Lesson #1

Kita DeFoe had a long time leading up to this moment, standing at the edge of Pallet Town. It had been a bit of a journey from her home back in Blackthorn City, but thanks to some of her father's connections she'd made it there with ease. The young 15 year old girl had just arrived from a ferry, and was now just south of Pallet. Two Pokemon stood by her side; one was a black canine with golden rings on its body, the other a purple one with a split in its tail and gem on its forehead.

"Well Ella, Umber...here we are. Long way from home eh? But...I guess it doesn't look all that different..." Kita lied through her teeth. It was very different from the rugged atmosphere and terrain in Blackthorn. In fact, it seemed very tame, soft, and safe here. "This must be why he wanted me to start here..." she muttered before tapping her outer thigh, to which both Pokemon stood and began to follow her into town. "Let's see what we can find. First thing's first; we need to go visit Professor Oak."

Nakaharu had sure made an effort of getting this far into kanto. He had
been in Newbark town before coming here. His Along side him was a
companion he had bonded with only a few months ago, Vulpix. It was
strolling along happily as the sun shone down through the cloudless sky.
He made tracks toward the same place as Kita did, even from the same
direction. They were actually pretty close, but there was enough between
them that it was unnoticed. Nakaharu didn't see her, and just continued
walking along the path.

Vulpix, however, did notice the the
young girl with her two pokemon. The Vulpix cheerfully said, "VUUuuul!"
Whether or not it was just trying to gain attention was unknown, but it
did at least attract Nakaharu's attention.

"What is it, Vulpix?" Nakaharu asked the red fox pokemon. He looked in Vulpix' direction.

"Vuul!" Vulpix didn't give any hints on what it was trying to say to Nakaharu.

Kita had walked halfway down the main path in the small town, and could nearly see Professor Oak's lab just up a ways. However, the Vulpix's coo caused Ella the Espeon to halt in her tracks and perk her ears up. Kita walked on a few steps with Umber before halting and turning to see her companion standing still.

"What is it, Ella?" Kita asked, closing the gap between them and kneeling down to her level. Ella's head turned quickly to face the direction of the noise source. Her ears twitched once or twice before hearing the coo again, allowing the Pokémon to properly lock on to the location. Now she saw them, as did Umber. Ella became overly excited, and began bounding off to see if the little vulpine Pokémon wanted to play. "Ella!" Kita shouted, as she stood sharply and watched the Pokémon take off. Umber merely shook his head, and began to follow as Kita ran after her Espeon.

{Cooing, XD Thanks for finding the right word.}

Vulpix noticed the distance between the girl's voice and them was closing quickly. It could tell that Kita was coming closer. Vulpix, also getting excited, started running toward them, with a "VUUL!". Its excitement was raising with every step closer it took toward Kita.

"Hu- Vulpix! Where are you going?" Nakaharu shouts, having to run to keep up with the fox. The Vulpix just kept running, much faster than Nakaharu is. "Slow down, will you?" Nakaharu had a slight smile form. Vulpix slowed down for its trainer, but it was not nearly enough for him to keep up.

Ella quickly made her way to the Vulpix and without really thinking about it playfully tackled when she was close enough. Umber merely shook his head as he watched, jogging lightly behind Kita who was fast approaching the scene. She might not have been as fast as her Pokemon, but with the training she did she was still pretty swift.

Umber rushed ahead of Kita, sliding across the ground as he attempted to turn sharply before lunging forward, knocking Ella away mid-air before she landed on the small fox Pokemon. Kita slowed her pace as she could finally see what was going on, and came to a stop a few yards away. She placed her hands on her knees and rested against them, panting just a bit as she regained her breath.Finally she stood again, and walked the rest of the way toward the Pokemon, Umber finally letting Ella up once she calmed down enough to think before pouncing on a strange Pokemon.

The Vulpix had been running toward them still. And when Ella attempted to tackle it, it stopped. And then then when Umber had knocked Ella away, Vulpix tilted its head to the side. Vulpix saw their trainer appear from behind them, and made another small cooing.

"Aw, Vulpix..." Nakaharu said, still running to get to the Vulpix that had pretty much left him behind. "Could we please do our cardio exercises later?" He stopped and put his hands on his knees, head down, trrying to catch his breath. He then looked up, first seeing an Espeon and then he saw an umbreon. He then saw a girl behind them, who he assumed was the trainer. "Oh... sorry if I've disturbed you," Nakaharu said.

