After resting up at the Pokémon Center, I decided to head for Pinwheel Forest. From what I heard, the direct path was open, though I wanted to go through the labyrinth path in order to get one of the Bug Pokémon that strolled the area. Bug types, other than being really cool in my opinion (I actually didn't mind insects) had a nice and handy resistance to Fighting, the typing of the next gym.

I also got a map of the woods from the center; after all, you never know and I thought I might have needed it if I was going to delve deep in the woods.

Upon entering the dark woods, I started heading to the left side of the forest, where the Pokémon lived. As I was strolling around deeper in the forest, looking for a Pokémon to catch, I was approached by a girl. She looked around seventeen...? I couldn't tell, but she was really pretty. She had blonde hair and warm blue eyes, pale skin and was wearing a cute light blue dress. I noted it was tattered in some points, though. An incident?

"Hello! Are you by chance headed to Castelia City? I fear I might be lost." she said, looking at me apologetically. I nodded.

"Yeah, sure. I was just about to go there. Before that, though, I wanted to catch a Pokémon. Do you want to go together?" I offered, showing her the map.

"Thanks goodness! I would be grateful for your guidance, darling. I thought I might try to catch a Pokémon in here too, and I did, but I lost the path afterwards. I'm such an airhead!" she said, chuckling nervously.

"Don't worry about it." I said with a smile. "So... you're a trainer too?" I asked curiously, looking at her bag. It was a rather old-fashioned one, made of silk and strass. It did have its charm, though.

"Yes! I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself. My name's Arcadia. I'm a newbie, really – I've just started." she said, offering her hand. I shook it.

"Alma, pleased to meet you! Shall we go, then? I'm interested in finding a Venipede, or a Sewaddle. I hear there are quite a lot of those in this area." I explained. She followed me, looking around. For a second, her gaze changed into a colder one. But it was just a second, and I quickly forgot about it.

"Oh, there sure are! I ran into one in the western area. Though I fear he might be a little aggressive. When I tried to approach him, he attacked me! Just be careful if you want to catch him, darling." she exclaimed, looking at me.

"I will, I promise. Can you lead me there?"

"I think I can. Though there are some trees you'll have to get past. Almost shred my dress while trying to proceed. I knew I had to put on something lighter. Oh well, it will be for next time." Oh. So that explained why it was tattered. I did hear of the trees blocking the bath, but they were also good hiding spots for Pokémon, so I wanted to check them out. Plus, I had changed into my journey outfit, a t-shirt and shorts, so even if they got a little tattered it was no biggie.

"So... Arcadia! Where are you from?" I asked while walking. No Pokémon in sight, for now – but we were just getting started, after all, and we weren't in the tree area yet.

"Well, I'm from Route 18 actually. So I travelled to Nuvema Town and took things from there." she said with a giggle. "It's such a distant place, no one comes to visit. I've always felt a little lonely, so I decided to start a journey. At first, I wasn't really interested in Pokémon, but I've changed my mind. It's a great thing. The bonding with a Pokémon... the way you fight together... the feeling of your hard-earned victory after a long battle... it's all amazing." There was an inspired light in her eyes, as if she was really believing what she was saying.

"That's great! You really do understand Pokémon for a starting trainer! I've yet to grasp the full meaning of those concepts, though I can relate to what you're saying." I said with a chuckle. She looked at me in a funny way.

"Yeah, I guess you can say so. Anyway, we're here! It's the tree area and... is that a trainer?" she said, pointing at a boy who looked around my age or one or two years older. He was poking a Pokémon with a stick. It was a Venipede. "Uh, it looks like the same one from before!" Arcadia mused.

"But what is he doing?" I asked, worried. The Venipede didn't quite look amused: he was aggressively hissing at the boy, but a Pansear, probably that boy's Pokémon, was burning him if he got too close.

"Die! Die! Little scum!" the boy said with a grin. I had a shiver running down my spine: he was torturing the Venipede! I couldn't let that happen!

"Hey! Stop it!" I exclaimed, walking up to him and grabbing the stick from his hand. He glared at me, while the Venipede hissed and got away.

"What's your deal? I was just having fun! Besides, that little scum tried to poison me when I got close!" he answered, pushing me away.

"Don't you mean, he tried to defend himself when he got attacked?" I angrily said. "And that does not justify your actions! You were torturing him!"

"So what" he said, laughing "it's just a bug! What are you getting so worked up about?" That's it! That was my limit. Even Arcadia looked flustered.

"You. Me. Battle. You're going down." I announced. I was really pissed off. How could he treat a Pokémon like this? That was way beyond wrong. It was straight out cruelty and sadism.

"Alright, Flaming Girl! Let's get this over with. Quickly, if you please. I have important stuff to do." he sighed, crossing his hands.

"Sure." I glared at him. "By the way. Name's Alma."

"Jacob. Now go, Juan!" he said, sending out a Patrat.

"Go, Aria!" I went with her, feeling confident that the experience at the gym helped her grow. Aria seemed to feel my anger, because she nervously looked at her opponent, probably wondering what did he do wrong to upset me.

"Start off with Scald!" I ordered her. She jumped on a tree and attacked from there, trying to take the opposing Pokémon by surprise. Unfortunately, it didn't work: the Patrat rolled to the side avoiding the attack and, with a warlike cry, he went for Tackle.

