Ah! This morning sunlight– it makes me feel so energetic!

Barry slammed his window wide open, flailing his skinny arms and nearly falling out.

The hyperactive blond boy caught sight of Dawn in her house across the street. Though it was an awkward angle, he could always peek into her bedroom if he hung out his window far enough. Fortunately for him, the navy blue-haired girl was there sitting and watching TV.

"Oh! DAWN!" Barry screamed uncontrollably. Jumping up and down, he blasted her name and threw cans and garbage from his window in an attempt to get her attention.

The girl slowly rose to her feet... and closed her curtain.

Barry tilted his head sideways, confused. Just what is she watching that's so interesting? he wondered. Hurrying away from the window, and running and flipping on his bedroom TV, he began watching the only channel available in their small town.

"Hmm..." Barry held his chin in concentration. Is this some kind of cooking show? But there's this old man talking about going on a journey.

Though the boy tried to concentrate, his attention faded as rapidly as his feet fidgeted. "Ah! What is this show supposed to be about?" Pressing his face to the screen, despite many warning from others not to do so, Barry looked into the TV and glared as if he could actually talk to the man.

Ah! I remember now. That's Professor Rowan!

"Now young future trainers–" the man on-screen said; "–go on, leap into the world of pokemon!"

"That concludes our special program..." The TV announcer rambled on. Dawn sat silently in front of her TV set, legs folded.

"Hnn..." she muttered, scratching her chest, "Sure would be nice... To get out of here..."

"See you next week, same time, same channel!" a cheerful, female announcer spoke, "Thank you for watching, and now a word from our sponsors!" A catchy pop song immediately played with a squeaky-voiced singer.

Dawn rattled her empty pork rind package. "Ah..." I'm all out...

Glimpsing into the bag silently, full of depression, Dawn's self-absorbed hunger was cut short by the frenzied stomping of someone running up her stairs. Knowing what was coming, her lungs froze.

Barry barreled into the room, panting and huffing. "There you are!" he yelled– his hair breathing along with him.

Dawn looked away, trying to hide her dismayed expression. A sprightly little devil with big hair, she thought; His golden locks deceptively hide his demon horns.

"Oi. I've been here the whole time," Dawn remarked, regaining her usual poker face.

He's the lone curse I was born to bear... The bane of my existence and feller of my sanity.

I call him 'Fluffy.' The destroyer of worlds.

"Hey, Dawn! Did you just see the TV? Huh? Huh? Did you?" Barry dove across the floor at her, getting in her face. "Sure you did!"

The girl narrowed her eyes– her blood pulse quickening. Rage... subside...

As usual, Dawn expertly hid her anger behind a calm sheet of ice, and she just as easily folded her arms to prepare herself for the ensuing onslaught of Barry's babbling. "Hn." She nodded stoically, listening to him chattering at speeds near incomprehensible.

"–So if we ask him, I bet he'd give us some pokemon!" Barry concluded, standing up and flexing. "Oh, hey!" He ran over to her desk and slammed his hands down on her keyboard. "Is this a new PC?...!"

Dawn shot him a mortified glower– a fallen face that said, 'Please don't touch that. I can't afford another one.' Oh, for how she greatly feared Fluffy's destructive powers.

Barry looked at her, dumbfounded, as if to say 'Wha? Why so upset?'

Why do you look so surprised? Dawn raged inside; You blew up my last five computers, I want that to stop!

"Uh... Where was I?" Barry pondered aloud.

Dawn went limp in relief. He's distracted again. Good. My PC is safe... for now.

"Oh, right, right!" Barry waved his arms, "We're going to see Professor Rowan and get some pokemon. I'll be waiting outside. Ok, Dawn? If you're late, I'm fining you ten million pokedollars!" And he stomped back down the stairs.

Dawn gazed out her window, observing the garbage heap Barry had made outside earlier. But first, someone should fine you for littering... Walking down the stairs after her tormentor, her mother suddenly ran up to her.

