Arthur woke up. The last he remembered was having a horrible nightmare about being lost in the forest and being bullied by...weird pink goblins. There was a Honedge in his dream, though, that was cool!

As Arthur sits up in his bed, he realizes a few parts of his body aches and hurts. "Ow..." Checking himself, he finds bruises and scrapes where there weren't yesterday. "Where did these come from...?" he asks himself. He's answered by the sound of scraping metal next to his bed.

He looks to the source of the noise, and sees a Honedge, at guard next to his bed. He gasps, "You're real!" The Honedge, glad he's awake, is slightly confused by the statement. Arthur, however, excitedly gets up and hugs the Honedge again. "Thank you! So much! For being real!" He exclaims, as the Honedge is unable to escape.

The Honedge, meanwhile, has taken a good look around the boy's room. It's small, but it makes up for it by bursting with personality. There's various posters of superheroes, bands, and various Pokémon lined up on the wall, each one slightly tilted, as if the boy himself had pasted them. His bedsheets have prints of many famous Ghost-Types, and there's a few plushies laying next to the pillows. In the corner is a box supposedly full of toys, but the Honedge hasn't taken a look inside it.

Footsteps are heard approaching now, and Arthur's parents enter his room. "Arthur, you're awake!" exclaims one of his mothers, a woman with shoulder-length brown hair. His other mother, a woman with longer hair, the exact same shade of blonde as Arthur's, sounds a bit more strict. "What were you doing in Glimwood Tangle? We've told you it's dangerous, haven't we?"

Arthur, still hugging the Honedge tightly, runs up to hug his parents as well. "Mom! Mama! I'm s-sorry...I should have listened..." he says, regret evident in his voice. His mothers hug him back, of course. They're more worried than they are mad.

"Seems like you made friends with this Honedge, yeah?" the parent addressed as mom says. Arthur nods enthusiastically. "He helped me! Kept me safe from the little goblin things! I found him stuck in a big rock, and then I helped him get out!" He recalls his little adventure to his parents.

The parent with pale blonde hair, the one referred to as "mom", looks like she wants to say something, but her wife stops her. "Hey, let's let them enjoy their time for now," she says, trying to be reassuring. She then whispers something into her ear, and mom sighs, then nods in agreement.

"Alright, you two get to know each other and have fun, alright? We'll be just outside if you need us," she says as they leave, shutting the door behind them. "Okay!" Arthur replies enthusiastically.

Arthur begins showing around his room to the Honedge, his various toys, books, and tv shows he liked. The Honedge seems mostly confused about all of this, but understands they're all important to him. It tries its best to understand, all to keep the boy happy.

"-and that's why Gengar like playing pranks on people!" Arthur exclaims, having just explained a theory of his to the Honedge. "Oh! Why don't you tell me about you!" He says, suddenly. The honedge tries to speak, it tries to explain, but Arthur simply cannot understand the sounds it makes. "Hm...I got it!" He says, as he walks over to his desk.

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He pulls out a piece of paper and a pencil, handing the letter to the Honedge, who takes it in its cloth. "Alright! Can you write down your name?" Arthur asks. The Honedge obliges, and writes down "I once had a name when I was a human," in extremely well written cursive. Arthur, however, can't understand this.

"Uhm...I can't read this...Does the Pokémon Language change writing, too?" He asks, clearly having not learned to write or read cursive, yet. In fact, it seems he doesn't even know what cursive is. The Honedge tries to write down something more simple, a single "X" on the paper; "I have no name."

"Oh, I get it! Your name is X!" Arthur says. The Honedge signals no with its cloth, but Arthur just seems confused. "...you want X to be your name?" he asks, again. The Honedge seems to have given up on trying to communicate for now, and simply nods, resigned.

"Okay! But...X is a little too short...I'll put an E at the front! Your name is Ex! Hi Ex!" He's already gone and started deciding things for himself. Ex can't help but chuckle.

Arthur, pleased with naming Ex, has started showing off more of his favourite things to Ex. It's not long before Arthur's stomach begins rumbling. It makes sense, he only just woke up, and he was in a forest for hours before he passed out.

"Ah! I'm hungry!" he exclaims, grabbing Ex by the cloth and dragging him outside of his room. The rest of their home is fairly small, Ex can see only two bedrooms, and the living room is right next to the kitchen, separated by only a single counter. Despite its size, though, Ex can tell It's a home well lived in. Framed pictures line the walls, Arthur and his family all smiling and happy, the various trinkets on the tables and counters undoubtedly have sentimental value. The couch is sagged and slightly crooked. It must be used a lot. It's comfy.

Arthur runs to the kitchen, and grabs a container filled with cookies, before running to the couch and eating them with the ferocity of a 9 year old given a box of cookies. Ex looks at the clock on the wall. It's 5 PM. Ex tugs on Arthur's shoulder, and points at the clock, as if to say "Should you be snacking so soon to dinner?"

Arthur seems surprised at the current time. "It's already 5?" he asks himself. He looks down at the cookies, their delicious smell tempting him to continue snacking. "...a few more won't hurt," he says, mostly to justify it to himself, and continues devouring the snacks.

By the time he's satisfied, the cookies are half empty, and nearly dinner time. A shadow looms just over Arthur, and Ex has a look that simply says "I warned you". Arthur looks behind him nervously, and sees mom looking just a little mad that Arthur is snacking so close to dinner.

Within the next half hour, Arthur had spoiled his appetite and gotten lightly grounded (no cookies for a week). He sits on his bed, and despite his cookie ban, Arthur is happy holding onto his new Honedge friend. However, Ex has been meaning to ask a question. He floats over to the paper and grabs the pencil again. He writes down in clear, non-cursive letters, "May I ask for your help, Arthur?" It seemed to take a bit of effort not to write in cursive.

Arthur reads it without much difficulty. "So you can write! But what do you need help with?" he asks. Ex writes down more. "I wish to travel with you. You are still young, and unfit for wanderings beyond your town, but I will wait patiently until you are able to," it reads. "Do you have somewhere you want to go?" Arthur asks. "You will see in due time," replies Ex.

"Okay...but I'd love to travel with you! You're strong and cool and awesome!" Arthur praises. Ex chuckles. Arthur runs out the room, and Ex hears him shouting "Mom! Ma! I need a Poke Ball!" He returns, a Poke Ball in hand, his parents behind him looking excited. "I'll catch you, is that okay?" Arthur asks. Ex nods enthusiastically.

And with a great throw from Arthur, Ex enters the Poke Ball. It shakes once, twice, then thrice. Click! Congratulations, Arthur caught Ex! Arthur picks up the Poke Ball, letting Ex out as his parents cheer. "We're best friends now, alright!" Arthur exclaims. Ex chuckles, as Arthur pulls him into a hug again. Ex hugs back.