Though Umbra was no longer pinning Ella, she still knocked him over so that she could rush up to the Vulpix and immediately started sniffing at the small creature curiously. Umber sighed a bit and walked up next to Ella, though stayed a bit further behind her a step or two.

Kita reached them, and noticed the Vulpix apparently had a trainer since he too was panting from running. "I assume that the Vulpix is yours, then?" she asked and tapped her thigh. Ella's ears perked and she immediately stopped what she was doing, and both the eeveelutions returned to Kita's side. "No apologies are necessary...see, Ella is just easily excitable so it was more my failing at training her that caused it if anything."

The small six-tailed fox, instead of walking back to Nakaharu, strolled toward Kita and gave a loud "PIX" as a greeting to her. It sat down in front of her, all six of its tails vibrating in excitement.

"Don't worry about it, I don't think you failed anything," Nakaharu said to the girl. "Anyway, my name is Nakaharu... I'm really from Johto, not from here." He says.

Kita glanced down at the Vulpix, then knelt down for a moment to pet it. She stood back up, brushing the dirt from her knee as she looked toward Nakaharu. "Nakaharu...that's quite a mouthful, isn't it? My name is Kita and...I'm actually from Johto as well. My father thought it to be better for me to start off here in Pallet town so he arranged for me to get on a ferry. I'm from Blackthorn City."

Ella let out a little yip, gaining Kita's attention. "Oh I'm sorry...This is Ella, and this is Umber. I've had them with me since I was ten," she said, motioning to each the Espeon then Umbreon at her sides. "So what brings you to Kanto?"

Nakaharu put his hand behind his head and said, "Well... I lived in Newbark town... I've been in Johto for a while before, so... I thought... maybe... I could come here to Kanto," he says to Kita. He tried to avoid saying the real reason he had left. Nakaharu acted like there wasn't much reason besides that and made a fake smile.

After Kita had stopped petting Vulpix, it hopped to Nakaharu, and Nakaharu held it into his arms. "It's... more of a long story really."

Kita just stared at Nakaharu, rubbing her hands together to get the bits of red fur off of them. She could read it on his face alone that he was lying, she didn't even need to read his aura. However, she knew enough not to pry. It could only lead to one of two things, neither of which did she care for. "Fair enough," she said before turning to face the direction she came from. "I was just on my way to stop by and see Professor Oak to pick up my supplies, and you?" she asked turning her head slightly to him again.

However, she didn't wait for an answer before she began walking in the direction of the lab. "Nice to meet you, Nakaharu," she said with a slight pause before his name. It was said in a tone that was almost indescribable, a laugh almost under her voice. Umber followed calmly and quietly, but Ella bounced on Nakaharu's toes before running off after Kita.

"Uh, well I- er... nice to meet you, too?" Nakaharu says. He was about to answer the question but she left too fast for him　to really say much. It startled him when the Espeon had hopped on his feet. It jumped away before he could really respond though.

Nakaharu sighed, that question brought back the past that he had experienced. He dropped himself against a tree, trying to rub away those memories. It happened only a few months ago, so of course it'd be a bit hard for him to forget at the moment.

Kita made her way to Oak's lab, regardless of the other fresh trainer she'd met. She figured odds were they'd meet again. Perhaps at the lab, perhaps just later down the road. Either way, she saw in his aura that...he wasn't just normal. Ella was a bit sad to leave the playful Vulpix behind, but knew that it belonged to another trainer and wanting it hard enough wouldn't make it a partner of Kita. Umber even tried to cheer her up a bit as they waited outside the lab for a few minutes, and acted playful as Kita went inside.

"Hello?" She asked, stepping into the building. "Umm...Professor Oak?" she called as she walked further in, past shelves full of research notes. "My name is Kita DeFoe...My father called ahead of time, he told me to come see you when I arrived..."

The voice of professor oak came. "Just a minute, I'll be right there." Professor oak took a few minutes, and finally appeared. "So you're Kita from Blackthorn... nice to meet you. Yes your father did happen to call me, but you see, I... completely forgot what I was supposed to do when you came." Professor said, with an embarrassed tone.

Kita's heart rate had increased a bit in the silence as she glanced around. With all the pokeballs and Pokemon in there, it was hard to pin point the Professor's aura. Finally she heard his voice, making her halt quickly. She wouldn't admit it, but inside it made her jump a bit after getting herself all worked up. It was, though, quickly followed by a bit of a groaning sigh.

"Well..." Kita said, trying to remember what her father had told her. "Umm...my father...he said something about talking to you, and picking something up for my journey. That's all he really told me," Kita admitted, feeling a bit ashamed that she wasn't more prepared. She should have known that of all the younger scientists she would be sent to the one who was going senile. "Oh well..." she muttered to herself, ready to turn and walk away empty handed.

