Faria Region

Sorence's green eyes flashed open from the morning sun invading his window. He let out with a slow exhale and shut his eyes. He turned over and threw the covers over his head, trying to avoid the sun. He mumbled to himself, "Meh, I can sleep in a bit." He was beginning to doze off when his eyes shot open. "Oh crap! Today is the first day of my journey!" He jumped out of his bed onto his carpeted floor. He rushed putting his clothes on, his black shirt, his blue jeans, and his black running shoes. He tossed his pajamas onto the floor and sprinted down the stairs.

His parents were at the bottom of the stairs. His mom asked as he jumped towards the refrigerator, "Morning swettie, how was your sleep? Did you fall out of bed again because I heard a loud thud onto the floor. You look like a Slakoth who didn't get enough sleep." His mom was just finishing off breakfast, setting the table. "You want breakfast before you set out?"

His dad glanced over to him from his pancakes and bacon (nooooo Miltank!) and said, "Oh he probably does what most boys his age do. You know -"

"Dad!" Sorence yelled at his father. He slammed the refrigerator door as he faced his dad, red in the face. He was holding a sandwhich he made earlier, smacking his dad with the bag it was in.

"Stop, stop! You know I'm joking!" His dad laughed as he was getting hit with the bag.

"Just don't joke about that." Sorence said with a sigh. "And no mom, I'm in sort of a rush to get my journey started. I got some food here." As he motioned towards the sandwhich. "Anyway, I'm going to leave now, so see you guys!" Sorence said as he ran through the door. He reached at his belt, then realised that he forgot his Magby. He peaked his head through the doorway and said to his parents. "Hey, I think I forgot my-" He was interupted with his dad tossing him his pokeball. "Thanks, have a good time. I'll come back someday!" Sorence said as he closed the half-open door. As he walked from his house, he released his Magby. "You ready to go off on our adventure Magby?" His Pokemon nodded to him and jumped onto his shoulder.

The rays of the early morning light streaked their way into a young man's room. At first, his nose twitched. Then his mouth. He rolled over to his side and slowly opened his eyes. So today was the day huh? Well, what was the point of staying in bed? The man hesitated for a few more moments, enjoying the warmth his bed provided and then finally sat upright. He rubbed what sleep was left in his eyes and yawned. He stretched his arms, bones popping under the stress causing another yawn to be evoked. However, the yawn was not of the young man's but the creature that was curled up beside him on his pillow. A Chikorita his parents had given him for his graduation present who he had named Leafy. She seamed to have taken to the name and over the past week, the boy and creature was getting along swimmingly.

Dominic Tanner. That was the boy's name. A nineteen years he had his eyes set on the world. And today he would finally get to live those sights. He would see the world for all of it's glory, with Leafy by his side. Perhaps a couple of other Pokemon buddies he'd meet along the way. Plastered all across the room was drawings of scenic landscapes, wild Pokemon dusting the drawings. A couple of the newest drawings were of Leafy in various poses. Sleeping, eating, watching, laughing. Most recent of all was the sleeping. He had drawn that one last night, when he couldn't sleep because of the excitement for today.

Dom slowly made his way up from the bed as to avoid waking the sleeping Pokemon and began to get dressed. He then began to pack his bag. In the middle of packing Leafy awakened from her sleep and lifted the leaf on her head to get a better look at her trainer. It gave a tired squeak, which drew Dom's attention. The trainer gave Leafy a grin, "Come on, you know what today is. We get to see the world." The Pokemon's leaf perked up at this and a gleam flickered across it's eyes. Today was the day they set off on an adventure. All of a sudden, the Pokemon stood up excitedly causing Dom to laugh, "That's better," He said, finished packing the last item, a drawing pad and a set of pencils. He slipped the X-Transceiver onto his wrist and sat his fedora hat on his head. Now he was ready.

Leafy was already at the door, eager for the adventure. The Pokemon was quite timid when they had both first met, but she warmed up to Dom rather quickly. He was nice to her and he didn't make her do anything she didn't want to. In the week she had been with Dom, the boy had only recalled her back to her poke-ball once, merely to see if it worked. It had, and she was out moments later. A fact that thrilled Dom to no end. It only cemented the fact that he actually had a Pokemon. After the poke-ball experience, he wanted to draw the Chikorita as often as possible, and the Pokemon let him. It helped that the boy could actually draw decently and made her look absolutely magnificent.

They were out the door and Dom noticed his parents were still asleep. He was too excited to wake them and announce his leaving. They would want to send him off and it'd just take to long. Instead he opted to just write a note explaining where he went, giving his thanks, and such. He signed it and slipped out the front door. He smiled, now he was free. Leafy and he were free. All that stood between them and the world was the road...

