Walking through the streets of Petalburg, Jaw is greeted by the sight of pedestrians going on their daily routines.

  Among them was a mother holding the hand of her child as they browsed through the stores, or the grandma sitting on a bench feeding a few Taillows.

  Jaw greeted them as he passed by, taking in the sights of the city. A perfect mix of people and nature, and of course, Pokémon.

  Myla said to go to a 'Ranger Outpost' just a bit outside of the city, safe she says because they maintain the route. Let me see... at the entrance of Route 104?

  Jaw mumbled, tinkering with the map function of his new 2nd-hand Pokégear.

  It had a few other options, which were the Call and Text function just like a normal phone, the Map with a GPS function that Jaw was currently using, and his personal favorite, the Radio.

  The only thing missing was an earphone so he could listen to the radio without disturbing others.

  "I'm glad this has GPS because I don't know how to read a map," he mumbled.

  At the edge of the city, just before Route 104 starts, is Ranger Myla, waving at Jaws gesturing for him to get closer.

  "Heeeey! over here kid!" she says with a smile, still waving.

  "Ranger Myla! Why are you here? I thought you would be at the outpost..."

  Said Jaw, scratching his head as he approached the ranger. Said ranger just smiled and gestured for him to follow.

  "I originally planned to pick you up but something came up, and you received a Pokégear from Rob, so I thought you would manage on your own," she said with a shrug.

  Jaw raised an eyebrow, curious, but just brushed it off, thinking it might have had something to do with her job.

  They continued on their walk and eventually arrived at a clearing, a wide

  dirt road heading to presumably the Petalburg Woods.

  "Just a bit more to go, you can probably see it if you have good eyesight," pointed Ranger Myla to something. Jaw couldn't see it so he probably had bad eyesight.

  "So, how are you holding up? everything fine so far?" said Myla, making conversation.

  "Yeah, doc Robert said I was perfectly healthy, needs a bit more exercise though," Jaw said as he rolled his shoulder. "I'm set to start my journey, only need a Pokémon and an ID, a national and trainer one."

  "Yeah, about that... Oh, we're already here. Let's talk about this more inside," she said, walking towards the building.

  Jaw was curious as to what the first remark was about. However, he went with Myla's advice to speak inside and simply followed her to the building.

  It looked like a typical park ranger station, just a little bigger, and had a second floor.

  "Not what you expected?" asked Myla as she glanced at Jaw's puzzled look. "Yeah, this isn't a proper Ranger Base, we don't have one here on Hoenn, at least not yet. But I did hear that they were building one in Mauville City."

  "Don't worry though, it still has the basic pieces of equipment and some that a Ranger needs."

  Jaw nodded.

  "Before we enter though, wait a bit in front of the door there," said Myla as she gestured for Jaw to move to where she pointed.

  Puzzled but still doing so, Jaw moved in front of the door to the station.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "He's here! Get ready!" shouted Myla, which just increased Jaw's confusion.

  Inside the building, shuffling and footstep sounds were heard. Jaw looked at Myla and raised an eyebrow, she just waved him off and gestured for him to stay quiet.

  When the noises died down, Myla motioned for Jaw to open the door.

  Although he was hesitant to do so because he knew there was someone? or, at the very least, something that can move was waiting for him at the other side of the door, he still motioned to do so.

  Grabbing the doorknob and hoping it wasn't something scary, he opened the door swiftly, eager to get it over with when *BAM!*

  Something fast and yellow hit him in the stomach, causing him to stumble back and breathe deeply.

  "H-hey! don't rush like that!" said amusedly a middle-aged man with a stubble, similarly dressed as Myla and most probably also a ranger.

  "W-what?!" said the astonished Jaw as he looked down to his stomach, searching for who or whatever hit him.

  "Wh-who is thi— Mawile?! why are you here?!" asked Jaw confused but also with delight, glad that he met his friend who he thought was actively avoiding him.

  "Mawile!~" replied Mawile with glee, hugging Jaw at his waist, dangling as she was shorter by a lot compared to Jaw.

  Jaw looked at Myla looking for answers, wanting to know what was going on.

  "Turns out Mawile was training in Petalburg Woods, found her and asked what she was doing. Said she wanted to train, to become stronger so that she wouldn't be abandoned again like the last time, especially since you extended that offer to her to become your starter," shrugged Myla as she rubbed Mawile's head. "Well, what can I say? It touched me. So I helped her train, even though I thought that worry was unnecessary. I mean, you won't abandon her, right?"

  "What?! Of course not! We're not just training partners, we're friends! I wouldn't abandon you in any circumstance other than you wanting to leave," said Jaw, looking straight at Mawile. "And besides, this is a two-way relationship, if you didn't get stronger even with a trainer then that's the trainer's fault! You can definitely become stronger, as long as we work together."

