interests.

“No! Dark types are cool and strong. Besides I wouldn’t want to train a pokemon and not feel attached to it. And dad was really into dark types when he and mom were taking their journey.” Lucy said, slowing down at the end, her eyes losing just a touch of the shine they typically held. This was really the crux of the matter, Max knew. Lucy had been really young when their dad died, and where Max had withdrawn from battling, Lucy seemed to have the opposite reaction. For her, battling had become a way to maintain her connection with their father, and this sense is what drove her to push for this early start to her league journey.

Not wanting to dredge up any more bad memories, either for himself or for Lucy, Max decided it was time to shift back to the initial conversation. “Alright then, so you want to catch a Purrloin. Where do we start looking?”

“Well, I think we should start back on the Route, maybe a bit further away from the camping site.” Just like that, Lucy was back on her role. “They like to steal things, but I bet they’d know not to mess with a bunch of trainers at a camping site. There’s too many other pokemon around. Oh, and you’re going to need to battle it!”

This got Max’s attention. “What? Why me? You don’t think Speck can take a little Purrloin?”

“No, that’s why. Speck would really hurt the kind of Purrloin around here right? So I need you and Sparky to weaken it for me.” Lucy looked at Max with pleading eyes.

“Well why can’t you just throw a pokeball at one?” Max really did not want to have to battle, and he’d thought he could avoid it with Speck having come along.

“Because we don’t have that many pokeballs yet, just the ones they gave us at the lab! Come on Max, pleeeease.” Lucy clearly wouldn’t give up on this, and Max seeing no other way offered an alternative.

“How about I let you use Sparky to battle for today?” Max thought this was a fairly reasonable alternative, “That way you can catch your pokemon yourself, and you won’t have to tell anyone that you had to rely on your big brother to get it.”

This did the trick. Lucy’s pride was the only force greater than her stubbornness. With the plan for the morning set, the two broke camp, repacking the tent and their sleeping bags into their respective packs.

Setting off down the Route, Max decided to focus on the world and pokemon around him rather than dwell on the last few nights. It was easier just to get used to the world he knew than try to parse out those experiences that were wholly new. After several hours of musing on the landscape around him, Max saw Lucy come to a stop. He could tell she’d seen something by her rigid posture, and just a second later she turned and quickly walked the few feet back to him.

“There’s one over there” she excitedly whispered, “gimme Sparky!”

Max was more than happy to hand over the pokeball and let his sister get to business. Following her departing form, Max caught a glimpse of what had excited his sister. Past the edge of the route there was a small clearing and just off the edge of that sat a small, purple figure. Slowly, Max, along with Speck, made to follow Lucy, but made sure to keep their distance, so as not to add distraction into the equation. As he settled down on the side of the path, Max heard Lucy shout, “Let’s go Sparky,” and toss the pokeball in a high arc as she did so. The flash of red light that accompanied the Tepig’s release caused the ball to fly back at a lower arc, which Lucy deftly caught. Already impressed, Max watched on as his sister showed her skills, fresh as they were.

“Alright Sparky, let’s start off with a Tail Whip!” Lucy instructed and, with only a moment’s hesitation, the small orange pig took off towards his apparent target. At Lucy’s words, the cat-pokemon had turned and was in the process of collecting itself when Tepig made contact. Still unsure exactly what was happening, the Purrloin lashed out at the ground, throwing up some dirt into Tepig’s face. The fire ‘mon was evidently surprised by the move, but seemed unhurt. Taking a step back, Tepig collected himself and waited on Lucy’s next command.

Lucy took a beat to consider her next move, but with the Purrloin curling its legs to pounce, Lucy shouted, “Now Sparky, Tackle!”

Not needing any further encouragement, the sturdy pig bounded towards its opponent, who was in no position to move out of the way, having already begun to lunge. From Max’s vantage point he heard a meaty “Thwack” as the two ‘mons came head to head, quite literally. The battle was over as quick as that, with Purrloin now cowed and Sparky taking a few shaky steps back, Lucy cocked back her arm and let fly a new pokeball. The missile struck true and the red and white contraption snapped open, a burst of light enveloping the Purrloin before returning to the mirrored insides of the ball, which dropped to the ground. Lucy stood, hardly moving, fists clenched and a look of hope on her face as the pokeball blinked away on the ground. After a small eternity, Max heard the unmistakable tone that indicated a pokemon had been caught. Lucy let out a whoop that would have put Speck to shame and ran to collect her first new team member.