Of course, he still probably needed to go to the market and get a couple of items first. He looked down to Leafy and her eyes were firmly set on the road ahead with glee. He scratched his head and looked down at his friend... "Uh... First we need to, uh, we need to visit the poke-mart," He told his companion. Which of course elicited a furious stare from the Pokemon. She looked at him like he was a fool. Well, he probably was. Getting supplies for the road was supposed to be done before actually getting on the road.

The Chikorita merely breathed out a puff of frustrated air and hopped to the boy's arms. "Heh.. Sorry," Dom apologized which Leafy accepted... By slapping Dom in the face with her leaf. "... Yeah, okay. I totally deserve that." He said, making his way to the Poke-mart.

Before all, Tyler stood with a laugh. He was on a massive pillar, higher than any other. With him stood Flare, his ultimately powerful Blaziken, blazing with a flaming white fire. They had just taken the world by storm, and nothing would ever be the same. His face was on every billboard, his voice on every radio station. His name on every street sign in the world.

With a deep breath, he looked around, facing everything. In a circle around him were were people bowing to him. A circle of worshipers, muttering his name, over and over again. At his left was a jail cell, full of the unbelievers, the pathetic fools who believed that only love could make the world go round. He snapped, and the Blaiziken reached out, and blew fire in a circle around them... the chanting began to get louder. Out of completely nowhere was the sound of drums.

He faced the crowd that was gathering: “Do you see this? This is the result of your idiotic thinking? Where has your sole belief in love gotten you now? Love is fine every now and then, but it does not rule us. Those lovely-cozey people are a mere drain on society. They have what is coming to them. This is not execution. It is DISCRIMINATION!” He shouted, as the rings of fire got closer to the jail cell.

It came closer and closer... Tyler could feel the immense heat of the fire, his heart pounded in perfect synch with the drums. “Let this be a lesson to BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.”

It was dawn when Tyler woke up. The twilit sky.. and a very annoying alarm clack was calling him out of slumber, He slowly opened his eyelids, his heart still racing., ' That... was a dream, just now? Huh... pretty creepy dream, even for me.' He said, reflecting on it. 'I was... on top of the world... that wasn't a bad feeling, not at all. But, I won't kill just to go with it, If I do attempt something on such a massive scale'

He was still sort of sleepy, though he had gone to bed early the night before, almost immediately after having supper. Flare, his trusty Torchic, was nestled nearby, in a homemade bed next to him. Sure, he could have just kept him in his pokeball, but it was his first Pokemon. That sort of cruelty would be dealt to the other Pokemon he would eventually catch.

He woke Flare up, and Tyler taught him some Katas, to recover energy from morning sleepiness. He chirped with a 'Tor- CHIC!” It did a back flip- type jump, witch made him laugh, and he hugged the flame-red bird... it was probably among the only things he would ever hug, and he felt a heat from his body. Not burning hot, but a nice, fuzzy warm. He would be a good companion when ever he needed to relax on their travels

When they were finished training, Tyler checked his closet, wondering what clothes he should wear. He would take one extra set, to switch off with, because he did not want to become a smelly hobo in the cities he would soon see. He changed into his adventure gear, his black and red shirt, and a blue over shirt, for when it got cold, and a spare of the same looking clothes would do nicely. He grabbed a comb, and set it in his style, then left it behind. Most everything would be provided at the Pokemon centers he would stay at, so he wouldn't need to bother with space in his bag.

He stretched, and headed downstairs, preparing a meal for himself, like he always did, a nice, nutritious salad as a side course, and a small stake for the main thing, and a nice, tall glass of Moo-Moo Milk. That would keep him energized, for a little while, at the very least. For Flare, some Oran Berries that his mother had bought for them.


Checking his belt for his Pokegear, and his pocket for his wallet and Trainer Card, he walked outside, and started to walk away. No such thing as a goodbye for the people he barely cared for, those fools who attempted to raise him to be perfectly happy with the way everything is. He could never live under such conditions as that. He was going to live life the way he desired, and that, as they say, was that.

Flare flapped it's stubby little wings, perching on Tyler's shoulder, and he let out a “Tor- CHIC!” He laughed, and scratched under his chin, thankful that the bird already knew not to hold it's claws too tightly

His first destination would be the flower shop, to purchase berries for Flare. This went by without a hitch, flower shops being flower shops, after all. He walked out with a small bag full of berries, Flare's favorite Oran berries, and placed them in the berries pouch.

