She was 16 years old when she met him. It can be said that we never know who will effect our lives, and in what way, but from the moment she saw him she knew he was different. It wasn't just his appearance, pokemorphs weren't as uncommon as they used to be. Rather, it was something in the way he twiddled his thumbs, not quite meeting her eye. While he may have been shy around her, he was confident and proud amongst everyone else he met.

Her name was Beth, and she was the type of girl you would never notice. In many ways she was his opposite, and perhaps that's why they worked well together. She was quiet but not shy, and only spoke when spoken to. On the other hand she was beautiful in a way he would never be, and incredibly strong willed and sure of herself.

They met on a sunny day in July, in Kiosho city in the Tash region. Although she'd always known she wanted to be a trainer, she'd never gone on any journeys, never tried to collect a badge. Everything, from her shy demeanor, to her fear of journeys stemmed from a memory she'd buried deep inside, the memory of the day they came.

When she was 10 she'd received her first pokemon, a bulbasaur from professor Oak. In those days she'd lived in the Kanto region with her mother. Like any ten year old, she was ecstatic to finally receive her very own pokemon. Her mother had been a caring woman, and had convinced her to stay in Pallet town for a while, a month at most, to train and prepare for her journey. Trusting her mother more than anyone else in the world, Beth had agreed.

Often times as years went by she'd look back on that moment as the turning point in her life. It was the moment everything started to go wrong. She never blamed her mother though, although many times it was hard not to.

That day when she met Ken, at 16 years old, everything started to look up again. In him she saw something she hadn't seen in six lonely years, hope. She'd moved to the Tash region shortly after the horrendous events in pallet town, after Oak advised her to do so. He'd known that the scenery would be too much for a young girl to handle, and that if she were to heal, she'd have to go very far away indeed.

She moved in with her uncle who understood her pain, having lost both his parents himself, and started working at a small café. Her uncle knew that she'd never be able to look at pokemon quite the same way again, and so he never tried to get her back into training.

Beth was content enough to work at the café, the woman who owned it was a friend of her uncle, and was very friendly indeed. Unlike most who heard her story, she never pressed for details. Beth liked that very much, she was sick of remember those events, the day she lost her bulbasaur and her mother. It was easier to forget, to not talk about it at all.

On that sunny July day Ken, a 19 year old pokemorph walked into her café and brought with him everything she'd been hiding from. As far as pokemorphs went, he was very human looking. In truth he looked more like an elf than anything. His genes had been combined with that of a mew, but not very successfully. He'd ended up with mostly human genes. The only thing to show he was different was his pink skin, strange nose, triangular ears and of course, his tail. Other than that he looked exceedingly average, with snowy white hair, and bright blue eyes he was the image of teenage beauty.

He'd come from a very rich family. His creator, whom he refered to as Father, was an inventor of new pokeballs. Father had searched high and low for a mew fossil, after becoming obsessed with creating the perfect creature. Although in many ways his experiment had failed, Father was pleased enough with the results. He'd intended for Ken to be a super trainer, capable of being the trainer and the pokemon at once. However Ken had other plans. He wanted to catch pokemon for himself, and go on his own journeys free from his Father and his outlandish ideas.

His Father had agreed, although he made it clear that he would not be helping Ken on his journey. Ken hadn't cared one bit of course, and almost immediately ran off to get his first pokemon, a cindaquil.

Six years later, he was 19, and there she was. He could never fully explain what made her so attractive, although none could deny her beauty. She was a tall blond, although very skinny. Her eyes were big and purple, her cheeks rosy and red, and when she smiled it was as if it was all he could see.

He and his Quilava sat down in the cafes patio. Despite his attempts not to stare he could hear Quilava snickering at his indiscretion. He'd never been much of an actor, and when it came to cute girls he could barely keep his cool. Quilava understood that her trainer was nervous, and that only increased her laughter. She'd liked Ken a lot, but she found his human antics incredibly amusing.

Beth approached Ken and Quilava, putting on her best peppy and happy face. "What can I get you two today?" she asked, her voice sounded clear and musical and it was hard for Ken to concentrate on what she was asking. After a few moments of silence she was about to give up. Finally, Quilava took it upon herself to order, she knew Ken well enough. She pointed to the "chicken" strips for Ken, along with a soda pop, and just a lemonade for herself.