"Aria, hit him while he's close! Try again!" she nodded, looking really concentrated, then blasted him off balance with a kick before the hit could connect and hit him with Scald. The attack seemed to hurt the rodent, and he rolled in the grass in pain. I felt bad for him, having such a cruel trainer. But if I wanted to beat the guy, I had to knock that Patrat out, as painful as it might be.

Arcadia was watching and nodded gravely, as if she understood what I was going through. She really did have a close bond with Pokémon. I decided I had to finish him off. He was burned too, so he couldn't do much damage with physical attacks.

"Come on, you can do it! Stand up god dammit!" The boy exclaimed, angrily looking at the poor rodent. He tried to stand up, but he clearly wasn't feeling well.

"Aria, finish him off. Another hit should do it." I said. Aria looked at me and gave me an encouraging, but quite sad smile and then she attacked with Fury Swipes, knocking him out.

"Oh! You useless rodent!" the boy gritted his teeth. "But I won't let you win! My Pansear is like, totally awesome! Go, Lawrence!" Lawrence, the Pansear from before, grinned as he was enjoying it. Aria got a little nervous. She didn't like his smile, and neither did I. This Pokémon was definitely different than the Patrat, more like his owner.

"Ha! You shall quiver in fear in front of Lawrence." the boy mused, enjoying my nervousness. I still had the type advantage... right?

"Be careful, darling." Arcadia said. She looked different from before, a little more... serious? Was she always like this during battles?

"I will be, thanks." I answered, still looking at the Pansear with uneasiness.

"Ok, time to light it up! Use Incinerate!" The attack didn't quite hit Aria, but it sure hit the grass, and it lit up really fast, so fast I had to use Scald to put it off.

"Hey! Knock it out! Do you want to start a forest fire?" I said, looking really worried. The boy grinned maliciously.

"Who cares? It's a battle – everything goes." he said, seemingly enjoying the situation.

"You've got to be kidding me. You're going to be in so much trouble." I said. I never thought people of my age could be so evil. Or, well, at least I never encountered someone like this. What kind of excuse was that, anyway?

"Go ahead and try and hit me if you're able." he taunted me. His Pansear moved really fast, and I had difficulties trying to follow all of his movements. Yes, hitting him would've been definitely hard. But I wasn't planning to give up because of that! Especially after what I saw.

Aria tried to pinpoint him, but she failed and got hit with a powerful Fury Swipes. And another. And another. He was slowly wearing her down while making it very difficult for her to hit him. It wasn't the best scenario for a fight. But I had an idea to slow him down.

"Alright, Aria! Hide in the fallen trees!" She looked at me, puzzled, but obeyed. She muscled her way past the boy, jumping up and entering one of the trees, hiding in there. "Ah, move continuously! Don't let him get to you!" I saw a blue figure moving out, so she got the order. It worked. Pansear looked confused, and trying to burn down the trees wouldn't have worked, unless the boy wanted to get burned.

"Lawrence! Search for her and bring her out!" Jacob looked frustrated at the situation. He clearly wasn't expecting that. Unfortunately for Pansear, when he leaned to look in a tree, he got Scalded in the eye.

"Good job, Aria! Keep it up!" I exclaimed. Every time Pansear tried to hunt her down in the trees he would get hit – and so it went on until he was no longer able to battle.

"No! Lawrence! How could this happen to you?" Jacob shook his 'mon, but there was nothing to do. "Damn it! Ok, Flaming Girl... I admit you're strong."

I looked at him angrily. Did he think he could just... shrug it off like this? "Yeah, sure. Anyway, never torture Pokémon again, ok? Also, starting forest fires is not cool, for your knowledge."

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to look cool!" he said, clearly scared. Yeah, know the facade was falling apart.

"If you do that again, though, you're going to be in trouble." I exclaimed. My anger was slowly fading, but I didn't want to let him go so easily. He whimpered and fled, with his Pansear and everything.

"Well... that was something." I said with a sigh. Arcadia came closer.

"I'm sorry you had to face that jerk, darling. Oh, but he looks like he wants to tell you something!" she said, looking at the Venipede from before. He was peeking at us from a tree, looking hesitant but also annoyed, as if he was thinking: 'Why the hell am I doing this?'

"Hello, little one. Do you want to talk... or... something?" I said awkwardly, lowering myself to match his height. Boy, he was small. Maybe even smaller than an average Venipede. But he sure had fighting spirit, you could read it in his eyes.

"I think he wants to join you." Arcadia said gleefully as the bug approached me, poking at me with his antennae as to say: 'Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get this over with.' He did indeed look grateful, and he wasn't aggressive, so I thought, why not? After all it would've pained me to fight it with all the burns he had to endure.

"Alright, c'mere, little one." I exclaimed with a smile, holding the ball. He hit it with the antennae and entered it, signaling his capture. "Yes! I got a Venipede!" Then I thought about his physical condition and got a little alarmed. "Oh! I have to cure him quickly! You don't mind if we hurry up a little?"

"I don't mind, darling." she chuckled, then became serious. "There's no messing around with burn injuries. Let's go."

I nodded, still a little dazed. She looked a little bipolar, switching from happy to dead serious in a matter of seconds, but it didn't bother me that much. What bothered me, though, was that boy.

Somehow we arrived to Castelia City, and there we parted. I hurried to the center, while she headed for the Thumb Pier.

So! Arcadia appeared in this chapter, and stuff. Next city is Castelia, and a lot of things are going to happen there, so brace yourself! I hope you enjoyed, and have a nice day!