Area number two would be the pokemart. He was rather loathe to go there because, doubtless, others from his grade would be there as well, and he didn't want most of them speaking to him. They never did, though, so Tyler usually had nothing to worry about. Now, however...

He shook his head. Ah well, he would have to risk it.

"Are you sure you've got everything?"

"Yes, mom."

"Is it really safe to have that thing in the house...?"

"Mother!" Her voice was almost condescending. "It is not a thing. It is a Charmander," she said. The voice came from a teenage girl, kneeling in her bedroom, an unzipped backpack in front of her and various items scattered out and about. Claire Witherby was probably the only new trainer left in the city: She'd woken up late as usual and her mother hadn't bothered to try and get her daughter awake any earlier. She was trying to go about filling her backpack as well as she could and as quickly as she could, using all the space as wisely as possible; her attention had been far elsewhere than the orange dragon-like creature that was exploring her room.

It had been the first time the rookie Pokemon had been let out of it's ball, waddling around her bedroom and picking up various items - at one point, examining a pair of the girl's underwear she had layed out to put into her bag. She knew she should have done such a thing the night before, but she hadn't (she'd been planning out her "first day of Pokemon adventuring!" outfit and various other things), and now the horrible planning and her excitement to get out of her house and begin her adventure was causing her to forget important items.

Packages of Ramen Noodles, her wallet, travel-sized hygiene products and a toothbrush, changes of clothes, a thick blanket. Her Pokedex, the Pokeball her curious monster had came out of, a canister of Pokemon food with a perpetually blinking man's face on the front. A package of band-aids and a small first-aid kit for herself, and, the last two items, a pair of bottled waters, having to be crammed down the side of her bag to get to fit.

"Yes, honey, but it has a flame on it's tail..."

"He's a fire type, mom. Get back here, you little monster!" The girl shouldered her bag and hurried out into the hall, following after the curious and fearless Pokemon, who had nearly come to the flight of stairs. Could Pokemon go down stairs? She assumed the unevolved creature was much like a toddler she had to teach right from wrong and only learned things from experience.

She picked the creature up, being mindful of the flickering flame, and trekked back into her bedroom.

"Are you sure you've got everything you need...? I have a feeling you're missing something, Claire." The girl, who was making sure she wasn't forgetting anything horribly important, missed her mother's glance to the sleeping bag and two-person tent that was in the corner of her closet.

"I'm fine, mom," she said. Her mother sighed, walking out of the room and going down the flight of stairs, her teenage girl behind her.

"I think you ought to give it - him - a name. It might make him better to train," the woman said. Her daughter paused, putting the Pokemon down onto the floor - he quickly scurried around the room, running into the kitchen as his owner slipped her shoes on.

"I hadn't thought of that. Well, I guess that's just something else I'll have to come up with." The girl was caught up in her thoughts as she laced her tennis shoes. Blaze or Ember would be too generic for a Fire type. Almost expected....

She and her mother jumped at a sudden rush of noise from their kitchen as well as a startled wail from her Pokemon - the first real noise the creature had made since she had got him. One shoe untied, Claire ran into the room to find him surrounded by cans of soup, beans, and vegetables, but unharmed, his hands wrapped around a can and sharp teeth digging into the metal.

"Char -"

"He's sure got a curious streak, doesn't he?" Her mother said, shaking her head.

The sound of crunching metal was heard, and the can began to leak vegetable juice. It had been a can of corn, and now the Charmander was slurping the juice out of the can, uncaring of the mess he had made.

"Charmander, that's so uncalled for!" She snapped. He didn't even offer her a passing glance. She picked up the undamaged cans and began putting them back into the cabinet he'd managed to open, her movements hasty and rushed. It was already past ten and she hadn't left yet! Slamming the cabinet door, she bent down and finished tying her shoe laces.

"Okay mom, I really gotta go. Come on, Charmander."

She reached out to take the can from him. Before her hand could even touch the metal, he let out an aggrivated noise, and one of his clawed hands reached out and scratched her arm. It wasn't enough to even break the skin, a warning of sorts, and even as he glared up at her, he was still lapping up the corn juice that was dripping from the can. He didn't budge from his spot, even as she repeated her last three words, biting deeper into the aluminum can and creating a hole for pieces of corn to fall out and into his mouth.

"Char...lie?" She hesitated. So did the Charmander; when she noticed this, a grin broke out onto her face. "Charlie! Let's go start our adventure, okay?"

The newly-named monster padded towards her, can of corn still clasp between his paws. Claire gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

"I'll get a hold of you, I promise," she said, opening her front door. "Don't worry about me, Mom. I'll be fine. I love you!" She nudged her Charma - Charlie, she berated herself - with her foot, and he began walking out the door. As soon as he cleared the door frame she followed him, shutting the door behind her.

