A Ralts poked her head out of a bush and observed the trail ahead of her, oblivious to the foliage lodged in her green hair. The sun shone down from above, the leaves casting dappled shadows across the rough-hewn dirt. In the distance she spotted the pack of Poochyena who had taken to resting in the road. The black-and-gray-furred wolves sniffed at the air, their shining red eyes peering at the woods around them. The Ralts crouched low, and willed them to look elsewhere; the prize she sought was so close, but the hounds would sooner make her their dinner than let her pass unhindered.

Suddenly, a Zigzagoon shot out from a bush further down. It was clearly frightened, and every inch of its alternating light and dark brown fur was standing on end. As one, the pack of Poochyena turned upon the smaller creature and growled.

The Zigzagoon yelped and ran away, dashing through bushes and branches alike in its panic with the pack of Poochyena hot on its heels.

The Ralts breathed a sigh of relief and extricated herself from the bush. Peering into a nearby puddle, she picked off excess twigs that had gotten stuck in her hair. The image within the pool was a familiar sight—a bowl of forest green hair encircling her head and partially obscuring her eyes, her snow-white coat extending into a billowing dress-like cloak that covered her nubby legs from view. Atop her head rested two shining red half-ovaloid horns, the larger protruding from the middle of her forehead and the smaller from the back of her head. The Ralts smiled at her reflection, and plucked the last errant leaf from her hair.

Examining the road once more, she confirmed it was all but deserted; the only things here were the occasional acorn-mimicking Seedot hanging from the trees. Dashing across the hard packed dirt, the Ralts stopped before an Oran berry bush. Quickly unfurling a large leaf she had procured, she began picking the delicious blue fruits with practiced speed.

There were much less dangerous bushes to harvest back home, the Ralts mused, but only the ones located on the human trails were rich enough to satisfy her. They could be made into so many delicious meals; eaten raw, cooked into soup, drained and eaten dry—the possibilities were endless! So absorbed was she in her gourmand errand, the Ralts didn’t notice the approaching figures until a voice cut straight through her thoughts.

“Oh! There’s one right in the middle of the road!”

The Ralts froze, wide eyes turning to see a nightmare made manifest. Two humans stood a mere dozen feet away, staring directly at her, eyes filled with calculated curiosity and barely constrained excitement at the sight of such an easy target. A red-and-white ball was clutched in one's hand, just waiting to be unleashed. The Ralts dropped the Oran berry, her shaking legs barely responding as she took a single step backwards.

“Huh. So there is. Never seen this kind before though...” The human girl in the red bandanna nudged the human boy with green hair forward. “Well? Capture it already.”

“R-right!” the boy said, and shuffled forward. The Ralts took another step back and tripped over her coat, falling to the ground. The green-haired boy tossed the ball into the air with a cry, “Go, Zigzagoon!”

The ball cracked open, a thunderous red light erupting from within. The light coalesced upon the ground, revealing the form of a Zigzagoon. It yipped, circling around twice before crouching low, growling at her.

“R-Ralts!” the Ralts yelled, losing control of her voice in the face of overwhelming terror. “Raaalts!” she screamed again, scrambling to her feet and turning to run—

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“Zigzagoon, use Tackle!”

—Only to be hit from behind as the Zigzagoon smashed into her at full force.

The Ralts flew backward and slammed into a tree. “R-rah—!” she cried out, the rough bark scraping at her coat as she slid down. Blinking the stars from her eyes, she looked up to find the intense stare of the green-haired boy and the crouching Zigzagoon in front of him. The boy held out another red-and-white ball, and the Ralts stared at it with dread.

“I—I throw the ball now, right? Here I go!”

The girl in the red bandanna blinked and reached out, “Wait, it’s not injured enough yet!”

Ignorant of the girl’s warning, the human boy reared back and threw. Time slowed to a crawl as the Ralts watched the sphere hurtle toward her. No, no! She didn’t want this! This couldn’t happen! She wouldn’t let it! With a surge of energy, she threw herself to the side just in time, and sprinted into the forest as the ball ricocheted off the tree behind her.

“It’s getting away!” the boy cried, distraught. The human girl cursed.

“Dammit, Wally...”

The Ralts sprinted into the woods and hid behind a tree, out of sight. The humans’ voices were still audible even this deep into the woods, and she listened with bated breath.

“Did you see where it went?” asked the boy.

“No. Ugh, now we’ll have to find something else…”

“I’m sorry…should I go get the pokeball?”

“Tch, there’s too much tall grass around here, it’s a lost cause.” A sigh. “I have a dozen of the things anyway. Let’s get going—I think I heard some Poochyena barking from that direction. They’re pretty cool, let’s get one of those.”

“A—alright…”

The terrified Ralts held still for several moments, and a few more after their voices faded, then finally collapsed against the tree. She clutched at her chest with a shaking hand, heart beating madly in her chest. That…that was close. She’d known that humans were to be avoided, and she’d never expected to come face-to-face with one, but they hadn’t even taken a moment before attacking. If she’d been even a hair slower...

The Ralts sat there for a moment, catching her breath, before standing up and venturing back the way she had come. But a flash of color caught her eye as she walked; laying there in the grass was that red and white sphere the smaller human had thrown at her. She stared at it uneasily. So this was a pokeball…

With a trembling hand, she reached down and poked it, jumping away at the touch. When nothing happened, she poked it again. After nothing continued to happen, she reached down and picked the sphere up.

It was a strange thing. Half red, half white, a thick black line across the middle with only a protruding white circle in the center interrupting it. Tentatively, she pushed the button, dropping it like a poisonous barb when it shrunk to a fraction of its size, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind.

After nothing happened a third time, the Ralts picked it back up. How had it gotten so small? She pressed the button again and only jumped a little when it expanded back to its original size.

She stared at the sphere, new questions bubbling within her mind. How did this sphere grow and shrink and fit whole creatures inside itself? To what end? Who were those humans and how did they make something like this?

She traveled back to the path and—after very carefully looking both ways down the road—gathered her plucked berries into the makeshift bag. With a moment of hesitation, she buried the pokeball among the Oran berries, hiding it from view.

After picking up the bundle, she scurried across the road once more and began the trip back home.