  Mawile teared up and hugged Jaw's even tighter, eliciting a groan from the boy trainer.

  Patting and rubbing Mawile's back, he comforted her until she stopped sobbing.

  "Does being here mean you agree? with my proposal?" he asked the Pokémon who promptly nodded, still hugging him at his waist.

  He hugged Mawile back, overjoyed that he finally had a Pokémon, and it was even Mawile, his friend and favorite Pokémon.

  "We'll get stronger together, I know it," said Jaw, touching their foreheads together.

  Myla smirked, seeing their interaction, and tossed something to Jaw. He clumsily caught it with only one hand, as he was still hugging Mawile.

  He looked down and saw that it was a yellow Pokéball, with a turquoise center and a golden button. Like most Poké Balls, it had a white bottom.

  "Is this alr— no, Thank you, Myla, I really appreciate it," said Jaw as he gripped the yellow Pokéball. Mawile also looked at Myla and smiled, waving her hand in thanks.

  "Don't mention it, seriously, don't," she said, smirking.

  "But what Pokéball is this though, I haven't seen this one before," he said as he inspected the Pokéball in his hand.

  "Not surprised you can't recognize it. That's called a Park Ball, its catch rate is actually worse than a normal Pokéball as its only purpose was for the promotion of a park, more specifically Pal Park," she said, shrugging. "Doesn't mean it's bad though, aside from the slightly worse catch rate compared to a normal ball, its quality is about the same. They give them out for free, that's why I said don't mention it."

  "Still, thank you," stated Jaw with thanks. "And since Mawile won't resist, I wouldn't even need the capture rate."

  The female ranger warmly smiled and gestured for him to follow.

  "Alright, I get it. Now why don't we head on inside, we still need to talk about what to do with your, identity and all," said Myla, already at the door.

  Jaw and Mawile looked at each other, then followed inside.

  Up front was a sizable reception area with a wooden table and couch. There was a reception desk, blending into the wall further front, like those glass-barrier reception areas you usually see at banks. The post was empty at the moment.

  At the left side of the room were the stairs leading up to the second-floor level, and on the right was a door. There was a window right next to it, and Jaw could see through that it was an office. Myla was there, asking him to follow.

  They walked into the room and passed by the same middle-aged man from before, he nodded to them and said, "Good to finally meet you Jaw, Myla has been talking a lot about you. You can call me Charly."

  "Nice to meet you as well; I hope what you heard about me was pleasant," he said, scratching his head.

  "Don't worry about it, Myla's said nothing but good things about you," he said, laughing.

  He reminds me of Baloo, the happy-go-lucky bear from the movie Mowgli.

  Jaw amusedly thought to himself, chuckling as he imagined the ranger in a bear suit.

  "I feel like you just thought of something incredibly rude," mumbled Ranger Charly as he stopped laughing, glancing at Jaw.

  "You're imagining things, anyway what was that about my identity?" said Jaw as he sat down on a couch.

  Sitting on the opposite couch was Myla, shaking her head, and passed down a couple of papers. She suddenly went serious and looked Jaw straight in the eyes.

  "Honestly kid, your background is very sketchy. We couldn't find anything about you."

  "No previous sightings other than when we first found you, no records, nothing at all. We even asked the Draconids and some other remote clans if you were one of them, but no," she finished, eating a granola bar she took from her breast pocket.

  "Yeah, as if you were a ghost," added Ranger Charly as he sat down beside Myla.

  Jaw gulped as he heard that.

  "Maybe you're from some really remote clan or something, or..."

  A few seconds of silence passed and his back was already sweaty. Jaw was half-tempted to confess that he wasn't from this world due to pressure when Myla saw the kid's expression and continued.

  "Anyway, we can't really let you go free with you being of unknown origins, but I know you're a good kid, and I'm pretty confident in my ability to judge people," said Myla, loosening up her serious expression. "So, me and the guys thought of this workaround."

  "People in your situation are supposed to be put on probation for about 9 months, which can increase or lessen depending on the region, and then set free," she pushed the papers she put on the table before to Jaw. "But we thought that was a bit too long. I mean, you're a kid that just got out of a hospital, that would suck."

  Jaw picked up the papers and read through them, and was left confused as it was a registration form. A Ranger registration form to be specific.

  Myla grinned when she saw his expression and said.

  "Serve the region to fasten up your probation! From now on, you'll be Ranger Jaw!" she said, pointing at him excitedly. "Well, a trainee one, but you'll get there eventually!”

  "What?..."