“Happy Birthday!” I smiled as Gram Gram pulled me into a tight hug. And then as usual pinched my cheeks until I cried.

“Look at this! Ten years old! My little Grand daughter!” Gram Gram offered tears in her own eyes as she looked me over.

I grimaced. You know kids were supposed to grow when they were my age you know? But my stupid body hadn’t gotten that message. I had grown a whole half inch in the entire year! Bullying! Arceus! I am pretty sure my being here is your fault! How dare you make me small!

“Hah! Look at that grumpy face!” Gram Gram laughs at my obvious irritation, my height had become a common mention over the years as I remained tiny. “Well come on then. You brought your fish right?”

“Of course! Milotic is having his evolution day as well!” I told her as I grabbed his Pokeball, I would release him into the Koi pond once we were inside. He even had a special Berry cake that was good for Pokemon that I had bought from a cake shop in the city.

Heading into the house. I settled in for my birthday party. This year was a bit special. 10th birthday. It means I would go on my journey on the next Journey date, which was only a month or so away.

I was nervous. Heading out into the Pokemon World with nothing but my Pocket monsters to protect me? To go do… Something? I mean I was planning on the Gym Challenge, but I wasn’t obsessed with it like Kiba.

I guess I would just head out and see where my feet take me.

An hour later I finished my cake, as Milotic trilled happily at his. When the presents were broken out.

It was my 10th birthday, so this was the day I was given everything I would need for the Journey.

New Boots. A new satchel that had the crazy near infinite space effect on it. Camping gear. Cold weather gear. And an electronic map. It was like Pokegear, but it didn’t have any call ability. Just a GPS map.

It looked sort of like the early Pokedex. It had that same weird sideways flip open function. Unfortunately they were nothing like the virtual Pokedex I remembered from the Anime. Even the large one that Ash first received from Oak.

I still hadn’t gotten an answer as to what happened there. Was it just not out yet? Ash had received an early version right? So maybe I’m just a year or two ahead? Who knows. Doesn’t explain why so much stuff is unknown though.

In the end it was a peaceful evening. I loved my new hiking boots, and would start breaking them in soon. My new journey clothes were great! They were really tough. I guess parents knew kids would be rough on clothes.

I also got a new hat!

“I made this for you. I figure this is best, if it gets damaged you can just repair it. I know I taught you how to fix them.” Gram Gram offered as she pulled out a big straw sunhat.

“Ooh! I love it!” I whisper, unable to keep the smile on my face as she pushes it down onto my head. It was big. The brim was longer than a normal straw hat, but that just made it better. “Thanks Gram Gram.”

“Pfeh! Just keep it on your head. Sun burn will make your journey a lot more painful.”

“Got it!”

—-

The next month passed with startling speed. Every day was like normal except all the adults around me were giving me tips on things to avoid, or do.

“Don’t get overconfident in swamps! I once got stuck in the mud up to my head! Luckily, I had one of my Pokeballs in my hands or I would have been in trouble!”

“Make sure you check that you aren’t camping on top of a Pikachu den! That was a shocking morning!”

“Make sure you change your underwear!”

It got a bit tiresome. But as the time of Journeys came closer, more and more adults came out of the woodwork to try and offer their sage wisdom.

Class had turned heavily towards survival training, and things that someone on the road would need to know. And every class was reiterated that if you are in trouble go to a Pokemon Center. They would find help.

But as it came closer. The kids were going crazy. Most of them didn’t already have a registered Pokemon like me, so they were waiting for the day they got to choose. Technically I could ‘choose’ a starter as well, but the fact was there was a limited amount of Starters available, and as much as I loved Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. I already had a strong team.

So I didn’t add my list to the starter Pokemon request.

And then it happened.

The morning I woke up to start my Journey.

—--

“Yes I have it.”

“Toothbrush?”

“Yes. It’s in my pack already. Mama, I’ll be okay, I didn’t forget anything, if I did, I can either come home to get it. I have Arcanine. Or just buy it from a store.”

“G-good.” Mama offered her eyes tearing up as she looked me over in my new outfit, bag over my shoulder, and of course Pokeballs on my waist.

I looked myself over. Cooling undershirt? Check. Flannel top. Check. Nearly Infinite space bag over my shoulder. Check. Heavy duty Pokeball belt? Check. Jeans tucked into my hiking boots? Check.