The girl's mother sighed as she left, heading into the kitchen to further clean up the mess the Charmander had made. She bent down to pick up a stray can her daughter had missed, letting out a gasp and dropping it to the floor, the metal hot.

"Oh, Claire, I do hope you know what you're getting yourself into..."



Claire knew they must have made quite the sight as they began to roam their way through town. Claire was leading the way to the PokeMart, Charlie dragging behind, his cherished, mangled can of corn in his hands, half-paying attention to his owner. He was leaving corn kernels and soggy footprints in his wake, and as they came to the PokeMart, he lagged so far behind that Claire had to stop and allow him to catch up.

She was certain there would be others in here - if the chattering and Pokemon noises she'd heard walking in were enough. For a brief moment, she was embarrassed by her Charlie, who wasn't listening to her at all and was still eating from his mangled can of corn. All she had money for was a Potion and one Pokeball, if she chose to get both.

"Behave in here, got it, punk?" She said, opening the PokeMart door. The Charmander grumbled at her, waddling inside, the metal can grasped in his hand and eyes taking in everything in the shop. "We don't own this stuff. Don't eat it, okay?"

She had to nudge the fire-type with her foot as he reached for something on the shelf, and once he realized he'd gotten caught, he begrudgingly returned to his corn.

"Ali! Hey, Alice it's time to wake up!" All there was in response was a low mumble.

The spiky haired boy frowned and turned to walk away but stopped before he reached the door. "Alright, I guess you won't be starting your adventure today. And you won't mind if I take Chimchar as my own ri-" He was cut off as he was tackled to the ground from behind.

The girl that was now on top of the boy had a mischievous smirk on her face; her terrible bed head gave her a mad look. "I told you already Matt, touch Dante and I'll put you into a world of pain!" Her grip around his neck tightened till he patted the ground in defeat, not being able to speak. Alice removed her grip and jumped off her younger brother with a sense of victory; she scratched her unruly hair without any shame of her appearance.

Alice Locke, middle child between two brothers. She had spent most of her life in their company and adapting bad and unladylike habits from them. Today was the start of her journey and she was eagerly awaiting her chance to set out.

After regaining his breath he glared at his elder sister, "I was just trying to wake you up! You didn't have to try and kill me!"

Alice laughed with a shrug, "Yeah, sure than what's this for huh?" She pulled out a slingshot and a few small pebbles, Matt searched his body till he realized that was the one he was carrying.

"Heh...well I'll let you get ready!" He ran out the room but not before Alice could toss the childish weapon at his head.

"And stay OUT!" Alice slammed her bedroom door closed and turned around to her bed. "Char..." Alice looked up to see her fiery companion rubbing his eye sleepily on her bed; she let out a laugh and went over to pick him up. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up? Well we should have woken up a while ago." Dante stretched one final time before he was finally awake, his tall flame fully visible again "Char!"

Alice ran downstairs, her freshly done hair bouncing behind her, and ran over to her mother who was busy cooking over the stove and kissed her cheek "Morning!" Alice's next stop was her father who sat in front of the TV reading the paper; she surprised him from behind with a kiss on the cheek causing him to jump slightly.

"Morning Alice, I see you finally woke up." Her father commented with a small chuckle returning to the paper. Alice huffed and pointed her thumb at Matt, who was messing with the family Purrloin "No thanks to this idiot," Matt stuck his tongue out spitefully and Alice released a vicious growl which made him back off. Alice looked over to her eldest brother, Chase, who was experimenting with Pokémon food in the kitchen.

Their mother walked into the family room, "It's too early for this sibling rivalry! Now Alice sit down and eat something, you still have time before you have to live." Alice smiled weakly "Th-that's alright mom, I'm not hungry!"

The mother stared at her teenage daughter blankly, "Table, now." Alice lowered her head in defeat and sat at the table as instructed, Dante peeked his head across the table till Chase set a bowl filled with Pokémon food in front of him "For you Dante." He pushed up his glasses with a smile. Without a second thought Dante ate the food happily with a blissful smile on his face. Alice sighed, "This is going to be a long morning."

"Seriously mom, I'm alright!" Alice shouted as she got farther from the house, her worrisome mother standing at the door "Just call if you need anything!" Alice waved in response as she kept on walking.

Dante climbed up and perched himself on her shoulder comfortably, Alice rubbed his head with her hand affectionately "I guess we should head to the Pokémart... I'm sure we'll see some of our old classmates." She let out a sigh, it wasn't that she dislike them it's just she rather not stop to talk with anyone, but that was beside the point. She needed to go to get supplies for Dante and nothing more.