As Lucy made her way towards the pokeball, Sparky began walking back towards Max, now seeming quite recovered from the battle. Max and Speck stood up and trotted over to the pleased pig. Max could see some remnants of the battle still on the little ‘mon’s face, but Speck was quick to clean off Sparky’s face with his tongue. The victorious Tepig seemed to quite enjoy the attention, especially when Max lifted Sparky up and began congratulating him.

“Oh wow that was so good! You and Lucy did a great job,” the young boy gushed. At this, Sparky seemed to recall that Max had not been the one directing him and with a huff turned his head away from Max. It was apparent that Sparky was annoyed at Max for giving him away like that.

“Wait, I’m sorry. Lucy just needed a pokemon to battle that Purrloin.” This did not seem to convince the now irate Tepig. “I promise I won’t do that again without talking to you. Come on please, I’m sorry.” Max was now on the verge of tears.

“Now that’s no way to make an apology,” said a voice from behind Max.

He turned to see a woman walking up to him. She looked younger than his mother and behind her by just a pace was a girl, probably younger than Lucy, in an eevee pokekid costume. As she stepped up to Max, the woman asked, “Do you mind if I hold that little guy for a minute?”

Max paused for a moment, somewhat taken aback by the woman’s familiar tone. “Um, I think maybe he wouldn’t like that,” Max said with a hitch in his voice.

“Alright then let’s put him down for a moment and see if we can get you two sorted. It’s no good for a trainer to be fighting with his own pokemon now is it?” The woman began to kneel down as she said this. Max followed her lead and knelt, putting Sparky down as he went. The little pig seemed as caught off guard as Max and sat himself down once he was in the grass. The pokekid, who had yet to make a sound, grabbed the woman’s shirt. “Oh it’s alright Nicky, why don’t you go see what pokemon that girl is playing with.”

At that the girl walked off towards Lucy. Max turned his head and saw that his sister was already playing Purrloin, and the two seemed to have become fast friends. When she caught sight of the new kid, she let out a loud greeting which was parrotted by the purple ‘mon in her hands. Figuring that he had nothing to worry about, as far as Lucy was concerned, he turned back to this new woman.

“Now before we begin I suppose I should introduce myself,” the woman started. “I’m Melanie and that’s my daughter Nicky.”

“Oh, nice to meet you Ms. Melanie. I’m Max,” he responded.

“Just Melanie is fine Max, we’re both pokemon trainers after all. And what’s this little fellow’s name?”

Max looked down and said, “This is Sparky.” At this the Tepig, who’d been somewhat distracted by the new arrival, once again made a show of turning his back to Max.

“Well we certainly do seem to have a predicament here. What seems to be the problem?” Melanie asked.

“Um, well, I let my sister, Lucy, use Sparky to battle that Purrloin she just caught. I, um, I think he didn’t like that I gave him up to her, maybe.” Max was having trouble finding his words as Melanie gazed at him with a kind of intensity that he recognized from his mother when she would break up arguments in the house

“Well I’d imagine you can see where he’s coming from, going out into battle only to find out his trainer had abandoned him. That could be hurtful right?” Melanie suggested.

“Yeah I guess so. I didn’t mean it to be like that though. Lucy just needed to use a pokemon and Sparky was the only one we had that could fight a Purrloin,” Max explained.

“I can see that, and it made sense to you, but did you discuss that with Sparky, here?” Melanie pushed back, “You two are supposed to be partners in battle right? Shouldn’t he be involved in the decision about who he fights for?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to be a trainer, Lucy does.” Max weakly protested.

“Well be that as it may, it’s still important for you to communicate with your partners right?” Melanie could see that Max had come around and was understanding the issue in a more constructive way.

“Oh, um, yeah no that makes sense,” Max said, now looking down at his Tepig partner. “Um, Sparky, I’m really sorry. I think I should have talked to you about battling with Lucy. I won’t do it again.”

The haughty, little pig finally seemed to soften and turned back to face Max. The fire ‘mon made what could only be described as a conciliatory squeal, and rubbed his face against Max’s leg. It seemed that for now the peace had been restored. Melanie stood up and offered Max a hand. As he took it, she asked, “So what do you want to be then if you don’t want to be a trainer?”