(Senile XD)

"Give you something? Oh, that's right!" Professor walked to one of the nearby tables which had a few pokeballs and a pokedex. "These are actually yours." He says to Kita, grabbing them to hand to her. "And also, I'll give you 15000 to start off with so that if you are in need of supplies, you may be able to buy them."

Kita grabbed the small pack from off her shoulder, and opened the draw-string pocket. "Thank you very much," she said, giving a polite bow before she packed the few pokeballs into the pocket, and placed the money into her wallet. She examined the Pokedex for a few moments before slipping it into an inner pocket of the bag and pulling the string tight to make sure nothing fell out. "If that's all he wanted, then I'll get out of your hair now. I'm sure Umber and Ella are getting anxious to leave anyway," she said, giving another bow as she slung the pack on her shoulder before heading for the door.

"Good to have met you," the professor says to Kita. "Good luck on your adventures, and meet many pokémon!" He says as she took her leave. He walked back to where he came from. "Now, lunch... ancovy, spinach and pineapple pizza!" He says excitedly.

Meanwhile, Nakaharu had gone toward a large mountain that he had sidetracked to. It was weird, it felt like there was a freezing cold draft coming from it, as if it opened wide. He sttudied it, there seemed to be no opening. He walked closer and the coldness rose. He put his hand against the mountain side where the draft was coming from... or so he thought he did. His hand went straight through the mountain side. Nakaharu blinked. There were no holes or anything, yet it his hand was right through. He took it back out in disbelief. Nakaharu sighed and walked toward the mountain. He expected impact from the mountain to happen. His eyes were closed and he waited for the hit to come and confirm that he was just out of it... yet... it didn't come. The temperature around him dropped sharply. Nakaharu stopped and opened his eyes. Ice.. a whole cave with every inch the eye could see covered in ice.

Nakaharu felt the urge to jump back, and he tripped in the process, falling back out of the cave. Vulpix sat down near Nakaharu, confused, making the soud "vuii?" Nakaharu was frozen there, not because of what cold was in there, but because what he just saw. Is this even possible? He just stared at the mountain in awe.

Kita exited the lab, Ella and Umber perking up from their resting place in the shade of the building. "Hey guys, ready to go?" she asked, to which the two stood and happily trotted over to their trainer, Ella more bubbly than Umber of course. "Looks like I got everything, let's move out!" Kita said enthusiastically, pumping up her Pokémon who quickly followed as she took off running down the road out of town.

After about ten minutes of straight running, Kita and her two companions finally slowed down to take in their surroundings. It was pretty open, and there didn't seem to be all that much around. Kita's chest rose and fell deeply as she caught her breath and glanced around. Nothing out of the ordinary until she spotted a familiar silhouette in the distance. "Hmm...I wonder," Kita said, as she started off toward the mountain side.

A few minutes pass, and she figures she's close enough when she can clearly make out the definition of Nakaharu and his vulpix before she calls out. "Hey! Nakaharu!" she calls, waving her arm over her head with her other hand cupped around her mouth as though trying to carry her voice further. "Long time no see, stranger!!!" she yells as she continues walking up, though his aura seemed slightly distressed, more so than it had been earlier.

Nakaharu jumped to his feet when he heard Kita's voice. His concentration on the mountain had been broken so suddenly. He turned to Kita, recognizing her voice. "Oh, hello again!" Nakaharu says back. From being in the cooler atmosphere, Nakaharu seemed a bit paler than before. He tried to block the thought of there actually being a hole in the side of the mountain, it sounded absurd... but he couldn't, as long as that chilly air continued to reach him. He tried to ignore it and waved to Kita.

Vulpix ran up to Kita again, making the sound "VUL!" It stood on its hind legs in front of her, excitedly wagging its six tails as it did before.

"So, uh..." Nakaharu starts, "anything interesting happen while you were there?" He looked behind him at the mountain again, seeing the wall still. There was no way he could have actually walked through that... he kept thinking it repeatedly. But he couldn't conclude any reason for the cold air being there without the thought that it was possible. He tried to stop looking at it before his curiosity was noticed.

Kita paused for a moment to pat the Vulpix before walking forward to close the gap between Nakaharu and herself. Ella stayed behind to play with the Vulpix, while Umber stayed close to Kita's side. "Nah, I think that old man is going senile. He ought to retire soon with how his memory is slipping. Fortunately, I was able to jog his memory and he gave me my supplies," Kita said, motioning to her pack. However, the look on Nakaharu's face didn't escape her keen eye.