"Dawn! Barry already left..." The woman panicked with an added undertone. "I don't know what it was about, but he sure was in a hurry!"

Dawn already knew what her mother was trying to say. It was: "Go stop Barry!"

Or: "Look after Barry!"

But also: "Keep Barry out of trouble!" & "Watch Barry!" and especially "Keep an eye on Barry!"

Those words had been said to Dawn so many times, that it was now an instinct she could not ignore.

"Keep Barry close, and don't let him do anything dangerous."

Dawn clenched her teeth. Carrying out such a task was mostly impossible. "More like... keep an old man from balding," she muttered.

I'll say it– though it's entirely shameful...

Fluffy's family is loaded. And my family is poor.

Because of past favors... and all the loans they graciously gave us...

My family is indebted to Fluffy's.

But there's no way we can ever repay everything we owe. We both know it.

To make up for this, it was contracted upon my birth that I would become Fluffy's personal slave and chew toy.

"Excuse me?" Her mom spat, eying Dawn suspiciously. She was an attractive woman, with all her youthful features and similar navy-blue hair in-tact, but she had something of a short temper when it came to Dawn's backtalk.

"N-nothing." Dawn looked away, heading for the door. ...Time for Fluffy-duty.

"Keep him out of the grass!" her mom yelled.

Dawn strutted up to Barry's front door– tucking her hands into her big red coat's pockets. The snow is melting, but it's still so chilly. Ah, Fluffy's yard probably needs to be shoveled again... but I'll get to that as soon as I've tended to his latest whim... And right as Dawn thought this, and stepped up to his front door– it flung open– and Barry flew right out at her.

THUD!

The girl landed on her back in the cold, damp slush, Barry's weight painfully crushing her stomach and legs.

"Ugh..." Dawn groaned. Snow and Barry do not mix. I wish we lived somewhere tropical for that very reason. Even though I'm fond of the cold...

"!" The boy looked down at her, suddenly realizing what he had done. His hands were planted firmly on her chest. "W-what was that about?" His face turned red.

Dawn looked away and suppressed a frown. Stupid klutz. What are you blushing for? I don't have boobs yet, I'm 10! She shoved him off since he wouldn't move.

"Oh, hey, Dawn!" He felt at the ground– still flustered.

"Yeah?"

"Hey!" he shouted, "I'm going to see Professor Rowan!"

"Yes. Yes, you are," Dawn answered, monotone. You've already made that quite clear.

"You should come, too!" He held his arms out wide. "And quickly!" Jumping up, he ran to the edge of the street before stopping and running right back. "Oh, jeez! Forgot something!" he blurted, and ran back inside his house.

Dawn turned around, blankly staring off into space. Maybe... There's a place far away that's just as cold as this town. And I can go there to hide. It sure would be nice... to leave... "I want to get out of here," she muttered and dreamed.

"Too slow!" Barry yelled, sticking his finger in her face.

Dawn stood still and stoically took the atrocious invasion of her personal space. In this moment, she remembered how she often felt the urge to do something terrible to him, but in truth, she hadn't acted out against Barry in years.

Because the last time Dawn dared to... two years ago... she was severely punished for it. For, her father whipped her with a belt so bad– that she had to sit in the snow for two days straight to make the pain stop. Yes... And through years of punishment from her parents– her fiery temper had been sealed beneath a thick sheet of compacted ice, and her personality became a dry and chilly tundra, a wasteland of eternal winter.

I'm late. Is Fluffy going to fine me again? Dawn wondered. Though it seems impossible for him to be able to do math, I bet he's keeping a tab...

"All right! Let's get moving to Professor Rowan's lab!" Barry skipped into the grass.

"Wait–" Dawn leapt, protectively grabbing his arm.

"What?" He stopped to ask, smiling foolishly; "Don't go into the grass, right? No worries! No problem!"