Max looked up at her as he answered, “Um, I want to be a pokemon breeder, I think. I don’t like battling, but I want to work with pokemon. Lucy wants to battle though.” As he spoke, they began to walk over to where Lucy and Nicky were now petting the new Purrloin.

“Max look, I named him Sprig!” Lucy called out as he got closer.

“Why Sprig?” Max responded.

“Because he’s got a sprig of hair between his ears that won’t go down.” Lucy certainly had a pattern when it came to naming, but Max knew better than to point that out when he’d named his Tepig in such a similar way. 

“And how are you doing Nicky?” Melanie asked her daughter.

“Ebui!” The girl responded.

“Haha, alright Nicky, don’t you want to introduce your new friends?” Melanie pushed, seeming to have had very similar conversations before.

“Eee. Ehvuh-bui.” Nicky retorted.

Sighing, Melanie turned back to Lucy and Max. “She can talk, it’s just that recently she’s developed this habit of pretending to be an eevee. I’m sure she’ll grow out of it eventually, but it can be a little frustrating. I hope you’ll still be friends, though!”

Lucy and Max nodded, each expressing their willingness to do so.

Melanie smiled at the siblings, “Well what are your plans for the rest of the day? I think Nicky and I might set up camp here for the evening. Would you like to join us?”

Max looked over at Lucy before saying, “Well we were kind of planning on making it to Striaton City today, but I guess it is getting a little late.”

“Well we are coming from Striaton, so I’d say it won’t be more than an hour’s walk to get there tomorrow, and it would be nice to have the company tonight” Melanie said, a hopeful tone to her voice.

“Okay, that doesn’t sound so bad,” said Max, already putting down his pack. The two groups spent the next hour setting up camp, before sharing an early dinner. Melanie had brought along more than just rations, and made up a tasty meal for the four campers.

After they finished eating, Lucy went off to one corner of the field in order to train with Speck and Sprig. Nicky went with them, though she was more interested in watching than participating. Lucy had Sprig and Speck mock fight, in order to build a rapport with the newer member. Max and Melanie watched and chatted as the sun set. She also introduced him to her pokemon team, an umbreon and an espeon. Max sat petting the two ‘mons as they talked.

“So you want to be a pokemon breeder, you said?” Melanie asked.

Perking up, Max responded, “Yeah, I don’t really like battling, but I also love pokemon so I figured why not learn about pokemon breeding while I’m out here with my sister.”

At this Melanie giggled, though Max wasn’t really sure why. “So tell me, what do you know about pokemon breeding?” Melanie asked the confused boy.

“Well I guess I don’t really know much, but I know it’s a job that you can do without battling, and really that’s what I want, so I don’t really care about the specifics.” As he said this, Max saw Melanie’s eye twinkle.

“Well that’s understandable for someone your age. But, if you’d like to learn a little something more about what the job entails, why don’t you meet me behind my tent once your sister has gone to sleep.”

Max was too excited to question why Lucy would need to be asleep, or anything else for that matter. “Oh will you?! I’ll be out here for sure,” he said, almost vibrating.

“Why don’t you tell me a bit more about you and your sister,” Melanie said, seeming to want to steer the conversation away from breeding.

Max launched into his description of his home and his life with his sister. He talked about his mom, and her encouragement, about his concerns prior to embarking, and told her all about Lucy. Really the only things he didn’t cover were his father’s death and his experience with Lucy the night before. By the time he’d finished, Max noticed that it was starting to get dark. As if on queue, Melanie called out, “Girls! I think it’s time to give the little one a break. Let’s get ready for bed!”

Max almost laughed, Melanie had sounded so much like his own mother, telling him and Lucy to quit watching TV and get off to bed. Max stood up from the two Eons and made his way into the tent. Lucy was in like a flash, already disrobing, even as she came through the hatch. Speck padded in with Sprig a few steps behind. Lucy, now naked turned to Sprig and after a quick good night returned the Purrloin to his pokeball. Max, who was distracted by Melanie’s offer, paid little attention to his sister’s body as she pulled on her shirt and dove into the sleeping bag. Max laid down, but didn’t move to take off his clothes. Instead he waited a moment for Lucy and Speck to get settled and then began playing his mother’s tune. Like all nights before, Lucy was out in moments, but this time Max was in no hurry to join her.