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Amie rested outside of her apartment complex, leaning against the multistory tall building thinking about what she should do next. The day was just starting, and it looked like sunny skies all day. This nagging feeling told her it would be a waste to not be out and about, rather than a more enjoyable lounge inside.

Amie sighed and took a quick second to reflect on yesterday. That was the day that she quit her job that she had been working at for three years. And all those years were dull and boring to her, but at least it was easy. Every day before today, she would do her little song and dance to help the customers that walked in daily to the department store.

Same old same old, until one day on break she was sipping on a soda pop in the electronic department having a discussion with one of her coworkers. Annoying guy at times, always talking about battling strategies, though she doubted he actually had any pokemon since he never talked about his or brought any to work. She would listen to him sometimes but mostly was just there to watch what was playing on the numerous televisions around the floor.

That day there was a rerun of a previous grand festival playing on one of the tvs and the two started up a conversation about what would be easier, gym battles or contests. He sided with the first and she with the later. To her, contests were easier for one since you only needed five ribbons compared to eight badges. She also liked that the contest battles were random rather than set types, less worry about your own team, in her opinion.

Then she started to compare contests to her current life. Amie was getting tired of her receptionist job and these contests offered something new. Her current job paid enough for her to afford a shared apartment while she had heard of coordinators living lives close to luxury. She weighed the options in her mind, a little hard work in exchange for a possibility of great rewards.

After a few hours of thinking while staying at her post, she made up her mind. She went and bought a few necessary things around the store, a cheap plastic pokedex, a few pokeballs with some essential healing items, and a lot of her favorite soda pops for along the way. This spending spree didn't go unnoticed as her supervisor asked her what was up. She explained to the supervisor what she had planned and though he was a little skeptical given previous experiences with Amie, he let her leave, expecting her back within the week.

So then out of the department store, Amie did the next thing on her list, get a pokemon. The quickest way to do that in Celadon was to win one at the game corner. A quick trip there and a lot of slot pulling she had earned enough coins for the cheapest pokemon, an Abra. She was a bit upset learning from her pokedex that the only thing the pokemon could do right now was teleport. She made a quick trip back to the department store, receiving some heckling from previous coworkers believing that after a hour she had com back for her job, and bought a couple tms that were soon taught to her new pokemon.

So now she was here outside this building wondering what to do next. She could off the bat go to the contest hall and try her hand at this contest thing that she had chosen, but she had no experience with that and a better choice would probably be to train with her Abra to get some practice done. She figured she might as well, even though it seemed like it would be a pain. Amie picked up a large black messenger bag next to her that held all her items and headed over to route seven.

The weather was perfect for the kick-start of his adventure. "It seems a little cliche," Landrum thought, "Doesn't it ever rain? It seems like it's always a nice day for people when they leave home for the first time." His trusted partner and friend, Bulbasaur, gave him a blank stare, not meaning to say anything in particular, but merely listening to the thoughts of his Trainer, even if he didn't really care about what his thoughts on the weather were.

"Saffron's not that far away, Bulbasaur. We can get there in a day's walk, I bet, so let's go!" With that, the Landrum returned Bulbasaur to his PokeBall and set off towards Route 7.

Passing through the streets of Celadon City, Landrum thought to himself, "This is the last time I'm going to be seeing this place for a while." He felt just a hint of nostalgia, but quickly dismissed it. It's not as if he was going to be gone forever. After all, he would eventually need to earn Erika's gym badge from her. "But first," he thought, "Let's start with a gym leader whose Pokemon type we have an advantage over. "I don't want to pit Bulbasaur against other grass Pokemon," he thought, "That battle would take forever, and most likely end up in another loss. Though it wouldn't be the first time." Landrum and Bulbasaur were used to losing. Though they had tasted victory a few times, it wasn't enough to become as strong as they hoped for. But they had faith in each other, so they never gave up. If they lost, then they lost, and that's just the way it was. If it was planned for them to lose, then there was nothing that they could possibly do to change that plan. However, they could read the losses as signs: signs that point towards potential greatness, if they followed the new path being presented to them. And so, Landrum set off towards the eastern outskirts of Celadon city and towards the wilderness of Route 7, hoping to encounter many wild Pokemon and other traveling Trainers.

Dante walked into the gym. "You guys ready?" He asked his pokemon and they nodded. "Where's the leader?" He asked someone as the leader walked by. "I'll be right with you just go get ready." The gym leader said and Dante walked to where he needed to be. He then saw the gym leader come out. The battle started. "Slakoth, use toxic!" He said and toxic was used but stopped by the enemy jumpluff using protect. Slakoth slacked off and because of it, he was hit by leech seed. Slakoth then used fire blast but again was blocked by protect. Slakoth then got health back by leftovers, though it was then taken away because of the leech seed. "Slakoth, come back and go timburr!" He yelled and did as he said. Then, timburr used poison jab, after he was seeded and mega drained. The poison jab incredibly hurt the pokemon. They continued fighting, dante was losing the fight. Timburr was now fainted and slakoth was back out. Soon, both the leader's jumpluff and his slakoth were gone. Aron vs. cacturne.
Aron lost..."Damnit." He said, returned his pokemon and then healed them. He then when he was done at the center, he then went to a lake and rented a fishing pole. He got the best available. He headed out to the lake and looked for a spot. There was a spot labeled "danger." as in, you'll get your money you used on bait wasted because of a smart pokemon in those waters. He walked on in and everyone pointed and laughed as they thought he just didn't see the sign. He tossed it in and waited. He wore his usual sunshades. They somehow made the swampiest/darkest waters, be as clear as clean glass. So, he then saw a blue blur moving fast for his bait. "Bingo." He then got in stance to pull it out. He pulled out as the pokemon jumped. His slakoth came out and got ready. As dante pulled his bait out of water the blue blur didn't think and jumped out after it. It then landed out on the water...which fell for the trap. It landed and slakoth hit it with shadow claw. He and every one else saw what the blue blur was, a totodile. The totodile bit the slakoth and angered it. Totodile then was hit by a stronger shadow claw. Totodile couldn't attack fast enough because of slakoth's anger, because again it was hit even harder. "Slakoth, that's enough! go pokeball!" Dante threw the pokeball. It gave Dante feel suspense as it slowly wobbled. Then it clicked. "Welcome, totodile...but In your current form, I'm going to call you toto." He said kindly to the pokemon he now had.