As Nick walked away from the house, he comforted himself with the fact that at every Pokémon Center there was a phone. Still, Nick knew he would miss his father. Nick had just left everything familiar behind and set out on his own into the unknown. He needed some time to get his thoughts in order.

What had happened the night before? What was the Mew trying to communicate to him? And of all the people in the Westwood metropolis, why had Mew appeared to him, Nick Twilight? He was just an ordinary thirteen-year-old boy. Nick was about five feet and three inches tall, blond-headed, and strong for his age. He was athletic and could outrun most of the other thirteen-year-olds he knew. He was smart; he was even sort of handsome, but none of this was really exceptional. The only thing that seemed truly special about Nick was the way he sometimes knew things.

I felt Mew call me, Nick told himself.  I'm not sure how, but I knew he was out there.  Nick sighed.  Could I have imagined it?  Maybe what I saw was just obscured by the rain?  But he looked right at me...  He was drawn to me just like I to him..

Nick stopped, surprised by the clarity of that thought.  Something like that, so rare that most the scientific world thought it was a myth, coming to him?  It was impossible.  I just don't understand.

Throughout his life Nick had sensed things. Sometimes Nick could feel other people’s emotions. Occasionally, when someone experienced a strong sensation, Nick was somehow aware. He could feel others' anger or joy, but his sense was never distinct. Just a confused image, and not reliable. Nick also would sometimes get anxious, seemingly for no reason, right before a disaster occurred. He once had screamed aloud because of this sense. Nick was later to learn that his mother, who had been on a business trip, had died in an airplane crash at the same moment he had screamed.

As Nick approached the Westwood Pokémon Center, he stopped cold as a new recognition pulsed through his brain.  He had felt Mew, but Mew hadn't caused him to wake, hadn't roused him from a nightmare and pulled him into the thunderstorm.  No, something -- or someone -- else had been present.  Mew wasn't alone in the sky.  And Nick was afraid.  Something, else, had also been seeking him?

With these thoughts, Nick walked into the Pokémon Center.  Clearing his mind as he entered through the swinging double-doors, and he saw a young, red-headed nurse sitting at the check-in counter. He walked up to her, calm now, and handed her Staryu’s pokéball. The nurse took the ball, asking, "Is this all?" When he replied, she walked back deeper into the building and Nick sat down on a couch. Advertisements lined the walls of the room around him, and a television set rested in one corner (on which a reporter was telling about "dangerously territorial Spearow activity in the Clarkesville woods"). All about the pokémon center were pokémon trainers, talking about their battles, their pokémon, and, mainly, where to eat.

One of them, a boy holding a thick book in his hand and sporting a backpack, noticed Nick and asked, "Do you only have one pokémon?"

"Yep," Nick replied, "I’m just starting."

"Same with me. Nurse Joy is taking care of my Squirtle right now. What pokémon do you have?" asked the trainer.

"I only have a Staryu. -That’s neat. We both have water pokémon! I just got Staryu several months ago for my birthday. Have you had Squirtle long?" asked Nick, moving over to make room for the trainer to sit down. The stranger looked around the room intelligently.

"I got Squirtle just yesterday. His name is Eddie. What is your name?" The trainer had sat down beside Nick by this time, relieved to find someone to talk to.

"I’m Nick, Nick Twilight. And you?"

"Keith. Glad to meet you. It’s nice to find someone else who’s just starting. You see, around all these other trainers, I feel like a child," said Keith, motioning with his hands at a boy holding a pile of about twenty pokéballs.

"Yeah, I know what mean. Are you from around here?"

"Yes, I’m from Westwood. You are too, aren't you? I can tell. Are you going to try to battle the gym leader here?"

"Noooo way," replied Nick, taken aback. "I’d get absolutely creamed. It’d be like, ‘Go Staryu! Return!'"

Keith laughed. "I get your point," he said, good-humoredly.

Nurse Joy strolled back into the room holding several metal trays filled with pokéballs. Many of the trainers, including Nick and Keith, walked up to receive their pokémon. The nurse handed them out six by six until only two were left.

"Which of you has a Squirtle?" asked Nurse Joy.

"That’s me, Nursse Joy. Thank you," replied Keith, taking his pokéball.

"And this Staryu is yours?" she asked, holding out the last tray.

"Yep, thanks, Nurse Joy!" replied Nick.

"Don’t mention it," Nurse Joy said, smiling.

Holding their pokéballs, the two boys walked back out into the center of the room. They both looked around, seeming rather lost.

"So," Keith asked, "what do we do now?"

"I don’t know. To tell you the truth, I never really thought about it," replied Nick, lowering his voice sheepishly.

"Well, it is lunch time. Would you like to go to a restaurant?" asked Keith.

"So you’d like me to go with you?" Nick asked hopefully.

"Of course. We’re friends now, Nick," replied Keith, smiling. Keith hold out his hand.

"Shake on it?" he asked.

"Uh, sure," replied Nick, stretching out his hand. He paused. "I didn’t know it was that easy to make friends," he commented to Keith.