Stunned in his spot for a moment by the pure and unblemished friendliness and beauty of the young lady in front of him, Alden instantly opened his game menu, mentally opened the advanced options, and saved this moment in the tenth save state slot.
As soon as the moment was saved, Alden sighed and said, "Hi. I'm Alden. Nice to meet you, May."
"Nice to meet you, too, Alden! I just moved in a few houses down and already greeted Professor Birch's son. He said there was another guy our age here, so I definitely wanted to say hello!"
"Heh. Brendan's as nosy as always, eh?" Alden replied with a chuckle.
"Hm? Nosy?"
"Nothing. It's fine. Happy to see a new face, especially such a bright and friendly one. A nice change of pace, really. Welcome to Littleroot."
Flashing a bright smile, May replied, "Thanks! I'm really excited after moving here from Johto, so it's nice to make new friends my age already."
"Definitely."
Briefly, May's gaze drifted beyond Alden's shoulder toward the pictures hanging on the wall just inside the front entrance. Her smile faltered for a moment, but she hid it just as quickly.
Since he was already paying a lot of attention to May's face, Alden immediately noticed the slip in her expression.
"Brendan filled you in on my situation, I guess?" Alden guessed with a calm inquiry.
Sheepishly raising a hand to the back of her head, May laughed awkwardly and replied, "Haha. Um, yeah. Sorry."
"It's fine. He's a nice guy and might've said something, but you don't need to step on eggshells around me or anything."
"Hmm. Well, alright," May quietly responded. She fidgeted a little, obviously unaccustomed to broaching a more serious topic. Eventually, though, she offered, "I was going to try to greet Professor Birch since my Father knows him. Do you want to go with me? We can maybe get to know each other a bit more along the way."
Lips rising into a knowing smirk, Alden replied, "Heh. Sure. I'm down. I'm sure the old man is lost in his work somewhere."
"Uh, old is a bit… well, I guess he's kinda old, but still," May retorted, though her lips rising into a playful grin belied her true feelings. "You don't need to point it out so blatantly."
"Right, right," Alden replied while slipping on his running shoes.
Then, he grabbed the weirdly high-tech travel satchel hanging on a coat stand next to the door and slung it over his shoulder. Fully ready now, he stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
"Since you already met Brendan, I'm guessing he already mentioned where his dad might be?"
"Yeah. He mentioned Route 101, which I know is north of Littleroot, but I'm not too familiar with the area."
"Fair enough."
Upon seeing that Alden was ready to go, May nodded and said, "Alright! Let's go! I can't wait to see all the new Pokemon here in Hoenn for myself!"
"Haha. Yeah. There are some cool Pokemon here for sure," Alden replied. He started walking toward the main path that trailed north out of Littleroot and asked, "Do you have any Pokemon from Johto?"
Losing some of the pep in her step, May sighed, shook her head, and answered, "No. My dad moved here a while ago to take over as the Petalburg gym leader, but even though it pays well, all our finances went toward moving expenses," May paused, scratched her cheek awkwardly, and then continued, "Even after getting a few Pokeballs with my allowance, I failed to catch anything. Hoping my luck turns around here."
"Haha. I'm sure it will."
"Mhm! Oh, my dad also prepared a Slakoth for me, but they're super hard to raise, and it never listened to me no matter what, so it just lazes around on our couch now. Can you believe it?"
Alden raised a brow, then laughed and replied, "Hahaha! Yeah, I can totally believe that. Your dad is Norman, then?"
"Yep! Do you keep up with the Gym League?"
"Eh, sorta," Alden answered with a small shrug while averting his eyes to look at the sign that said 'Route 101' they just passed by. He couldn't just say that he had fought through the multiple regions' worth of Gyms and Pokemon Leagues over the years, so he brushed off the subject by stating, "I'm aware of all the Gym Leaders and Elite Four members, at least."
'I wonder if Steven is still the champion, though. Guess I'll find out eventually.'
"Oh, I see. Then, how about you, Alden? Do you have any Pokemon?"
"Not yet, but I'm sure I will soon. Who wouldn't want to be a Pokemon trainer?"
"Definitely! How about we catch our first Pokemon at the same time. We can be rivals racing to see who becomes the Champion first!"
Smirking, Alden retorted, "Heh. You're on. Don't be disappointed when you get left in the dust, May."
May laughed and tapped Alden's shoulder with a fist while saying, "That should be my line! I'm gonna be the strongest trainer ever."
"Second strongest, maybe."
Placing her hands on her hips, May skipped forward while retorting, "Pft. As if. Hope you can keep up with my future greatness."