The duo neared the Pokémart and she could already see a few familiar faces standing inside, she let out a long held breath and walked inside the store. She walked up to the cashier and placed her money on the desk, "Potion and Antidote please." The cashier exchanged her money for the items. Alice smiled with a small bow of the head "Thank you." She placed her remaining cash back in her wallet and placed the Antidote in her shoulder bag which held all her other items but placed the Antidote in her belt.

The teen turned to the others with a small smile; she recognized a few faces that she might have talked to before. "I guess this was everyone's first stop, not surprising." She looked up to Dante and scratched his chin affectionately, she knew that was his favorite spot and his tail fire dancing confirmed it.

Barbie had plenty of reasons to be irritable. Her dad had left town without another battle, and decided to cut her off from his account. It would promote 'growth'. Growth Barbie's ass. Now she had to accept Mr. Yoshi's offer on the job, at least until she got a considerable amount of money. Barbie saw people coming in and out of the pokemart, many were familiar faces.

"Dile!" A loud crash distracted Barbie and she looked down to see her totodile breaking things. He must have had a nightmare while taking a nap. Not seeing anyone coming to the register, Barbie ducked down and started to cuddle with her pokemon, rocking it in her arms. After a few bites of protest on her arm, totodile relaxed and allowed himself to be rocked to sleep. When her pokemon finally drifted off, Barbie set him down in her makeshift bed of blankets from the Misc isle. They spent all last night training, so her totodile needed a little more rest than normal.

A girl from Barbie's class slipped on some liquid on the floor, followed by her cleffa. A moment ago this girl was yelling out loud to her friends, much to Barbie's annoyance, but now karma was sinking it's teeth in her bottom. Barbie gave her the items she checked out and asked for the next person in line, who was an old man buying a small tub of pokemon food.

Another girl from class came in, asking for a potion and antidote. The medicine was kept behind the counter, along with pokeballs and other items that certain people would be tempted to steal if it were in the isles. Barbie handed it to her, another exchange and another minute until Dolly came in to take over her shift.

Barbie was tempted to clean up the spill yet also tempted to make the clumsy and loud girl do it. But Barbie needed her job and had to stay in line with her attitude. Luckily, Luke was on clean-up duty today. The 21-year old male with short, shaggy hair and black glasses was quick with his hands. He cleaned the spill while people around him were talking nonchalantly. Barbie thought he would be cute if he'd do something about that hair of his. Plus he was too short. Only 5'9.

Barbie took a small break and leaned down to kiss her totodile, he was starting to squirm in his sleep and Barbie wondered what was giving her sweet gator nightmares. It was probably a mischievous ghastly around the shop. Barbie would make sure to take care of it when she was off shift.

---

Dawn was well past by the time the first rays of sunlight made it through the heavy curtains in Daphne’s room, and even when they did, it wasn’t as though they managed to hit her face. Indeed, the only good they’d be doing anyone in this particular instance was warming the single foot that still rested on the bed. The rest of Daphne lay sprawled on her back upon the tatami floor, sheets twisted around her legs and a very fat meowth curled up on her abdomen.

The room itself was rather well-organized; everything tucked into its little space and free of dust. The only item out of place seemed to be a sturdy backpack, which slouched against one wall, already filled with (most of) the supplies necessary to undertake a fully-fledged cross-country journey. Whether or not the same degree of readiness could be applied to the sleeping trainer was anyone’s guess, but chances weren’t looking all that good.

The first set of knocks simply failed to wake her. The second, she heard in a very nice dream she was having about being the host of Faria’s most famous cooking show. The third caused her to roll over in her sleep, displacing the feline, who might have looked displeased if he’d wanted to spare the effort. Instead, he spared the sleeper a mildly-affronted glance and turned in a circle, curling up next to her instead.

Outside the door, one Professor Hawthorne was growing increasingly frustrated. Giving up on the knocking, he just entered the room and sighed. That explained the thud he’d heard the previous evening. “Daphne.” The man shook his head and ran a hand through salt-and-pepper hair, crouching next to his teenaged daughter and shaking her shoulder. “Daphne,” he repeated, louder this time. He was rewarded with a cracked eyelid and some incoherent mumbling. “Daphne, you have to get up now. Most of the others have probably already left.” He sounded mildly accusatory when he said this, and that penetrated the hazy veil of sleep.

“M’kay,” she managed, coming to and observing her odd angle. Shrugging mentally, she sat up and waved her dad out of the room. “I’m up, I swear.” Though I kinda wish I wasn’t. Yawning widely, she heard the door click shut behind her and extricated herself from her sheets and blankets. Returning the bed to a state of neatness. She glanced around and found nothing else to organize, at least until she caught sight of her mirror. Oh, right.

