I was eight years of age when I first met Delilah. How we met was an interesting occurrence, but I guess that's how fate works.

"Happy Eighth Birthday, Cece!"

Yup. It was exactly two years before I rejected the idea of going on a journey. Exactly two years before my sister began to take my training seriously (or as serious as my sister could possibly get, which most of the time wasn't extremely serious).

I sat at the dinner table with my entire family. It was eight o'clock, oddly enough. My sister had just closed up the gym for the night. My mom had no more house work to do. My dad no longer had to babysit my older sister (talk about ironic) at the gym for the night. School was no longer in session for the day. All of this freedom meant that all of the attention was on me for once.

(Yes, that does mean that I envied my sister's skills and attention every so often.)

Anyways, the birthday celebration was small, but it didn't matter; having my entire family together at the same time and place was a rare occurrence in my family, making the moment special in itself. My simple birthday cake sat in the center of the table. It was covered with cream cheese frosting and filled with the frosting and red velvet cake. There were nine candles dug deep into the surface of the cake-eight to represent my age and one for good luck. I blew out each candle carefully, wishing on each one as I did. Each wish was different and, for the most part, was focused towards obtaining something petty: good grades, to have a boy fall in love with me, et cetera, et cetera. However, the wish that I had made on the "good luck" candle was the most special one:

I wish I could make friends with my own Pokemon. I love Candice's Pokemon, but I wish I could experience the excitement of having my own. I want to be just like my sister.

I blew out the final candle, and then my dad began to cut the cake. He allotted a piece to each member of my family. Once everyone was served, we dug in, scarfing down the delicious cake as slowly as we could (which wasn't very slow, to be brutally honest).

I was the first to finish my piece. I then excused myself and asked my parents, "Can I stargaze on the hill for a bit?"

"But don't you want to open your gifts first?" Mom asked.

I nodded my head in disagreement.

My mom agreed. "Fine; go ahead. Just be back by nine latest, and don't stray past the hill! Oh, and bring a flashlight...and your emergency whistle, just in case something were to go wrong. Oh, and-"

"Mom," I groaned.

"Just be careful, okay? You don't have the protection of a Pokemon, and just the fact that you don't worries me. In fact...Candice, would you be a dear and-"

"Fine," she groaned in agreement, "I'll go."

"Thank you, sweetie," my mom said gratefully.

Candice and I grabbed our coats and went outside. "Remember," my mom reminded us, "nine o'clock latest!"

We then waved to our mom as a signal that we heard her, then left the house.

-x-

This hill and I have always shared a close bond. If it weren't for this particular hill-let's call it The Hill from here on out-then I'd be a totally different person. By totally different person, I mean I'd probably end up being a loser who grows old and alone and lives with thirty-five Purugly in her house rather than with a loving husband.

As my sister and I sat on The Hill, I looked for shooting stars, and Candice for anything unusual or interesting (whether it be nebulae or cosmos or planets). A comet slingshotted across the star-spangled sky like a rocket, and my sister squealed, "Ooh! Make a wish! Quick!"

To this day, I never found out what my sister wished for. However, my wish was the same exact as the one that I had made on the "good luck" candle: to have my own Pokemon and to be great like Candice.

Then, something remarkable happened. A women, shrouded by a thick, wool cloak that was darkly colored, ran out of the nearby woods and towards me. Not towards Candice. Me. There was something wrapped in a light cloth in her hands, but I couldn't tell what it was.

She positioned herself in front of me and shoved the package into my arms. "Keep Delilah safe," she advised. "Keep her safe from them."

Something else I never understood: who was them?

Regardless, I didn't protest. Before I had a change to even mutter a word to the lady, she fled instantly and quickly.

I looked down at the package. "What is it?" Candice asked.

I was about to find out. I slowly removed the wrappings from the package and found a Snorunt hidden inside the cloth. It blinked at me, then looked around, trying to move its cone-shaped body as she did. "Where am I?" she asked in a panic.

Candice and I were stricken with shock. Simultaneously, we cried out, "You can talk?"

"A better question would be: 'Can you two pipe down a little already?'" she responded with a sassy attitude.

We silently took her back to the house.

-x-

"Let me get this straight," my dad said, "a strange lady gave you this Pokemon out of nowhere and left. Isn't that a bit suspicious."

"Not as suspicious as this," I said.

I poked the Snorunt's shoulder, and she shouted, "Hey! What gives!"

"How interesting!" my mother cried out.

I focused my attention on the Snorunt. It was cute, could talk, and had an attitude. As annoying as I expected the attitude to be, I overlooked that fact and zeroed in on its cuteness.

I thought about how the lady had just shown up out of nowhere, all just to give me a Pokemon and run off afterwards...

...and then it hit me. My wish had come true! I then begged my parents, "Can I keep her? Please!"

"Sweetie," my dad said, bending down so his eyes could meet mine, "having a Pokemon is a big responsibility. I don't think that you're ready for that yet."

My mom agreed. Candice, on the other hand, objected. She countered with, "Why do you say that? For the love of Arceus, I was there when it happened! That lady practically chose her to care for this Snorunt. She and Cece were destined to be paired up with each other."

My parents exchanged glances as they silently tried to figure out what to do. Then, my dad spoke up. "Fine," he said, "but on one condition."

I asked, "Which is-"

It was my mom's turn to talk: "Candice needs to help you take care of her until your tenth birthday. By then, you'll be old enough to take care of her all by yourself."

"Deal," Candice agreed.

I nodded. "Sounds good to me," I said.

I looked down at the Snorunt cradled in my arms. Sarcastically, Delilah complained, "Oh, but I was kind of hoping that I'd have to run around with that panicked loser for the rest of eternity."

Oh, hush now, I thought.

"Are you going to name her?" my sister asked.

As I looked down at my new friend, I replied, "Yes. Delilah." Candice raised an eyebrow. "It's the name that the lady used when she gave Delilah to me. Plus, it sounds pretty."

"It does, doesn't it?" Delilah agreed.

"This sounds great and all, but aren't we all forgetting something?" my dad pointed out.

My mom, my sister, and I all stared at my dad with confused glances.

"Delilah needs a Pokeball," he explained.

"Ohhhhh," I droned.

My dad ran out of the room for a few moments. When he returned, there was a Pokeball in his right hand. He clicked the center button, and the object dilated to three times its original size. He gave the enlarged object to me and told me, "You do the honors."

I put Delilah on the floor and threw the Pokeball at her. With a beam of red light, she was transferred inside of the ball. It fell to the floor and turned red. It rocked back and forth impatiently.

Wobble, wobble.

Wobble, wobble.

Wobble, wobble.

Click!

With an array of sparkles, the ball indicated that Delilah had been successfully caught. I picked up the ball and looked at it. My first Pokemon, I thought.

A red beam of light flashed from the center of the Pokeball, and out came Delilah. "Wait," I said out loud, "how did you-"

"Come on," she grumbled, "you expect me to sit in there forever?"

"It's only been about a minute, not even," I pointed out.

"Whatever. It felt like forever to me."

Taking care of Delilah with Candice will be one heck of an adventure, I thought. No doubt about that.

And that's where our story began.