"It's dangerous to go alone," Dawn stated firmly.

"It doesn't matter that we don't have any pokemon," he explained in a rare moment of non-shouting; "Trust me on this one. I have an idea!"

Dawn's insides folded diagonally. Are you going to use me as bait again?

"Now listen. You know how wild pokemon jump out when you go into tall grass?" he asked.

Dawn stared at him. So you ARE going to use me as bait again...

The boy then proceeded to go on about some theory of his– an idea about running through the grass sideways in order to dash past any pests.

Dawn nodded at him as she listened, strongly fighting back her annoyance. Idiot! It doesn't matter if you run through the grass on your hands– a pokemon will attack when it wants to!

"On your marks..." Barry rushed off.

N-no! He's going to– Dawn almost tackled him.

"HOLD IT!" a man's large voice boomed.

Dawn spun around and instantly recognized the voice's source: a man from her favorite TV program.

It was none other than Professor Rowan, and he was walking right for them. "You two don't..." he began, eyeing them both suspiciously, "...You two don't seem to have any pokemon between you?..!"

"Er... That's correct, Sir." Dawn answered silently, confounded by his non-scripted way of talking. It was so different on TV!

"Then, what is the meaning of going into this tall grass?" the man exploded angrily.

"... ..."

Barry looked at the professor.

"... ..."

And the professor glared back at the two children.

"..." Dawn ascertained the situation silently. Hm? Fluffy seems to be deep in thought about something... She witnessed a rare and serious expression settle on the boy's face, and it gave her a sudden, unexpected chill. It was almost kind of cool.

"Hey, Dawn." Barry turned to her, whispering in her ear loudly; "This old guy..."

"Yeah?" Dawn responded.

"It's Professor Rowan, isn't it? What's he doing here...?"

Dawn choked. Fluffy... I thought you were finally displaying some long-awaited intelligence.

Professor Rowan turned away, deeply insulted by the boy's words. "...I'm not an 'old guy'..." Rowan muttered under his breath, "Hmph..."

"Please pardon us, Sir, we only wanted to find some pokemon," Dawn explained to Rowan, grabbing Barry's shoulder and pulling him to her side. A dopey grin stretched across the boy's face.

"...They tried to go into the tall grass because they wanted pokemon..." the old man mumbled to himself some more, his back still turned to the two children. "Hmm... What to do...?" he went on, "Their world would surely change if they were to meet pokemon... Is it right for me to put them on that path...?"

"You know, Sir, we can hear you," Dawn informed the professor.

"... ..." The old man turned back around and stared at them blankly. It seemed he didn't hear her.

"You two... You truly love pokemon, do you?" Rowan asked.

"They're ok." Dawn craned her neck brutishly. The professor stared at her in bewilderment.

"Me, too! I love pokemon, too!" Barry jumped and flailed, trying as hard as he could to get the professor's sole attention.

"I will ask you once again..." The man cleared his throat. "You two. You truly love Pokemon, do you?"

Dawn skeptically gazed at the elderly man. He's not senile, is he? But he seems 'so-together' on his TV specials...

"What?" Barry barked in indignation; "You can ask a hundred times! The answer will never change!" And arching his legs, he posed dramatically– forcefully displaying his burning spirit. "We'll both answer a hundred times," he swore powerfully, "we love pokemon!" Loosening back up, Bark turned to Dawn. "Right, Dawn?" he asked.

"Yeah. Sure." Dawn nodded. Whatever Fluffy wants. I must oblige.

"...A pair of reckless kids who foolishly try to enter tall grass without pokemon of their own?..." Rowan shook his head. "It worries me what people like that would do with pokemon."

"Uh..." Barry scratched his head, looking surprisingly guilty. "Well, I, uh... ..." He suddenly lashed out and grabbed Dawn's arms.

"H-hey..." Dawn mumbled in surprise.

"Well, then forget about me, but give a pokemon to my friend here!" Barry appealed; "I mean, it was me who tried to go into the tall grass and all..."