Big old honking straw hat? Check!

I was ready. “I’ll call you from the first Pokemon Center I stop at. I promise.”

“You have to!” Mama was full on crying now. Papa looked on, seeming filled with pride as he watched me hug Mama hard. Then it was his turn.

“Take care of yourself, Trouble. And don’t hesitate to ask for help from any officer you run into, even Jenny.”

“I will!” I answered simply as he hugged me tight. Arcany was here too looking over Papa’s shoulder in support. He was gonna miss me too. Or at least all the snacks and treats he would extort out of me.

And with that a few more goodbyes. Gram Gram pointedly carrying a young Meowth, one of her Persians litter that would love a trainer. That I promptly ignored. I really didn’t need a cat right now.

And then I was on the road. I walked through the city. I considered tackling the Viridian gym first, but well... Giovanni wasn’t gentle even with first timers. So I decided to see the world a bit more first.

First though? I was going to indulge a bit. I ran to the Pokemart. I wanted like a million Pokeballs… And Premier balls! They were pretty! I was going to replace my partner's Pokeballs with Premier Pokeballs.. Mostly because I wanted to be able to quickly recognize their Pokeball in an emergency.

After thoroughly annoying the Pokemart lady. And filling my bags Pokeball pouch with Pokeballs, and grabbing a bunch of other medicines. Although Mama had bought me some of everything to start with, but this wasn’t a game, If my Pokemon got burned or something? I wanted a Burn Heal.

After I left, I turned north, heading for Viridian forest, the first stop for just about all beginning trainers here in Viridian, a long walk through the woods.

As I walked down the road I passed, and was passed by lots of kids my age starting their journey. Some had stopped to battle. Although for the most part most were nervously walking towards the forest.

To the first night on their own.

I sped up as I walked down the long sidewalk when I realized I was coming up to someone I knew.

“Hey Ivy!” I called out, causing the green haired girl to literally jump into the air. She was so startled.

“V-vicky!”

“Hey, you excited for your journey?” I ask, although I knew she really wasn’t. Ivy had been more and more nervous as the days drew closer. Even earning her partner Bulbasaur from her parents hadn’t been enough to shake off her nerves.

I am honestly really glad I ran into her. Some kids ran home that first night. Journey over. But it was important in Kanto to at least make the attempt. An adult that had even one gym badge was considered far more reliable than someone with none, regardless of anything else.

It was like… Boyscouts and Girlscouts? I guess. I had never done the scout thing before, but my brother had. But I had heard some jobs were more likely to hire you if you had the badges.

It was like that, but much more prevalent. Badgeless adults had a harder time in life.

“N-not really.” Ivy muttered but I nodded and my gentle smile seemed to make her calm a little.

Making fun of people for being scared of their journey was like the number one way to insult someone in Kanto. ‘You wouldn’t make it a night on your journey!’ often got someone into a school yard brawl if hurled out.

“Want to go through the forest together?” I offer instead. I had honestly not planned on spending much time in Viridian. I liked bug Pokemon Caterpie number one. But I wasn’t planning on catching any. So I had been planning on just passing through.

“Yes!” Ivy gasped relieved as she grabbed my arm seeking comfort.

Unfortunately she was still taller than me. Dang body, grow big!

“C’mon! It’ll be fun. Just like survival class, but this time we have Pokemon with us. And you can find new friends! You like Butterfree right? You should catch a Caterpie, and raise one. Butterfree are super powerful!”

“I don’t think Butterfree are that strong Vicky.” Ivy argued, a bit of her usual force coming out to play. I smiled, getting her to argue with me meant she wasn’t thinking about being scared!

“They totally are. Stall Butterfree is a monster! I mean even their standard ability is super good. See Butterfree eyes are great at making sure their attacks hit. So you can use abilities that are harder to hit like Sleep powder. What you do is teach it Substitute. And you just keep sleeping your opponent! You can use roost to heal up any damage you take and…”

I grinned as my explanation kept Ivy focused on moving forward as we passed into the forest. The green haired girl had completely forgotten to be terrified.

—--

“Bulbasaur, use Vine whip!” Ivy called out as she faced off a Caterpie. The little bug had been the first Pokemon she noticed as we made our way through the forest.

“Bulba!” She cried out and a moment later Caterpie was wrapped up in vines and pulled in.