Returning the smile, Alden nodded and said, "Sure, sure, whatever you say."
"Ah, wait!" A youthful voice called out to Alden and May while they walked further along the main path of Route 101.
Looking toward the source of the voice, Alden and May spotted a young girl who looked maybe ten years old at most. Her brow creased with worry as she looked between them and somewhere off in the distance around the corner of a thick batch of trees.
"Is something wrong?" May asked the girl, kneeling down in front of her.
"Yeah. I heard some loud barking noises and some yelling up ahead while I was playing here. I think somebody might be in trouble," The girl answered. Then, turning to Alden and said, "Alden, can you check and make sure they're okay? I'm scared to go out on my own."
Nodding while sporting a knowing smile, Alden said, "Of course. Go stay back in town. We'll take care of it."
"Yeah! We'll definitely help if someone is in trouble," May added while sporting a hearty thumbs-up.
"Thanks, Alden! And miss, uh…"
"I'm May."
"Um. I'm Annie. Stay safe, Alden and May!"
The girl then ran back closer to the safety of town, leaving Alden and May to nod at each other before continuing onward. Before long, they heard the barking the girl had mentioned.
Contrary to Alden's expectation, the barking did not involve the Pokemon saying its own name, but it did sound reminiscent of Poochyena's in-game call.
Upon passing through the thinner dirt pathway leading into Route 101, they laid eyes upon a larger open area. Forested areas surrounded the open field, and large patches of tall grass grew as high as a man's chest in some places, albeit mostly near the edges of the open field closer to the forest's edge.
Nearby the large patch of tall grass closest to them, they spotted a middle-aged man running away from a Poochyena chasing behind him. The man immediately spotted them and recognized them.
"You two! Quick! I dropped my satchel over there, and it has some Pokeballs in it! Hurry and grab them and use the pokemon inside to help me out! Just pick whatever one sticks out to you as quickly as possible!"
"Got it!" May instantly responded with wide eyes. She dashed over to the satchel pointed out by the man. She slid on her knees over to the satchel and rummaged through it without hesitation.
Meanwhile, Alden followed at a slower pace while narrowing his eyes at the Poochyena. Much like with the Taillow he met upon first arriving in this world, he vaguely caught on to some hints of emotion or thought just by looking at its expression.
Despite all the angry sounding barks, he did not spot a single hint of anger, fear, or anything else that might cause a Poochyena to chase a man. Instead, he instinctively felt that the Poochyena actually seemed happy and comfortable, and it even displayed a hint of familiarity with Birch in its eyes while hopping back and forth after cornering the man against the grass.
One of Alden's eyebrows rose even while he joined May next to Birch's leather satchel. Ever so briefly, Alden and Birch's eyes met. The professor paused upon seeing Alden's lips rise into a smirk, but then he turned his eyes toward the forest and started acting fearful again. Just after Birch looked at the forest, another Poochyena dashed out from the woodline and joined the first one in barking at Birch. Much like the first one, this second one also seemed to have a hint of playfulness and familiarity towards Birch in its demeanor.
Two thoughts fluttered through Alden's mind in those couple of seconds.
'Is this body also in tune with Aura? Would make sense why I could sense the Pokemon's emotions to some extent, though it might also be additional Psychic powers. I'll test it later. Either way, this is totally a setup, isn't it. Those two Poochyena definitely either belong to Birch or are cooperating with him.'
Even if this event ended up being a moment planned by Birch, it didn't really matter that much to Alden in the end. In fact, it might've even raised his impression of the Professor by a notch or two.
Going along with it, Alden knelt down next to May and looked at the three Pokeballs that she dumped out of the satchel after tipping it upside down. There were pictures on each Pokeball showing the three Hoenn starters along with their names and a brief description.
'Yeah. He definitely planned this out,' Alden concluded upon seeing the neat and concise notes.
"I choose this one!" May exclaimed, urgently grabbing the ball with Torchic inside. "Take one and help me stop those Poochyena, Alden!"
Alden glanced at Birch one more time, smirked again, then knelt and immediately reached for the ball with a picture of Mudkip taped to it.
Upon seeing Alden pick one of the other two without hesitation, May turned her attention back to the two Poochyena barking at Professor Birch. Although showing a little nervousness, she still tossed the red and white ball into the air and exclaimed, "I choose you, Torchic!"
The ball cracked open, and a bright white light flashed outward onto the ground. The light faded after a moment, revealing the little orange chick with yellow plumage poking up from its head.
"Tor! Torchic!"
Having kept an eye on May the whole time to see how she activated the ball, Alden nodded, reached outward, and said, "Nice. Come on out, Mudkip."