1x1 A new journey begins (TalaxChoco)

"Wow. What kind of Pokémon have you had before, other than Squirtle?" asked Emily, intrigued. "And who's Professor Oak?"
Torchic simply hopped back to its Trainer.

 

"Wow, that's a lot of Pokémon! You must be really experienced. And my apologies for not knowing such an important person - I've been quite out-of-touch with the world outside of Petalburg for a while," she replied. Peering out the window of their room in the Center, she relaxed a little. "It's getting dark - we should rest soon."

 

"Well, even if you couldn't win the Grand Festival, you made it to the Grand Festival, right? And your rival... she's your rival. Most rivals are hellbent on being jerks for some reason. And your dad must be really proud of you. I'm sure of it! Besides, it's try until you make it, right?" replied Emily.

 

Emily smiled back and attempted to drift off, only ending up tossing restlessly in her sleep. Torchic hopped up on top of her and cleared out an area in her hair.
"Thanks a lot," she whispered grumpily as the chick dozed off.

 

"Tor!" squeaked the little chick-like Pokémon. Hopping down next to Espeon, he began to preen himself, then proceeded to attempt to climb back up on the bed, calling for his Trainer to wake up.

 

"Mornin'," groaned Emily as she stretched and slowly got up. "Torchic, you don't have to yell at me every time I'm late by a few seconds."

 

Emily headed in, too, to quickly brush her teeth and wait for Serena to finish. Torchic simply sat patiently on his Trainer's bag, unusually quiet. A loose thread had distracted him and he was too busy playing with it to mind anything else.

 

Hopping down to the cafeteria, Emily grabbed a piece of toast and a muffin, before passing the muffin to Torchic who happily wolfed it down. Shifting her bag around, she stretched a little. "Second day of our journey, and we're still where we began. Funny, isn't it, Torchic?"

 

"Hm... First stop, we should probably head to Rustboro City through Route 104. There's a Contest Hall there, so I'll get my Contest Pass and we may be able to participate in our first Hoenn Contest," she explained. Torchic looked up from his muffin, cheeped a little, and received a quick pet from Emily.

 

Nodding to Nurse Joy with a smile, Emily slung her bag over her shoulders once again. "Ready to go, Serena? Route 104 is full of different types of Pokémon, so we might be able to catch something there - but at the same time, aggressive Pokémon may attack us there, so we'll have to be careful. We'll even have to get through the Petalburg Woods, and... let's just say the inhabitants aren't the friendliest. We should be able to take them down, though."