I was standing far back. This was Ivy’s first capture. It was important that she did it herself. With a few hesitating steps she approached the lightly wiggling Caterpie held in Bulbasaurs vines before pressing her pokeball against it.

The vines retreated when Caterpie disappeared in a flash of light into the ball.

A few moments later the shaking stopped and the lock activated.

“I, I did it!” Ivy screamed out as she danced around with her new Pokeball.

It was cute how excited she was now. Her first Pokemon that she actually captured!

Finally she calmed down enough that a moment later she released the bug, and Caterpie greeted her.

“Hi! I’m Ivy!” She offered her hand and Caterpie happily crawled up her wrist settling on her shoulder wiggling happily at its new friend.

“Great job.” I say finally intruding, earning a beatific smile from the Greenette.

“I did it Vicky! I actually caught a Pokemon!”

“You did great, without even hurting him either. That’s really impressive, Ivy.”

She smiled brightly in turn. And with that adrenaline running through her veins any anxiety disappeared. She was hooked. I petted Caterpie a little and then we linked arms and continued our travels. The forest was beautiful. The air was so clean and fresh, and all the time I could see Pidgey flitting through the leaves hunting bugs. Or Rattata hunting through the grass.

It was nature. And it was great.

I mean it wasn’t my first time in the forest. We all went in a least once as kids, but this was the first time without an ‘adult’ ready to protect us. Hence the anxiety.

We walked for a few hours, Ivy getting a kick out of feeding her new Caterpie as we walked but nothing jumped out that Ivy or I wanted to capture.

Finally though, as always during a Journey. A battle was needed.

“Hey you two! I challenge you!” A voice called out and we both stopped, stomping out of the brush was a boy probably a year or two older smiling as he pointed a Pokeball at us.

“W-what?” Ivy hesitated, but I shrugged. “Two on two so we both fight at once, or do you want to do two separate battles?” I ask, earning a look of shock from Ivy.

“Hah! I like the spirit. Let’s do a two on two! I don’t want to hang out here all day!”

“Alright. Two on two battle. No substitutes. Standard rules?”

“Done Kid.” The older boy was grinning.

Fact was, there were actually rules for winning battles. You could just do a practice battle, or an actual battle. Actual battles had money change hands.

“Vicky!”

“Don’t worry about it Ivy. We are going to have to battle someone eventually. Let’s do it.”

“F-fine! Bulbasaur. I need you!”

“Hah! Alright then. Charmeleon! Nidorino!” Both second evolution pokemon I noticed. Huh. What a jerk. He wasn’t even trying to pretend to go easy on new trainers.

Made what I did next guiltless.

“Milotic.” I call out simply.

“Miiii!”

“The hell!?” The boy gasped at the appearance of something that shouldn’t be. I was just a brand new trainer after all right?

“Are you ready?” I called out, and after a moment's hesitation that made me wonder if the boy was going to try and bail out. He shook it off. Trainers were stubborn.

“Charmeleon! Flamethrower that Bulbasaur! Nidorino! Poison sting!

“Aqua tail!”

“B-Bulbasaur Umm! Leech seed!?” Ivy called out hesitating, but that was okay. A moment later Milotic smashed the Nidorino straight into the Charmeleon causing the Flamethrower to putter out leaving Bulbasaur only singed and then Leechseed launched hitting both of the trainers Pokemon although Nidorino was already passed out.

Charmeleon groaned as it struggled with the seed and pushing its companion off it.

“Charmeleon! Flamethrower again!”

“Chaaar!” The lizard began blowing fire at us, Bulbasaur smart Pokemon that she was hurrying behind Milotic letting the fire roll around Milotics bulk.

“Watergun.” I called out.

And then Charmeleon gasped as it was blasted into the ground. A moment later it was obvious the Pokemon was done.

“Well I think that covers that.” I called out, and only once the boy had nodded did I do the nice thing. “Chansey patients for you!” Chansey danced around the clearing to the other boys surprise and healed everyone up. Charmeleon grumpy at his loss was pacing, but that was that.

Some money passed hands silently, and the boy stomped off into the forest.

“Good job Ivy.” I tell her, earning a frown and a glance away.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Ivy. Your Bulbasaur has never been in a battle. And neither have you. You hesitated, but called out your attack. You did the first step. Bulbasaur wasn’t hurt too bad. And you won. I think you did good, but if you are worried about not doing well? Then break down what you did. What could you have done better? And then take that, and bring it with you into the next battle.”

