An orange glow spread across the forest tree tops, some light breaking through the cracks in the leaves above. It was a scenic place, gorgeous no matter how you looked at it. The wild pokemon, the lush greenery, it was all something that E always thought was so peaceful. It calmed the soul, helped him think. But now was different, having set out much earlier than now, the boy had completely lost track of the time. By now, he should have been in the next town. After all, he had actually set out today with the plan on starting a pokemon adventure. A little late, some may say, but not to him. He kept putting it off, always going back to the city where his home was. It was comfortable there, and the idea of having to properly fend for himself was tough. 

But! Here he was, running at full speeds through a forest he knew well. In front of him was a buzzing light, which he was in hot pursuit of. "Almost!" He cried with glee, twigs and branches smacking into him as he ran. Despite his small frame and overall pathetic-looking appearance, he was taking this like a champ. Covered head to doe in cuts and bruises, all from being a little bit too boisterous. 

"Gotcha!" He burst out of a bush, comically posed like a runner in mid air. Somehow, the greenery had obscured his vision greatly and disguised a small cliff edge that went down to a clearing. "Ah." 

Falling down, he flailed about frantically until landing abruptly in front of another person. Munchlax also did the same, landing with a soft thud on E's head. 

"Munch."

"What the ...ahhh", with the force of a wild flygon, a green hair boy flew out of the rustling bush. Totally shaking up by the unexpected appearance Eden and Litwick jumped up, his pokemon landing on his head. A spot Litwick always prefered. "Lit?", a big question mark wandered over Eden and Litwick's head before they leaned down to check on the fallen pair.

"Oh, I am really ....you scared there. Are you okay?", Eden crunched down next to the fallen green boy to check if it he had hurt himself. Judging by his clothes - he must be a trainer too. Maybe someone who was scouting the woods for new pokemon.

"Munch, munch." E's pokemon grunted, plucking a fallen berry from its trainer's hair. Quickly, the pokemon began chewing before hopping down and aimlessly walking around in search for more. 

Staying in the same position, E continued laying in an uncomfortable position, rear in the air and was looking at the other upside-down. "I'm fine. Did I scare you?" 

Eventually, E would shift his body around until he was sat cross legged, staring with a blank expression at the trainer. "Wait, are you a trainer?" Without waiting for an answer, E would hold out a hand and lower his head in greeting, "My name is E and I am also a trainer! Do you want to be friends!" He screamed loudly, squeezing his eyes shut and not even making eye contact with them. 

Eden had not met many trainers before, but this one seemed rather odd. Probably one of these eccentric ones he saw on TV... The kind that would go on and on about their unique bond with their Pokemon and how they would be the nex champ.

"I am Eden, and this is Pentagram! Nice to meet you!", Eden extended his hand, not that his "new friend" didn't even bother looking at him. Eden wasn't sure about the trainer etiquette, would he have to ask him for a battle now? Surely he wasn't in the mood...

Upon initiating the handshake, E would excitably shake it with both hands, gripping firmly and pulling Eden in close to him. "Oh wow, our name's are quite similar!" His eyes sparkled, "Except your parents decided to actually finish it properly. Aha..."

His laughter trailed off into an awkward silence as the trainer got distracted. Eyes wandered into the forest, where he stopped and silently watched for a moment. Was there something there in the shadows? He wasn't sure, but it also made Munchlax look too, "Munch?"

...

"YOU KNOW!" E abruptly roared, snapping back into reality and carrying on the conversation, "Maybe that's why I haven't nicknamed my pokemon, I must have got it from my parents."

Munchlax snapped in annoyance, slapping his belly with a frown and pointing to the forest. 

"Huh? Oh, there's nothing there. I was just thinking."

"Munch!"

"Oh shush."

All the excitement of E showered Eden. Never before had anyone shaken his hand like this—what a rollercoaster ride of an introduction! E reminded him of Psyduck, either hyperactive with 100 thoughts at once or none at all.

"Oh, the name! Well... actually Litwick thought of named itself. It would always draw pentagrams on the floor with its wax. Kinda spooked my grandma out... a lot. Hehe! So I figured why not call it pentagram", Eden said, continuing the banter of sharing. All of a sudden Litwick's candle flared up? Was something wrong? Focusing on the underwood, it was almost like Eden could sense something lurking in the dark. The stranger must feel it, too, as he zoned in on the forest.

"Weird, Pentagram? Is everything okay?", Eden ask to confirm his feeling.

"Right." E cocked his head to one side, confused. That was strange, a pokemon doing such freaky things. Ghosts were weird, he thought. Cute, but weird. "Mine aren't smart enough to do that." 