Beth thanked Quilava and excused herself. She couldn't shake a feeling that was creeping its way up her. Many boys had liked her before, thought she was cute, but she'd always rejected them. Now, seeing the boy with pink skin she could barely surpress her own troubling thoughts. He was cute, yes, but he wasn't hitting on her, or trying to impress her like every other boy she met.

He left quickly after finishing his meal, and she couldn't help but feel disappointed. She'd been hoping he'd say something, anything, but he had not.

Quilava wouldn't stop laughing at Ken all the way back to the pokecenter. While on a day to day basis Ken was overly confident, and perhaps even cocky, put him in front of a cute girl and he might has well have been mute. Quilava took such encounters to be entertaining, despite the discomfort they caused her trainer. But Ken knew she meant no harm, ever since he'd first got her six years ago, he'd known she had trouble taking anything too seriously.

He decided to call up his old friend Thomas, and ask him how the contests were going. He'd met Thomas a few years prior, and he'd always been able to lift Ken's spirits. However, while Ken had gone to the Tash region to challenge the pokemon league, Thomas had gone off to Johto for the contests. Being a guy, Ken had accepted this parting as part of life, but he still missed his old traveling companion sometimes.

After several attempts and no answer, Ken finally gave up. Quilava gave him a pitying look, which just made him feel worse. Despite his best attempts, Ken couldn't hid the fact that he was frightened his friendship with Thomas was over. Thomas hadn't answered his phone for a few weeks, and Ken suspected that he was finally fed up with Ken always being so emotional.

He sighed, and decided to put Quilava back in her pokeball. For a while he sat alone in the pokecenter, wondering what it was that made him so much more sensitive than other boys his age. In the end, he knew he was lonely. He had his pokemon, but he needed human companions as well, otherwise he wouldn't get very far on his journey. Feeling very melancholy he decided he'd go talk to the girl from the café.

Although unsure what exactly led him to talk to her, after all, he didn't actually know the girl, he couldn't surpress a good feeling that was growing inside of him.

With a quick look to his poketch he noted that it was already 9pm. Feeling slightly worried he wondered if the girl would even be there anymore. He crossed his fingers and kept walking.

Sure enough, when he reached the café the girl was locking the door and closing up. Fighting the urge to run away he managed to say, "Hi."

Beth jumped. She felt startled, she hadn't expected anyone to creep up behind her. Turning quickly, and trying to inconspicuously grab her pepper spray, she saw the source of the voice. It was the boy from earlier.

"Oh.. Hi," she managed to say at last, unsure whether the boy meant well.

Ken could feel himself blush. Immediately he felt embarrassed, his skin already being pink, when he blushed turned red. "Sorry, my name's Ken."

Beth didn't bother introducing herself. "What do you want Ken?"

Although he wasn't sure he liked the direction their conversation was headed, he went on, trying to be brave. He was feeling slightly sick though. It bothered him greatly that he couldn't talk to cute girls. Why could he be so confident in day to day life, but so nervous in front of a stranger? "I'm sorry, I felt bad about earlier today.." he trailed off, unsure of whether she even remembered him. Surely she had enough to keep track of and probably didn't have time to remember every single face. "I uh… I'm not good at talking to cute girls."

She didn't smile, but she wanted to. He was charmingly awkward. "Are you a pokemon trainer?" He questioned, thinking that perhaps if he battled her, he'd feel more confident. After all, winning always improved his people skills.

"No.. I'm not," she replied, "but I was." She wasn't sure what made her say it, and she immediately regretted it. Luckily the boy seemed to understand, and didn't ask further questions on the subject.

"Listen, I know I only just introduced myself to you and all, but I hear the carnival is in town and I thought maybe you'd like to go with me? I mean… I uh… will you uh…" he trailed off, feeling horrified at what he'd just done.

"I don't date," she said shortly, then seeing his hurt expression she continued, "But I'll go with you to the carnival if you'd like."

Ken wasn't sure how to take her answer, and he tried to remind himself that she hadn't exactly said yes. "When can I pick you up?"

Feeling oddly daring, she looked at her watch for a moment before responding. "I don't see why we can't just go now. It doesn't close until two in the morning."

"Great.. that's.. that's great. So… what's your name again?"

Author's note: Yup, that's it for chapter one. I hope you liked it. Next chapter you'll hear more about Beth's story and also about how Ken and Quilava met. Also, bare in mind this is an adventure story, so expect Beth to finally start her own journey. By the way, I really love reviews, they're like my drug. Just a thought to keep in mind.