“R-right!”

—--

We were stopped twice more that day, both times Ivy battled as I cheered her on. She lost the first one, but her second battle ended with her Bulbasaur taking out a Charmander. That had Ivy nearly dancing in joy.

It was a good fight. Bulbasaur used her vines to dodge incoming fire attacks until her leech seed had sapped the Charmanders strength.

I kept quiet about the Charmanders obvious exhaustion. The Charmander had been in battles before this, his trainer must not have any potions or anything either. Chansey took care of that afterwards and I whispered to the boy that unless he wanted to keep losing, taking care of his Charmander after every fight should be his top priority.

He had been pissed. Not sure if he listened.

Then as the sun started getting closer to the horizon we decided to make a camp. It took a bit of doing but both of us got our tents up and Pokemon around a fire where we heated up some food for everyone. Both of us wincing a bit at our aching feet.

“Even the survival hikes didn’t really prepare us for walking all day huh?” I mention as I groan at the ache in my calf.

“No! They should have had us walk more.” Ivy whined as both of her feet looked sore. Poor thing. I don’t think she had broken in her walking shoes before today.

But we would both be fine. Chansey had already given us a once over. Our feet were just sore now, no more blisters.

Of course that was when Arcanine decided that she had enough.

“OOF! That’s my kidney!” I wheeze as Arcanine dropped on top of me. Demanding her training time. “Get uuup!” I whine breathlessly as three hundred pounds of dog crushed me. With her uncaring bulk.

“Vicky, you okay?” Ivy asked, but I just waved her off weakly. Instead I turned to my Goddess. A hand outstretched begging for help.

“Chansey!”

“Arc!”

“Chansey Chanse!”

Arcanine did a huff as she rose off me, letting me gasp air into my desperate lungs as my Goddess pulled me into a hug.

Chansey best Goddess.

A few minutes of soft cuddles and I was back on my feet and facing down my dog. My dog that refused to not train.

“Arcanine look around you. This is a forest. We can’t train half of what we normally do, and the rest is secret training. You remember what Papa said? We can’t show people our secret training. So that means light exercise through the forest.”

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“Whooooooo.” She gave off a plaintive whine that didn’t at all tug at my heart strings.

“Ughhh We can’t do our normal training, but there is some stuff we can work on. Plus we have some new training partners as well.” I mention turning towards Ivy who was blinking owlishly at suddenly being invited into the conversation.

“Huh? Training? But we just spent all day walking and battling!”

“Ivy… Bulbasaur spent most of the day in your Pokeball. And while the battles were good experience. That wasn’t training. I bet Bulbasaur and even Caterpie are more than ready for some additional exercise. Gotta work off dinner you know?”

“Bulba!” Bulbasaur agreed, stamping her little feet and even Caterpie was wiggling looking forward to growing stronger. Most pokemon were battle maniacs after all.

“But I’m tired!”

I nodded as I patted her head. Before taking her by the shoulders and walking her a bit out of camp. Her Pokemon followed as I settled her on a stump.

“Okay. Your Pokemon don’t need your body right now Ivy, they need your mind. So tell them what to work on.” I say as I settle on the stump behind her, my three looking at me eagerly.

“Since we aren’t doing our normal training! Milotic speed training! I want you to move between those two trees constantly, work on maneuvering. Dodge through branches. The goal is to increase your ability to avoid attacks while moving. Arcanine! Move training! We can’t use fire, but you have some other type moves. Iron Head still needs some work. Chansey lets get some protect training! Arcanine target Chansey while Chansey blocks your attacks!”

With that my Pokemon went at it. Shocking Ivy behind me who was looking in shock at how quickly I sent my Pokemon to their tasks.

“J-just like that?” Ivy asked and I grinned at her.

“You have to figure out what your team needs. Then set them a way to work on it, or a goal.” I waited for a few moments but Ivy seemed stuck.

“You're overthinking it Ivy. Right now Bulbasaur and Caterpie are blank slates. Anything you have them do will make them stronger. But I can give you some advice if yo-”

“Yes please!”