"What about you?" she asked, eyeing him a bit. "Anything...interesting happen here?" She asked as she took another step forward. However, that extra step put her right in the cross breeze and she felt a chill run over her. She quickly turned to the mountain side, and clasped her hands to her arms. "Brr...what in the world is that?" Kita asked, as she took a step toward the secret cave. She glanced back at Nakaharu to watch his aura. It was clear he had seen something. She knew he must feel the chill as well.

"Nakaharu...what is this?" she asked, motioning to the mountain. "And don't even say 'a mountain' because I know something is up. Where is that breeze coming from, and why is it so damn cold?" She asked, taking another step toward the hidden cavern. Meanwhile, Ella was preoccupied trying to play with the Vulpix by pouncing on it.

Nakaharu sighed as the very words he was going to say were tossed aside by her ability to predict his words. He was trying before to confirm that what he had noticed before was a bunch of rubbish. "Well... you see... It's... hard to actually explain," Nakaharu says, walking toward the mountain hesitantly. He put his hand right through the mountain as he had done by accident before. "It's kind of odd..." Nakaharu took his hand out of the bitter cold from inside the strange type of barrier.

Vulpix was easily knocked over by the espeon, as it had still been sitting on its hind legs. It playfully cooed a "Puii!" It shook its head, making some shed red fur fly into the air.

Kita was silent, only taking another step back as she watched Nakaharu put his hand through the seemingly solid stone wall. However, he pulled it out with ease and there seemed to be no damage to him or the wall. "But...how?" was all Kita managed to ask as she walked toward the structure. She walked a few paces over, touching the solid part as she drug her hand across it and walked toward Nakaharu until her hand pushed right through. "It's like there's nothing there...like a hologram or something..." she noted, placing her other hand up and through the wall.

"This...this is really weird. I can see now why you seemed so distressed," she said without thinking just before she quickly stepped through the barrier. Her step echoed in the icy cavern as she looked around, the small amount of light bouncing everywhere from the reflective surface on everything. Kita let out a little gasp, her hot breath visible in the cold atmosphere. She quickly walked back out, and looked to Nakaharu. "It's...freezing in there," she said simply staring over at him.

"Speeoooon" Ella cooed as the Vulpix got back up. Umber wasn't the most playful partner, so she took every opportunity to play with other ones. But her attention quickly changed when she looked in the direction of Kita with a stern expression. Kita's aura had changed, and as a Psychic type who'd been raised by her, Ella was sensitive to these subtle changes. She rushed to Kita's side, where Umber was already waiting.

"So I wasn't just out of it," Nakaharu said quietly, only keen ears would have picked his voice up. Nakaharu took a step into the somehow illusory mountain side, following Kita in. The temperature around him fell sharply as he entered the hall of ice. Nakaharu wasn't wearing clothes good for the cold, so the frozen air got to him rather easily. He didn't allow himself to shiver though.

Vulpix ran up and jumped straight into Nakaharu's arms. It was from behind, so Nakaharu had to react rather quickly. It made a soft "vuii..." It seemed like it was vibrating in the cold.

"Here..." Nakaharu says, using one hand to take out Vulpix's Pokéball. But when he was about to put the Vulpix into the Pokéball, it declined. Nakaharu hesitated putting the ball away. 'Vulpix? What is it you're doing?' He thinks to himself. The Vulpix just dug deeper into his arms. "So..." He says, turning to Kita, "What do you think we should do?"

Ella and Umber followed the others in, as Kita took a second gasping breath in the cold. She was wearing stockings, but they didn't help much when she was wearing a skirt otherwise. She looked over to Nakaharu, with the small red fox now snuggled deep into his arms. "I think she's trying to keep you warm...you don't look like you fare too well with the cold weather, do you?" She asked before turning into the cave.

"So where do you suppose this leads? I mean...Something has to be back there making the air here so frigid, right? But the thing is...I've never heard about this place, or anything like it before honestly. I thought the route from Pallet Town to Viridian City was supposed to be a rather easy journey, three day hike tops. Never heard of any caves..." Kita rambled before she quickly became quiet and blushed. She realized she hadn't given Nakaharu a chance to speak in a while.

"I'm terribly sorry..." she started then looked down to her partners. They knew well enough to signal when they became too cold. However, it didn't mean they would. They could be just as stubborn as their trainer at times. "Well I'd like to know what's causing this, what about you?"