The sun filtered lightly through the horizontal wooden blinds of a dusty loft space. The sounds of sliding boxes hung in the stale air as Tobias searched about. The sandy brown haired boy turned to look down the small set of pull down stairs leading to the main area of the central Lumiose apartment.
"Hey mom! Where's the tent?" he called out.
"It's already packed honey," a woman's voice replied.
Hurriedly, he stood, clambering down the rickety stairs and into the living room where the warm, kind face of his mother waited. He smiled in return, lifting the rather compact backpack from the table, feeling an unbalanced weight near its inner side- the tent must have been stored in the secret inner pocket.
"I packed you some snacks and a flash light, plus the tent and a sleeping bag are in there. I know you have your jacket and hat," she paused, noting his blue/green jacket and his simple cap, "But I have a raincoat with a hood in there just in case. Oh! And I put a tinderbox under the bottom of the bag..."
"Mom, it's fine," he replied, cutting off her apparent rambling as he shouldered the bag.
The air then became silent as she held out a bundled wallet.
"Here..." his mother offered softly, "Take this, but don't let anyone know you have it," then, her tone became more bright, "It's just enough to get you started."
Tobias offered his thanks, taking the wallet with a nod and putting it away in his pocket. With a final goodbye, he left the quiet house, heading south.

After a few minutes, he could see the yellow domed roof of the Pokemon lab in the distance. As he approached his destination, he began seeing a distinct change in the buildings. Gone were the pleasant facades of shops and houses. These buildings seemed to have no front, only backs which faced the streets and broke to reveal dark, foreboding alleyways. He tried to ignore them, and hurried along towards South Boulevard.