She set herself to rights in short order; though her hair was still damp from the previous evening’s shower, she pulled it up anyway and smoothed her wrinkled clothes before deciding she really didn’t care and giving up. The rucksack went over her back, and she exited her bedroom, heading downstairs. Breakfast was an awkward, stilted affair, and both of them were glad when it was done.

“Your Horsea’s in the outdoor tank,” he informed her, standing in the doorframe as she lingered just outside it.

“Okay. Uh… I’ll call you, or something.” Daphne rubbed the back of her neck; goodbyes were not her thing, and it was just weirder because it was her dad.

“Oh. Also, I packed your bike in your bag and bought you a Poketch. You know, so you don’t get lost.” He held the device out to her, and Daphne took it, fastening the device to her wrist for the moment.

“Thank you. I’ll um… try not to do that. Remember that Ponyta’s still on a special diet for another few weeks yet. Oh. And you should remember to eat too. Ask one of the assistants to remind you.” She smiled crookedly, and he managed a strained chuckle.

“I’ll do that, though I’m not trusting either of them to cook.” There was an odd silence, and then Professor Hawthorne opened his arms and hugged his daughter gingerly, patting her back with timidity not usually associated with him. She kind of wanted to laugh, actually, but held it in for the sake of his dignity.

“See you later dad.”

---

Fifteen minutes later, Daphne had retrieved Tiberius from the outdoor pool at her father’s lab, and tucked the pokeball he occupied into the front pocket of her bag. She had a bit of money to spend, and headed for the mart first thing. She wondered if everyone really had left already, but her question was answered soon enough.

Daphne took one look inside the store, noting how crowded it was presently, and decided that she wasn’t going to deal with that right now. Instead, she picked a spot on a bench in front of the building and sat, plonking her bag down at her feet with another yawn. Slouching down, she leaned her head against the back of the bench and closed her eyes. She wasn’t asleep, not quite yet, but she liked dozing, too.

The silver lining to laziness was, after all, patience.

Dom looked down at Leafy in his arms. He raised an eyebrow and gave her leaf a thump. "See, we aren't the only ones who forgot. Cut me some slack," He said. His response? What felt like a shrug from the Pokemon and a squeak. "That's better." Leafy and Dom had made their way into the PokeMart, being the first to make it. First aside from cashier of course. Dom found himself in the back corner of the Mart, collecting various sundry items. Leafy had gotten down from Dom's arms and was exploring the store herself while Dom shopped.

Leafy kept to herself and shyed away from the other trainer's Pokemon. Most notably, she avoided the Charmander and the flame on his tail. In avoiding the Charmander, she didn't see the trail of liquid corn he left in his wake in which she slipped in, slidding until one of the aisles stopped her progress, knocking over rolls of toilet paper on to her. Dom heard the commotion and came around the corner to see his partner buried under the rolls, a guilty expression on her face. Dom couldn't help but laugh.

He set the items he had been carrying down, which was just a sandwich, a couple of bottles of water, and a packet of Pokemon food, and sat about excavating his partner from her papery tomb. He stacked the rolls back up right and pet the large leaf on her head. He picked up his items again, and made his way to the counter, Leafy huddling close to her savior's legs. He sat his goods down on the counter and asked the rather tall girl behind the counter, "A couple of pokeballs and a potion to go with all that please."

As he was checking out another girl had came in and began to name off the customers, all of them former classmates. He gave a simple wave to Amy before she herself became a victim to the Charmander. Dom couldn't help himself, and he laughed again. There were also small chuckles coming from around his shins. Apparently, Leafy thought it was funny too. He turned his attention back to the good he was purchasing, shelled out the money, and packaged some of the water in his bag. He nodded his thanks and gave a quick wave to those still in the store. He himself had to get out. Too many people, it was getting too crowded, and he waas suffocating. He had to be free. Leafy also appreciated the eagerness to escape as well, her shyness causing her to hug against Dom's leg.

He escaped into the open out outside of the PokeMart took a deep breath, Leafy giving a sigh of relief. He looked down to his leafed companion and smiled, "Come on. Let's eat before setting off," he said, waving the sandwich and packet of pokemon food. Leafy nodded, a growl coming from her stomach. They didn't have breakfast, they were too much in a hurry to escape their house to make any. Dom took a seat beside the dozing girl, Daphne, Leafy hoping to his side. He opened the packet of food for Leafy and set it in front of her, while he unwrapped his sandwich and bit in. He glanced beside him to the girl and shrugged.

