As my steps take me further from lovely Pallet to Viridian City with my two trusty partners outside of their balls, I'm glad and a bit apprehensive about my decision to travel.
I mean sure being a trainer is gonna be the coolest thing in the world and being able to meet new people maybe from all over said world is gonna be awesome but it also meant that I might run into something on my journey that could be dangerous or force me to stop altogether. Who's to say that there won't be some law which forces me to quit being a trainer because I'm too young or something else, like the local evil organization Team Rocket or those Nickit in Wooloo's clothing Team Plasma.
No matter, since I already know from recent ranger reports and old timely traditions that there are almost no trainers on route 1 since there isn't anything of interest on this dirt trodden path. Not only because of the marked Fearow forest filled with the evolved and un-evolved versions of the bird Pokemon but also because of the multiple winding roads, steep hills that forced the road to become curved and a pain in the ass at times, with almost no Pokemon of exceptional interest bar a few Pikachu, a Kangaskhan herd, and a few Pokemon that were dumped by their wild parents or trainers into this road since it's safer than all the others in Kanto.
This route is the most boring and the longest due to Pallet being away from all the other cities and the pollution of this region, in a place next to the seaside, so most Pokemon only have to worry about newbie trainers and rangers making sure everything is safe. I just so happen to be one of these newbie trainers.
After about an hour of travel by foot it seems that carrying two Pokemon on my head and left shoulder right after lunch is my limit and before I know it I have to take a break. As I sit next to a tree I look down from the highest hill I've ever climbed to look at my home one last time ... beautiful was all I could think, if I ever came back I would look at the town under this tree again. Maybe with all the partners I'll catch.
While I took a short respite to look down at the different crisscrossing hills and long winding road I already begin trying to think up of training methods for my Pokemon to train their skills. First on the list is starting with some friendship building exercises, alongside having Leaf learn how to use Growl, judging by evolution paths (should either choose to evolve) the normal type debuff move would work better on an eeveelution more than a Charizard so I think having Leaf focus on it more than Chardon will leave me more room to help the fire lizard on other moves.
After all, there is a reason why most trainers usually only use around four moves in gyms instead of like thirty, with each move that a Pokemon has to train they also have to upkeep with the other moves therefore only having 4 to 5 is a tactical and clutch move for aspiring youngsters and casual trainers. Anyone who tries to upkeep more than four or even five on all their Pokemon is either really good or a bunch of Tauros dung tryna lose their weaknesses or countering niche situations early on when they don't even have a specialized formula for training and junk. That's why its important to get all the bases ready and prepare for those weaknesses with experience first and only then will I start helping them learn a move that could applied to a lot of general areas, at least that's what the book Lance Blackthorn wrote said to do.
The training exercises were for me to place a couple items on the ground away from each other, blindfolding one of my Pokemon, and then having the other one tell what item the first was supposed to get. My partners seem to be the trusting type because they completed the exercise 9/10 times, the last only happening due to a mistake made by the non blindfolded not remembering what item they were supposed to get more than anything; *cough* Leaf *cough*. Then the part I was most excited for, and no matter how many articles or books I read, this would always be the most entertaining part of training.
I was going to start move practice.
"Alright, since we're so far from anyone and because I wanna make sure we don't accidentally pull ahead of the others we are now gonna start training." I then started marking fallen branches and some twigs with some chalk I stole from mom and others, leaves, or pen ink before picking up a few stones. "So I want to start with Leaf using Swift to hone in on certain marked branches before using Mud Slap on them while I throw these rocks at random areas and Char has to move while hitting them before they fall down, alright?"
Both nodded in agreement waiting eagerly to use their moves, actually Leaf was just eager to do something while Char was probably eager to improve and never lose again. The Charmander line had a bit of a pride thing going on.
As I began training Char while he moved around whilst trying to hit the rocks with Ember I constantly kept a lookout towards Leaf to see how she was progressing, it turned out that despite knowing Swift and Mud Slap she never actually used the moves and the way the attacks were moving you would think of them as Slow and Mud Tickle instead. The Swift always hit but the lack of training the move made it as effective as a regular bubble popping, distracting and useful for maybe a contest but utterly useless in battle, while the Eevee seemed to miss half her Mud Slap's.
Thankfully she seemed to quite versed with Quick Attack so I later instructed her to use the move to not only attack but also to use it for mobility while using the other two moves, since it was super exhausting to do so, the gains were little but I knew that the potential for these three attacks was massive especially against Brock the first gym leader who always has at least one Pokemon with dig and other rocky moves since he's a rock type specialist.