Dawn's lifeless face softened a bit. Is he taking responsibility for this? ... I guess he really has changed from since we were younger... Maybe he's finally becoming a man.

"Hah!" Rowan laughed heartily, "How big of you... Very well then! I will entrust you two with Pokemon! I apologize for putting you through that exercise..."

"Hah! R-really?" Barry stuttered, "Y-you're giving me a pokemon, too?"

"Yes! However– You must promise me that you will never recklessly endanger yourselves again. Now then..."

"It's a promise, Sir," Dawn stated.

Barry jabbered unrecognizably and flailed his fists. It was likely his own way of promising, too.

"Hm? Now, where..." Rowan dug through his white lab coat's pockets.

"Professor Rowan," a distant voice called. Dawn gazed straight ahead and spied a boy in a red beret, quickly approaching.

Her jaw slackened as the boy came closer. His soft dark hair and commanding posture immediately caught her attention.

But most of all– she was attracted by his bright red beret.

"You left your briefcase at the lake!" The boy laughed genially, handing it to the forgetful old man.

Dawn stared intently at the new boy. He's so calm... And his sense of fashion is refreshing, she thought.

"Oh? Is something wrong here?" The boy laughed nervously, finally noticing Dawn's intent gaze on him.

Sensing something amiss, Barry curiously observed Dawn as well. He couldn't understand her frozen stare. What's she staring at this french guy for? he pondered– his blond, puff-ball head bouncing in bafflement.

Dawn's dreamy eyes, which were usually half-closed, were suddenly wide open, and her pink lips, which were usually clamped shut, were parted slightly. This changed greatly concerned Barry; Especially Dawn's inflamed cheeks.

"Ah! There it is! Lucas, nice work," Rowan heartily thanked the boy.

"Lucas..." Dawn murmured to herself. That's this refreshing boy's name...

"Now then, I was about to entrust these two with their own pokemon," Rowan explained; "From this very case."

"Pardon?" Lucas ejected; "Those pokemon are hard to replace. Are you sure about giving them away?"

"Hm!" Rowan scoffed. "We exist side by side with pokemon. There comes a time when people should meet pokemon. There is a world that should be explored together."

"Yes, of course." Lucas held up his hands nervously. "But these are crucial and rare starters..."

"For them, today is that time. The place, right here," the old man proclaimed, proudly folding his arms behind him; "Go on!" He waved a hand at Barry and Dawn. "Open the briefcase and choose a pokemon!"

"Well you heard the Professor." Lucas beamed, setting the briefcase down for Barry and Dawn to rummage through.

"Really? Professor Rowan!" Barry blasted, hardly able to contain himself. "I can't believe it! I'm so happy now that I can't keep a straight face!"

Dawn closed her eyes and folded her arms. You can't keep a straight face, regardless...

As if reacting to her statement, Barry turned aside and grabbed Dawn by her red coat sleeve. "Hey, Dawn. You can choose first," he declared.

Dawn gawked at him– almost taken aback. But there was something strange in his eyes that she could not understand. "You sure? Seems you can hardly wait," she responded.

"Hey, I'm practically a man. I have to show some class here." Barry laughed, placing his arms akimbo like some defender of justice.

Something doesn't feel right... Feeling awkward under the stares of Barry, Rowan, and even Lucas, Dawn spun around on her heels and briskly walked away. She was trying to escape.

"What's up with you?" Barry yelled after her; "Open the briefcase and pick a pokemon!"

Unable to disobey her tormentor, Dawn stopped and silently turned back around. Crouching down, solemnly, she flopped Rowan's brown leather briefcase open, and three pokeballs jiggled at her atop a pile of blue science journals and note books. "One of these, hm?" she muttered to herself. Fully suspecting the danger, but unaware of the rivalry that was to come, she began making her decision under the intense observation of Barry.

~To Be Continued...~