Chapter Text
The Pokéball let out a red light, and from the light emerged a green, bipedal reptile with a large tail. It took a fighting stance and looked over it's shoulder, shooting May a cool expression. "Treecko!" it hissed.
"Alright uhhh...Treecko? OKAY. Treecko. Save your friend from those Pokémon!"
The gecko nodded at May and ran towards the pack of dark-furred canines, leaping into action and slamming it's tail into all three of it's opponents' faces with one mighty swing. Treecko then jumped into the air again, this time soaring over the heads of it's foes and landing on the tree trunk, sticking to it with it's hands and feet. The vicious triad, recovering from the blow they'd just taken to their faces, turned around and barked angrily, gnashing their teeth.
"Use leer!"
Narrowing it's eyes, Treecko turned it's gaze towards the three dogs and stared them down with an intense, leering expression.
"Treecko," it hissed again, this time with a fury that seemed almost comical coming from such a tiny creature. Two of the three dark-furred canines, beaten down, stopped their angry barking and began to whimper. Backing-off meekly, they turned-tail and quickly disappeared into the brush. The remaining one was still angry, though. It lunged forward at the tree
The man in the tree began fumbling down the branches to the ground. The Treecko returned to May, and clambered up her back, placing it's hands around her shoulders.
"Thanks for the assist, stranger," motioned the man, who was patting himself down and dusting-off his lab coat. "I'm Professor Birch. Most people just call me the Pokémon professor, though." He offered his hand, and May took it and gave it a light shake. "And who might you be?"
"Um, my name is May."
"May…" Birch contemplated. "May. Where have I heard that- ah! Would your father happened to be man named Norman?"
She sighed, fiddling with the zipper on her satchel. "Yep. That's my dad."
"Oh! Well I guess that means you're my neighbor now! Wonderful! Y'know, my son Brendan is about your age. He'll be so happy knowing that he has somebody nearby that's as good at battling as he is."
"Ahehehe… thanks." May motioned, as politely as she could, remembering how rude she had been about the subject when her mom mentioned it. Though she was admittedly uncomfortable with how forward the professor was, she felt bad about having acted so indifferent earlier to the idea of meeting her neighbors. "You know, I've never really battled too much before. I don't even have my own Pokémon…"
"What?! You mean that was just natural talent?"
May, thought flattered by the compliment, was prepared to protest, but Birch kept excitedly talking.
"That Treecko is usually so fickle, too. He barely listens to anybody, but he was totally in sync with you… fascinating. But not surprising coming from Norman's kid-"
It was true that their confrontation with the Poochyena had gone a lot more smoothly than she'd imagined, but being called "naturally talented" felt… wrong. Especially when she thought about all the times she'd seen her father and Slaking battle together. Now that was skill. Compared to him, she wasn't anything worth fussing over. She glanced over her shoulder at the Treecko, still contently positioned on her back. She could feel him exhaling softly, fatigued from the fight. Was she really any good at all?
"Hey, y'know, I may have something you could help me out with," Birch started, snapping May out of her doubtful internal monologue. "Professor Samuel Oak and I are collaborating on a project right now in Hoenn, and we need to hire a few research assistants to lend a hand. Would it be possible for you to participate?"
"Uhhh… I guess that depends on what you need me to do?" she replied.
"Well, it has to do with helping to catalogue the Pokémon that live in Hoenn." He reached inside his lab coat and pulled out a small device. It looked a little bit like a portable video game console; octagonal and coloured red and orange, with a small screen in the center and buttons towards the sides. "This," said the professor, excitedly, is called a PokéDex