Meanwhile Char was only faring a little better with his training going from only hitting half the rocks while moving to getting two thirds of the rocks charred in some form, normally if a Pokemon has a fire type attack they first have to train intensity before anything else but since the dots of flame came from my Charmander's tail I have an advantage by having Chardon heat up the intensity of his tail flame which would probably up the intensity of his other fire attacks should they come from other areas such as the mouth or fist since they all use his flame sack aside from his tail which has a smaller flame sack connected to itself. Naturally, this would normally tucker out fire types but since Char would be carried by me or would be out during the night as a makeshift campfire we could do this training later in the day.
After getting conclusive results from accuracy training around forty five minutes later I stopped it to instead have Chardon use his two physical attacks against a boulder, after noting down just how extensive the damage from Beat Up and Scratch was on the boulder I then started asking Char to use Dragon Dance once and repeat the process and after he used it for the sixth and final time we ended the damage check up. We had to move to a third boulder for the final test because the other two were crushed.
"Alright, that was really great you two," I said with a smile "next time though I'm going to check the difference between Chardon's strength when he uses Beat Up with and without Leaf in a poke ball on my belt while Leaf will continue move training, well, her moves" that got a yip of approval from my normal type.
"Oh but while we move I actually want Char to help you learn use Growl," I remember "having a status debuff move will definitely help against most of our opponents in the low tier."
Just like that we take a ten minute break to recuperate and then my partners get on their personal human ride with Char showing how to mold normal type energy into sound so as to effect enemy Pokemon, turns out that if a Pokemon who knows Sing extensively used Growl before the sound move it would make it easier for Sing to actually land since its just a matter of shifting the type energy; if what Amy says is true.
This time I keep walking for about 3 hours before the sun is high enough that I can feel it on the back of my head, it was so hot I had to return Leaf and Chardon into their balls and proceed to travel by myself. Being by myself on Route 1 is kind of lonely but it was also really rejuvenating with the Pidgey that flew above me, the Rattata in the grass on my right scurrying for some berries, that off color Ralts bleeding on that rock, a pack of Growlithe running towards Pallet Town's general direction.
wait... OFF COLOR RALTS BLEEDING ON A ROCK?!?
I run over to the little empathy feeling Pokemon and immediately try to assess for damages, luckily the damage was easily seen on the chest with an X symbol and I couldn't find any other injuries on the body, maybe the little fella has some internal wounds as well?
Immediately after, I call both my Pokemon out to set a perimeter and hopefully ward off anything that was following the little fella. As I start spraying some potion that I have on me onto the injury of the psychic type I also bandage up the spot with some gauze and gently try to wake up the previously injured Pokemon so that they can give an answer.
A quick glance towards my partners shows that they're stunned seeing a pool of blood next to and on top of the Ralts, a normal reaction since not many people have actually seen Pokemon bleed, mainly because the only way they bleed is if something or someone was actively trying to kill them after they've gone unconscious. If this were to happen then the unconscious party would immediately regain enough energy to run away, this was mainly seen in footage of Seviper and Zangoose skirmishes that usually end when a ranger or trainer comes and stops it.
The only reason I didn't freak was because I've already seen blood up close...
No matter, the Ralts wakes up with a fright and starts moving in terror as fast as possible. I actually have to restrain it and give words of peace in as soothing a voice as I can muster, slowly it does stop resisting and starts calming down. After the Ralts becomes calm I start talking in as peaceful a voice as I could possibly have.
"Hey little fella don't worry ok, you're safe now alright?" I look towards it in the eyes waiting for it to nod which it eventually did.
Slowly, I move and start to let go of the shiny Pokemon who visibly relaxes the more arm space I give it.
"Hello, um, are you ok because I could run to the nearest city for better treatment if you want?" Ralts then tenses when I ask about her injuries but otherwise it seems to be relatively fine "just to make sure your ok I'm gonna use this pokedex on you to check your condition and stuff like that." I slowly say while pulling out the device in question.
'Ralt ts Ra' and a hasty nod is all she gets out before the device beeps and starts listing details on the small psychic.
Name Ralts Type Psychic/Fairy Nature Modest Ability Telepathy Hp 28 Atk 25 Sp. Atk 45 Defence 25 Sp. Defence 35 Speed 40 Total Stats 198 Moves Calm Mind, Disarming Voice, Teleport
Aside from this information I did find out that this Ralts is of average size and does not have any current health deficiency so all the damage inflicted towards it has been healed or is steadily recovering. Nevertheless since Ralts is not a known and sanctioned Pokemon in Route 1 it is the duty of every trainer who meets a non-sanctioned Pokemon to investigate for more of the species and to see if the Pokemon need to be relocated, after all who wants a Tyranitar to live five minutes away from a large city. The standard league rule book was very heavily implicating this as a major rule and that means I could either find a cool Pokemon or a fabled legendary while being allowed to supposedly do work for the government.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
For now though this poor Pokemon needs to recover lost blood and energy through the only way most trainers and professionals use for former injured Pokemon when they're recovering in the wild, with some food.