I giggled at the desperate call. “Okay, listen. You can split most training into three things. Moves, physical fitness, and special moves. You train moves to learn a specific move if you think your Pokemon needs it, or to enhance moves you already know but that you want to be stronger or use in a new way. Chansey is working on Protect. To make it more efficient. Protect is a move you usually can’t use multiple times in a row without it failing. Chansey is working to see if she can increase the reliability even a little.” I ticked off a finger.

“Then you have Fitness. Milotic is working on Physical fitness, his land speed is slower than in the water, and it uses a different way of movement so he isn’t as sharp as he is in the water. So we are working on enhancing his ability to dodge attacks on land… Which is where most of our battles will take place.” Another finger.

“And then special moves. See Arcanine isn’t just training Iron Head. She is using Extreme Speed first to move far faster than anyone can expect and then hit Iron Head. That way even if I call Iron Head, it will be far faster than anyone expects. Hence it’s a special Move. A combination move in this case.” My final finger.

“Wow. I didn’t know you were that smart.” Ivy muttered, earning a shocked look from me before she went red realizing what she had just said.

“ROOD!” I call out almost laughing as Ivy splutters trying to take back what she had just said.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that! You just didn’t pay attention in class most of the time! So I didn’t expect you to have it all broken down so easily.”

“Ivy… I was first in class in every subject.” I tell her, earning my own startled look. “W-what?! No way!”

“Yep. Why do you think Mrs. Kurosawa never cared when I would do my own projects?” I asked, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.

“How!? I never saw you study!”

“I did. I read all the textbooks and did most of the homework in like the first month of every year.”

“Why!?”

“Oh I like doing my own thing, so if I just do everything the class needs really quick I can spend class doing whatever I want. Mrs. Kurosawa and the other teachers never brought it up, because they didn’t want anyone else copying me.” I offer with a giggle. Honestly school for nine year olds wasn’t exactly difficult. So it really wasn’t such a big thing for an adult that could just sit down and hammer out the work.

“Anyway! Your Pokemon need your attention.” I point out.

“But you said you would give me some advice!”

I giggle. I couldn’t help it. It was such a kid thing. Get an explanation that gives them advice, but it wasn’t direct enough. So instead of trying to think it through. Demand a direct answer.

“Okay how about this then. Your Bulbasaur already did a ‘special move’ earlier today. Remember when Bulbasaur hauled herself around with her vines?”

“Yeah? She couldn’t dodge the Charmander without it. She isn’t very fast on her feet.”

“Right.” I answered with an impish grin, getting a bit of delight as I waited for her to realize that she already had the answer. It took a few moments as her confusion slowly shifted until she realized what I was pointing out.

“Oh!” She gasped “I should have her train using her Vine Whip to move around!”

“Bingo.” I answer, “It might not be something you can do much when Bulbasaur evolves, but it will also help strengthen her vine whip which is a big move in the Bulbasaur lines moveset.”

“But what about Caterpie?” She asked and I grinned not saying anything earning a scowl. “Vicky!”

“How can Caterpie do the same thing?” I ask, and after a moment she didn’t seem to get it. So since this isn’t something she had actually seen yet.

“Caterpie! Use String shot on that branch!” I call out, and then turn to Ivy waving her at her Pokemon.

“OOoooh!” She said as she watched her Caterpie swing a bit from the String Shot. “Caterpie! Try to swing using the branch to another spot. If you can get it down, you can move a lot faster than just on foot!”

“Now you got it. Trust yourself Ivy. They are your Pokemon. And you are their trainer.” I tell her before turning to my team. “Milotic! Stop being lazy!”

—--

The next few days of walking through the forest fell into a routine. Other than Ivy having a bit of an anxiety attack the first night that ended up with her sleeping in my tent. We were both having fun. Ivy’s training of her Pokemon was paying off, Bulbasaur was moving way faster than she would at this point in her training, and so was even taking out Charmanders with surprising ease when we ran into other new trainers.

Although a large factor of her victories were that she had completely healed Pokemon. Quite often the challengers we would run into had a starter that was a little roughed up. After every battle Chansey took care of them.

But only after. A trainer had to learn not to fight with their Pokemon on their last legs, and a loss would stick in their memory more than a victory.

Funnily, I didn’t end up having any more matches. The kids we ran into were mostly from Viridian, so knew me, and avoided fighting my Pokemon. So I ended up mostly playing referee for the matches, which was fun.