"You'd think everyone would have bought their junk yesterday..." Dom said, recieving a slap to the chest from a large leaf for his bit of hipocracy. Dom and Leafy both took a bite of their respective foods while mantaining a glare at eachother, neither willing to back down.

When Tyler reached the store, it was busier than the average hustle and bustle the place had. Apparently, the others had decided to leave on the exact same day as he did, witch really ticked him off. He had been hoping to travel the roads alone, with nothing but foolish trainers who wanted to take him on for miles and miles. Now, unless he got out of there REALLY fast, he would have to deal with the laughter, and constant talking of everybody he knew and hated.

Well, he didn't really hate EVERYONE. There were some, though not as much as Tyler, were pretty down to earth, like Raine. People like that, he could see himself traveling with, getting stronger, and the like.

However, his dreams of a quick escape were not to be realized, as the line was incredibly long. He took the opportunity. And used the crowd as a screen, pocketing an Antidote, stripping the alarm sensor off with one fluid motion, unseen by the others. Chances were, he wasn't the only thief today.


That strange Amy, person came in, and Tyler groaned. Not more people... please, anything but more people. He thought. It got worse when she got all cheery., mentioning a little reunion, and he almost threw up.

“TIMMY!” She shouted, and it took every ounce of willpower Tyler possessed to not order Flare to scratch her face into Bloody Oblivion. Flare, from his shoulder, gave a small chirp in anger, and Tyler scratched under it's chin as a thank you. He also got stange looks from a fool with a bug of some sorts, and Tyler almost challenged him to a duel right then and there.

He went up to the counter when it was his turn, and ordered two potions, paying, and heading out. He paused, thinking about his earlier thoughts. Going alone, at this point of time, was suicide, unless he wanted to train for days on end to get Flare stronger, witch he would eventually do. He thought about it some more, and decided to ask Raine, who was among the on;y people not on his blacklist, to accompany him.

He walked back in, deciding to approach Raine, instead of waiting for her to come out. “Hello, Raine, It's me, Tyler. I was wondering If we could start our journey together. You seem like a down to earth person, witch is why it's you who I ask.” He said, in a matter-of-fact tone. He wasn't embarrassed to ask a girl to accompany him, because he possessed no crush for her. Indeed, such emotions were useless to him, at least for this point in time.

Thump. Bianca turned overly slightly.Thump. Bianca groaned and smacked her pillow on top of her head. Thump. Bianca shot from the bed like a bullet, holding a pillow over her shoulder threateningly. "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD SAPPHIRE! STOP. THUMPING. YOUR. TAIL. AGAINST. THE. FREAKIN'. FLOOR!" Thump. Bianca smacked her forehead with her palm and tried to get back into her bed, only to slip on the fallen covers and fall on the floor. She glared at Sapphire, who was holding a paw over her mouth and rolling around on the floor, laughing hysterically. Bianca huffed. "Whatever." Then she noticed that the sun was high up in the sky and that she had woken up late. "It's 12:00 already? Good thing we backed last night huh Sapphire?" Sapphire nodded eagerly. Smiling, she quickly changed intoa pinkt-shirt with a white vest over it and some white capris.Then Bianca walked over to her suitcase and picked it up, looking sad. "It's finally time we left. I'm going to miss this place. But we'll have our own adventure right? Then we'll become even greater than mom!" Sapphire crouched and wagged her tail before pouncing on one of her toys. "Well don't become famous too soon. I would like my legacy to last a bit longer you know." Bianca turned around and laughed. "Mom." Her mother laughed along. "Well it's time for your journey popstar." Her mom smiled before leading Bianca downstairs. She looked at Bianca. "Be safe out there, kay?" Bianca rolled her eyes. "Of course." She hugged her mom before stepping away. "Well Sapphire, let's go!" Bianca grabbed her backpack and ran down the route, Sapphire following close behind. 'Finally.'

Bianca arrived at the Poke'mart panting. "You know, maybe, it, wasn't such a, good idea, to run the entire way." Sapphire, who looking like a dying dog with her tongue sticking out, looked at her as if to say, "You think?" Bianca weakly pushed through the doors and headed inside. She grabbed 5 poke'balls and 2 contest seals, one seal with hearts and the other with stars. She hurriedly bought them and tried to get out of the massive crowd. "Is it always this crowded?" Bianca felt herself bump into a guy. "Woah!" Bianca dropped onto the floor, her pokeballs flying over the place. She grabbed all of them before they could roll away. Bianca fixed her hat. "Sorry about that." Bianca cocked her head to the side. "Isn't your name... Tyler?"