Leaf already seems to know and pulls out the three feeding bowls I have in the bag just in case I think to catch any Pokemon, really I was thinking that having a Pidgeot or a Raticate would be cool but seeing how I might just have the perfect dragons' bane right here in the color blue I probably should keep my emotions under check. Ralts are natural empaths after all so having conflicting or strong emotions is bound to make them upset.
Since I have to begrudgingly use the store bought chow, since I don't trust myself with proper nutrients and ingredients meant for specific species and battle Pokemon whole also to make sure that I have something for any new captures along the way, I decided to just hand a few pastries I was keeping for dessert to my present company who took their one full pastry each easily enough. It might just be because the scent makes it hard for them to resist since the old man that runs the bakery in Pallet managed to get a Slurpuff and Alcremie from his grandson who's right now in Galar for the league tournament, think the guy ended at 16th position in the tourney but that just means that if I enter Galar I at least gotta be in top 4, just to break records ya know. They all eat the pastries up quick enough, with Leaf savoring since she's had poffins from the same bakery before, and then eat their chow with a little less speed. I didn't actually give Char and Leaf a lot since they already had breakfast and lunch, just enough to make Ralts comfortable enough to eat it.
Arceus above is this boring but necessary book something that everyone reads? or do they just skim through to the important parts... HOW ARE THERE SO MANY LAWS AROUND PARKING TRAVEL POKEMON. Unbeknownst to my mental breakdown, Ralts was looking curiously at the book and proceeded to take it out of my hands and started reading all that the little fairy type could. Leaf's left ear slightly twitched showcasing that a Pokemon is either training or using their aura (just neat info we found when we met a Lucario trainer in Pallet), probably the Ralts reading the book is helpful in training its psychic typing.
"Hey Leaf?" A 'Vey' which I know translates to 'yeah' and I spring the big question.
"Boy or Girl" I said while pointing at Ralts.
Leaf then placed her tail on the left, signifying female. Good, it would've been awkward getting the gender wrong at crucial moments. I haven't sprung the travel question since I kinda don't want to read that darn book so I take a little bit to get a small ringed notebook which was halfway finished with drawings, more specifically my drawings. At least Eevee are easy to differentiate and I already knew what Chardon's gender would be weeks in advance.
Man, now I gotta study up on Pokemon biology of Ralts and anything else I catch.
Looking at the scenery for a few seconds I decide to draw something far more interesting, my current camping buddies. I take a second to look at Leaf remembering more than observing her and her glossy light brown fur, the left ear 3 centimeters smaller than her right, the way she breathes in every 3 seconds and each time she swishes her tail with the end part which is lighter than the rest of herself to one side and then another, the way her milk chocolate little chest fur puffs out with each breath, the black button nose under her dark chocolate eyes. That together with her heart shaped tail which indicates she is female, and her end hair at the top of her hair which is the same color as her chest and tail end together are all indicators that she is currently well taken care of as stated by the healthcare professional assistant at professor Oak's lab.
Its been about a year since I could see her ribs poking out of her skin and she seems healthier this week than the entire first year she was with us. That was how malnourished she was.
Anyway the sketch ends up finished in about 30 minutes, plenty of time for me to now start talking with Ralts.
"Ralts, is it ok if we talk?" I decide to be upfront about it/
'Ra Ralts' seems like an ok to me
"Ralts aren't naturally found in the wild here in route 1," she freezes but I continue on "so I'm gonna have to check for any nest or place you used to live in before bringing a report to the rangers who make sure everyone stays safe, people and Pokemon."
That seems to have scared the Ralts, so probably she sustained her injuries during a scuffle in her home. The only question is if it was one of her family or an intruder.
"You just need to show where you live and if it's too dangerous then we can get a ranger to check on it." I think she understood that there would be someone stronger that would come and help because she then looked content after I said a ranger would come and help.
"Anyway we should check once it becomes daytime since the sun's already starting to set," an effect due to being in the near end of winter time was that now when it would be 5:30 the sun would start setting "for now we'll camp near the area but we won't head to your nest alright."
After that I pick up all the items that were taken outside my bag and place them back in sans the league book since it was still in Ralts' little stubs and we started walking behind her towards somewhere near the supposed nest. It seems to be behind a very thick set of trees within a short 10 minute walk into the Route 1 forest that wasn't infested with Spearow, everyone knows that there's a faster path to Viridian through there but usually most trainers and Pokemon need medical attention if they even manage to escape.
As soon as I finish packing we start following Ralts into the trees, thankfully, as far away from the located Spearow nest as the forest allows and we stop in front of a set of Bamboo away hiding what must have been the grove that she was living in before. We all decide to move back a fair bit and I end up spotting a pretty cool looking, spiky Pineco with its exterior cone having some green looking moss so I decide to catch that one. You know, since bug types are the easiest Pokemon to catch and the best for beginner level trainers.