The actual Pokemon in the forest were about what I remembered from the games. Sure we ran into some Nirdoran male and female. Or near a river, a Poliwag and the like. Although Poliwag were common in Viridian so that wasn’t a surprise. But nothing outrageous.

I mean the most dangerous thing in the forest was Beedrill Colonies. I think we got more warnings about Beedrill in Viridian forest during school than anything else.

Which is why I had avoided any area I had seen a Weedle or Kakuna. Beedrill mostly attack people harassing their lower evolutions, or getting too close to their colony.

Unfortunately… Kids will be kids.

Ivy and I were walking beside a stream trying to find a good crossing point when we heard it. It was hard to miss a few hundred Beedrill all getting pissed at once. It makes a very loud noise.

Worse? Was the scream.

“Arcanine!” I yelled out. Quickly jumping onto her back. “Ivy stay here! Get your Pokemon out in case you need to protect yourself!” I yelled back before Arcanine dashed forward. Tearing through the forest like it wasn't a dense woods. Because Arcanine danced through the trees, always rushing forward in bursts of speed that caused my eyes to burn and I had unfortunately lost my hat.

“Wait Vi-” Her voice was lost in the wind.

I hope Ivy picked up my hat.

It was easy to find the origin of the problem. The Beedrill swarming made it pretty noticeable.

“Arcanine! Fire Spin! Start pushing them back!” I called out as we burst into a clearing where the Beedrill were hammering down at a squirtle desperately trying to protect its trainer. I leapt off after a moment into a roll, and Milotics ball was already thrown.

“Milotic! Ice fort!” I yelled as I rushed up to the squirtle that looked like it was in rough shape. I could see the many many cuts and holes where it had been poked. “Chansey!” I called out. And my pink Goddess was there. Happily throwing up a Protect to stop a Beedrills attack and instantly blasting a healing pulse onto the squirtle, and boy laying under him.

That squirtle had literally covered his trainer after he had fainted. Damn. What a trooper. I would just have to make sure he survived.

“Alright Beedrill! That’s enough! You head home, or I am going to teach you all a lesson!” I roar out but the sound of the Colony buzzing overhead meant none heard. Or didn’t care.

Fine.

“Arcanine! Flame wheel! Milotic support! Chansey GRAVITY!” I roared out, and my pokemon jumped into action. Arcanine roared a blast of fire burning around her. Then she ran.

Fire spin already had a circle of fire surrounding the icy fort that Milotic had created to give us cover, melting it a bit, but this? Flame Wheel surrounded Arcanine. She was a streak of white hot fire burning across the forest and wherever it went Beedrill fell out of the air as Arcanine struck them down.

But it was so much more effective because a moment after I called out, the Gravity dropped every Beedrill in the sky into a face plant, smashing the ground. Arcanine didn’t even have to attack after that, just trampled the yellow and black Beedrill into the ground in her passing.

I winced. Seeing them begin to be covered in flame. I realized after a moment that if I didn’t do anything, those Beedrill were going to die.

Which was bad. As much of a pain in the ass Beedrill were to Viridian forest. They were necessary to keep populations of other Pokemon down.

Grimacing, I grabbed my pack. And started chucking Pokeballs at the downed Beedrill that looked to be in the most dangerous spots. Too much fire, or just Arcanine being a bit too much.

After a while I realized that while the clearing was still on fire, although Milotic was working on that. There wasn’t any more Beedrill…

Oh man. Mama was gonna be SO pissed when she opened all those Beedrill Pokeballs.

—--

Kenta Mizutsu

“Hey kid you alive? Please still be alive. I don’t really want to figure out what to do with a corpse.”

Kenta gasped awake, jerking away as he looked for the buzzing. But it was silent. His head jerked around searching again and again, but nothing. It was quiet. Other than the sound of crackling fires.

“Hey, looks like you didn’t die. Cool.” A girl's voice called out and Kenta looked down and gasped.

The Legendary Trainer! The girl that had an Arcanine before she even began her journey was crouched beside him. She was famous in the school. The strongest battler, with the strongest Pokemon… That brought him back to what had happened.

“T-the Beedrill! Squirtle?” He asked looking around for his partner, but it was only a second he got his response.

“Squirt! Squirtle squirt!” His Squirtle called out as it was being looked after by a Chansey of all things. A few bottles of what looked like Antidote surrounded the pair. Then Kenta noticed the large Pokemon surrounding him. Milotic! He had seen the flock of them from afar. When the rumor came that there was an entire flock of Milotic his mother had taken him to see them.