Looking down at Munchlax, he watched as the pokemon started chewing on a snapped branch, his eyes half open as he started falling asleep, a bit of drool swinging from his chin as well. E nodded proudly to himself. Yup, that's his first pokemon. The pokemon his mother got for him. Likely to have stood there longer, it was maybe a good thing the litwick started booking out a bit. 

"Oh?" A strange flame, a weird sensation, and a creeping shadow in the distance. Then to top it all of, Eden has to ask his pokemon if everything was ok. 

Hell. No. 

"Fuck this I'm outta here." In one swift set of movements, E scooped up munchlax with one arm, grabbed his bag with the other, and stared hurrying back to the city.

"Hey! Wait, where are you going?", this was certainly the most bizarre conversation Eden had ever had. It went from all chatty to "goodbye" in no time. E was certainly strange, but his best shot at getting out of the forest. So he had to take it.

"Wait! Are you from here?"; without realising, Eden grabbed E's hand to pull him back. As E gently was turned, Eden noticed his forwardness stepping back, waving his hands up. "Sorry, it's just", the trainer started to look embarrassed to the side. "It's just I have been sort of lost for a while in this forest. So I was hoping you might know the way to the next city?"

"Away from the creepy thing in the forest, I don't know."

E was surprised by the sudden grab of his hand, he was pulled back hard enough to keep him from walking, but gently so he didn't fall. "Sorry?" E raised an eyebrow, maybe he should have been more cautious of this stranger. First he grabs his wrist, who knows what he might do next!

Wait, what?

Did E hear that right, Eden didn't know where to go? E slowly took his hand back, standing awkwardly straight in front of him with a concerned look. "Dude..." He sighed, then turned to point at the giant wooden sign that said 'PETALBURG CITY - THIS WAY ->'.

E continued to point at this sign for almost a minute, silently staring in an uncomfortable awkwardness. Ah, he shouldn't be too rude, maybe this person didn't know how to read. "Come on."

The boy surely was bizarre. What felt like an eternity, he starred at a sign. Wait a sign? How did that get here? In the middle of the forest with no road marking or sign of a street? Eden started to inspect the little glade the two trainers had wondered on. Looking closer, he found a couple of things that didn't belong there. Half a bike with no tired... a battered pot... some old wood that seemed to be a barrel at some point... How come Eden hadn't noticed it before? His exhaustion must have blurred his vision.

No, there items were not randomly scattered; they were placed here. But that meant... with a bit of panic Eden turned once more to shadowy forest. "Ehm... E do wild Garbodor live in this forest?", before Eden even completed the question, a loud grunt echoed towards the trainers, and out of the underwood, a large Garbodor charged towards them. Unknowlgy, the two had wandered into its nest...

"You know what, Eden, that's a pretty good fucking point." E wholeheartedly agreed, hand on hips. Why was there a sign for Petalburg so far out into the forest. This was highly unusual, and the broken bike too? "I don't know, I haven't seen one before." 


But yes, wild garbodor do live in the forest (apparently). 


Bursting forth from a mucky heap of rubbish and bushes, was an even bigger heap of rubbish. A stinky pile of sentient garbage slammed down onto the ground, defensive of its territory, "Garbo!" Taking a liking to Eden, the wild pokemon's arm extended as it swung its strange limb towards the trainer. 

E retreated a little and watched, glad he was not caught in the initial crossfire. He looked down at Munchlax, wondering if it would help, to which he was greeted with a burp.


"Eh." Probably not.

Jumping out of the way as fast as he could, Eden barely evaded the stinky arm flying towards him. "Garbooo", the pokemon seemed angered. Judging by it size and level, Litwick was no match to the trash pokemon.

"E.! I think we need to run from this", Eden said under his breath, as Garbodor turned his attention to Munchlax and the pile of half-eaten berries at his fight. Of course, Garbodor loved rubbish - maybe they could distract it somehow. Bring his attention to something more fruitful than the trainers. "E - the leftovers. Throw them in the forest", Eden said, grabbing Litwick tight as she started charging away from the Pokémon.

E hadn't even hung around long enough to see Eden duck and roll out the way. In fact, he was smart enough to not loiter any longer than he had to. 

'I think we need to run from this!'

Well yeah, obviously. E had already started running, Munchlax in tow. Wait, Munchlax was not in tow. Skidding to a halt and looking back, E's amazing plan of running away had already failed. Munchlax was somewhat intrigued by the junk pile and wanted to find scraps. "Stop being gross!"

Running back and scooping up Munchlax, E could already smell the junk this pokemon had chewed up. "Spit! It! Out!"

E shouted this while proceeding to perform some sort of Heimlich manoeuvre on the pokemon. Munchlax would start spewing out chewed up berries and other 'things' as they ran, like some strange fountain of junk trailing behind them.