Plus if there's any trainer in the high tier or champion tier with a bug type like Yellow or the Kalos guy Casio or Ca-something then you know that the bug type is an absolute beast. Yellow accentuates the abilities her Butterfree has to a degree no one thought possible while Ca-something has a Pinsir that managed to beat two of Diantha's team before getting knocked out without using mega evolution, these two alongside other choice trainers showed that bugs could be just as dangerous as all the other typings so the only people who diss on the bugs either have a phobia or are just idiots who believe that their team typings are naturally the best. Typings wise bugs are probably better than grass types since grass 5 weaknesses.
Now we move back by about a 20 minute walk only about 50 minutes away from where we met Ralts, yup I just walked with my team for around an hour and 10 minutes. As I start getting the tent from my bag out I immediately open my poke ball to allow the freshly caught Pineco out and let them talk with the rest of my team.
Why does Pineco look at me so sadly?
Just as fast as the bug type came out they seem to hop towards the others and starts chatting. They seem to have quite the conversation because even though I finished setting the tent they were still talking as animatedly as they were when I started. No matter. I'll just check the pokedex to see what Pineco's stats are.
Name Pineco Type Bug Nature Brave Ability Sturdy Hp 50 Atk 65 Sp. Atk 35 Defence 90 Sp. Defence 35 Speed 15 Total Stats 290 Moves Spikes, Self-Destruct, Swift
Pineco seems to be a female
...
...
...
"Hey Pineco," I get something like a resigned sigh from the bug "do you know how to properly use Swift."
'Pine co Pineco' she burble curiously, I think she said something like 'Yeah why's that matter.'
"That's great, you could show how to use Swift to Leaf and then learn different status moves like Toxic Spikes. Maybe even get a TM of Gyroball just to help learn Automize and Iron Defense or something in case you evolve later on." I blurt out
It seems to take a couple seconds for Pineco to realize what I said, but then the little girl seems to start shaking and tearing up as she seems to cry; I think they're actually happy for her since they seem to really perk up from the bug types story she was telling previously.
"Well now that that's been said how would you like to be part of the team." oh, I almost forgot "Oh right, if you say yes then I'm probably gonna give you a nickname alright."
Pineco then hops into my lap and wriggles happily, and she became even happier when I brought out the Pokeball that caught her.
"Welcome to the party... hm how about Tabitha and sometimes in battle i'll call you Tabs alright." Seems Pi-Tabitha likes that and hops right onto the button of the ball, sucking her in before it dinged and shot out yellow star shapes. This signifies that not only is the catch a success but also that the Pokemon seems to be eager to be part of the team. A neat feature that can really help a trainer learn a lot about their team, since there are some Pokemon who might not want to battle and sometimes some Pokemon might be more enthusiastic about battling than before.
Immediately I send out Tabitha and everyone in the group congratulates Tabs all the while she seems to be crying happy tears, maybe she was ostracized from her family or got lost?
Either way I'm happy for both her and my partners since now I could be rated from newbie to beginner rank so long as I win another five matches and participate in either a tournament or a gym battle. Newbie is basically baby gloves and if you lose against beginner or higher ranked trainers then you don't have to give any money to the opponent but you do if you face off against other newbies, though I think the actual term is rookie trainers.
Anyway, now seems to be a good time to bring out food for everyone. I open the bag and get out four bowls this time for everyone and ask to use Chardon's tail to heat up some Risotto I made a couple days ago, a simple enough dish that it feels a little disrespectful to change it up, and eat the bland rice broth while looking at everyone gathering around Char and his tail. Even Tabs. Considering that bugs and grass have a natural fear of fire either Tabitha already trusts her new friends or she just doesn't want to be alone.
... Probably the second option.
No matter cuz when I head into my tent after cleaning the bowls for human and non-humans I finish changing into pyjamas before urging everyone into the tent to sleep. Then I slip into my sleeping bag and get ready for some not quite easy because I'm out in the wilderness rest.
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Being an 'Eevee' is sooo cool, I could turn into any 'eeveelution' (funny word) I want and everyone would love me regardless.
Being a grass type would be sooo cool, that's why I make sure I'm called Leaf. Because I wanna be a 'Leafeon'.
Being a sister is sooo cool, I get to see just how strong my big brother is and how awesome he'll be when he turns into a 'Flareon' like he wants.
Being part of a team is sooo cool, I'm gonna be able to learn how to use my moves correctly and be a super duper 'Eevee'.
Being my trainers bff is sooo cool, his mom made me take animal psychology lessons to help him with buried trauma.
Being outside is sooo cool, I get to sleep safely with new friends.