They weren’t as cool as a Blastoise though. But right now. They were very cool, because he realized he was surrounded by a claw of ice.

“What happened?”

“Heard the Colony go crazy and the scre-yell. You made. So I came running. Arcanine is pretty quick in the forest.” She offers with a shrug. Kenta felt his heart rate skyrocket when he realized he was resting up against the soft fur of the Legendary Pokemon!

He almost jerked away but the Legendary trainer quickly pushed him back down. “Easy now. You just got attacked and hurt pretty bad. Chansey did a lot, but she can’t heal everything. So rest for a bit we used some Antidote on you and Squirtle, but you got poked a bunch.”

“The Beedrill? Where are they?” He demanded once more starting to freak out but she patted her belt.

“Caught. I ended up being a little rough with them so I caught them. They aren’t here to hurt you anymore. But what happened to piss them off so much?” She asked and Kenta had to swallow back a bit of bile.

“There was a Beedrill. I thought it was alone… I thought Squirtle and I could catch it. It would give us a lot of strength for battles… All I did was piss it off, and it started buzzing… And then there were so many.”

“Yeah.” She muttered, sounding a little tired. “Listen. You almost died. You would have if your Squirtle wasn’t the bravest turtle on this side of Kanto, he covered your body with his when you went down. I know your parents, and your teachers told you to stay away from Beedrill and their line in the forest unless it’s a wandering weedle. And even then.”

“I know.” He spoke tears starting to cover his eyes.

She sighed. “Alright. C’mon. Your journey isn’t over Kid.” She said as she patted him on the head. “So you made a massive blunder. You got hurt. Your Pokemon got hurt. But it isn’t the end. Apologize to your Pokemon. Promise to be more careful, and mean it, and then you are still in a forest. So you got a walk ahead of you.” She tells him and he can’t help but blink as she rises up.

Sun blazing through gold hair she grins and offers him a hand.

And Kenta takes it. “Kenta. Not kid.”

“Heh. Vicky.” She introduces herself.

That was how Kenta found himself riding an Arcanine through the forest to Vickys other friend she was traveling with.

—---

“Ivy!” I call out as Arcanine makes it back to Ivy on the edge of the stream.

“Vicky! Are you okay? Who is that?” She called out thankfully I noticed she was carrying my hat.

“Ah Ivy this is Kenta. He pissed off some Beedrill.” I introduced sighing as Arcanine finally slowed down and came to standstill.

She had been a bit… Well she was high on her victory over the swarm of Beedrill and it was obvious she was super happy about the battle. It was cute. Her tail hadn’t stopped wagging since the battle ended.

But I had another problem.

“Ah niceth to meeth you.” Kenta spoke weakly, his face was puffy. Ivy nodded at him, noticing the holes in his clothes, and the blood as well.

“Should he be moving?” She asked instantly, looking him over and I shrugged.

“Not really. But Riding on Arcanine was fine, we went slow. Help me bring him down.”

“I don’th need help! I can -Wha!” He nearly slipped off, unable to keep his legs under him as I grabbed him, Ivy rushing in.

“Slow down Kenta. You just had a ton of Beedrill stings.” I told him as we got him down. “We need to make a camp here tonight Ivy… Also I need to head home. Mama is going to wonder what is going on with the Beedrill, and I probably need to talk to Officer Jenny about getting them released.”

“Wait. You caught the Beedrill? How many did you get?” Ivy asked eager to hear as we pulled Kenta down from Arcanine and towards a nice dry spot to set up camp.

“A whole colony.” I offer with a wince earning a wide eyed stare from around the boys head as Ivy took in what I said.

“That’s… Isn’t that bad for the environment?”

“Soooo bad.” I whine. As we settle Kenta down. I help Ivy put up both Kenta’s and her own tent and setting up a fire and some food for Kenta and Squirtle. Both were fine now, but they would need some rest.

“I’m gonna head back to Viridian. I’ll be back soon, probably before morning, but by then for sure.” I tell her.

“O-okay…” Ivy looked a little nervous but I gave her a thumbs up.

“You got this Ivy. No stress. Just let Kenta rest up, and I’ll be back.”

“Okay.” She offered again more firm and I smiled as I hopped onto Arcanine.

“Home Girl. Fast.”