As the rays of sunlighted enter his room, Derek was already up and making his bed. His excitement over what was to come had caused him to wake up earlier then planned, not that he minded. He put his extra time into some good use, cleaning up his room for the last time, as so his mother wouldn't have to. Finishing off his bed, and with a quick look around, pronounced the room done. Realising that he was still in his pajamas, he decided next on his To-Do List was to get dressed. He silently made his way to his closet, and opening it, was surprised to see that an outfit he'd never seen was hanging in front of his others. Wondering where the thing came from, he quickly tried it on. Slipping his arms through the selves of the jacket, he was taken aback by how comfortable the farbic was. Not to mention how the shorts where both loose and perfect fit at the same time. Looking into his mirror, he looked like a different person. Trusting his hand into the jacket pockets he found a notes, which he began to read to himself.

Dear Derek,

If your reading this then you found my last gift for you. Do you like the outfit? You know how I told you I was working on something special? Well here it is! I made it just for you! I hope it's okay, I tailored it to your taste. I even choose a color that would really bring out your eyes. I'd even went through the trouble of making a spare and packed it in your bag, replacing those, rags, you choose. Anyway, I probably won't be able to see you off, so I'll put it hear. Goodbye, my angel, go make me proud."

Always with love,
Mom

"Trust a Coordinator to make something good looking." Derek said, tear-eyed, after finishing the note. Wiping them away, he crossed over to his door. Opening it slowly, he quietly made his way downstairs. Slipping on his sneakers, picking up the bag he packed the night before, he walked over to the door. "What? Your not even gonna say goodbye to your old man?" His father voice rang out just as Derek's hand touched the doorknob. Spinning around in surprise, Derek took in the figure of his father, one who was nowhere close to being described as an 'old man', who was sitting at the dinning table, enjoying a cup of coffee. "There no sneaking past you, is there?" Derek asked as he walked over to the table, taking a piece of toast with butter off a plate. "Come on, I taught you better then that." His Pa answered putting the mug down. "Anyway, here." He stated, handing Derek a Poketch and a Pokeball. "Jet's all ready to go, though he's still asleep." He said pointing to the ball as Derek picked it up. "And that, that was my Poketch from when I was traveling." "Really? I didn't know you used to travel too." Derek said as he finished off his first piece of bread. He picked up the device and strapped it to his left wrist. "Nice fit." The watch would come in handy, and coincidentally enough was the same color as his outfit. Standing up, and walking over to him, Derek's father through his arms apart and said, "Now you give your old man his good-bye hug." Hesitating for a few seconds, he embraced his father. For a few more minutes they just stood there, until finally, they both let go. "Now, my son, go have fun." He father stated. "I will Dad." He said smiling before stealing yet another slice of toast. "Hey!" His father yelled at him, also with a smile on his face. Derek was gone before he even said anything, snatching up his bag, barreling through the door, and hopping on his stakeboard, speeding off torwards new adventures.

Derek soon after made his way across town, the final piece of already eaten. He slow he pace down to a crawl when he neared the PokeMart. He debated with himself wether to go in or not. And after seeing how packed it was, decided he could wait until the next town. As he passed by the store, he noted two teens sitting on a bench. He recongized the two of them as Daphne and Dominic. "Hey you guys!" He called out to them as he skated over to them. He didn't care if they didn't remember who he was, cause he just barely got theirs. Skidding to a halt in front of them, he hopped off his board and kicked it up into his hands. "So, when where you two a couple?" He asked in a polite and friendly, because that's what it looked like to Derek.

Just as the sunlight entered his little treehouse, Mike was wide awake. He quickly scanned to the room to see if everything was sent for his departure and just about everything was. All he needed to do now was roll up his sleeping bag and wake up his trusted Aron, Doug. He was sleeping in the corner of the room, scatching his head against the wall. Mike smiled at the sight, knowing that the pokemon was having sweet dreams.

After the sleeping bag was rolled up and jammed ino his bag, Mike went over to his Aron. "Come on," he muttered as he pushed Doug, "We can't relax today. We're starting our journey." But all Mike got in return was a grunt. So he did the most logical thing and put food in front of the Aron's nose (or whatever they have). Doug jolted awake at the first sniff and started devouring the food. His trainer laughed a bit muttering, "I knew that would get you up."

Doug soon ate all the food in his bowl and yawned. Mike picked him up as he pulled on his backpack and sighed. "Doug, you don't mind if with grab some things at the PokeMart in Adinitium City do you?" The Aron grunted its indifference. Its trainer smiled and jumped out of the treehouse, landing on his feet.

As Mike went to leave the village he noticed how few of the farmers were up. They already said their goodbyes and he knew that but still, it seemed weird that they weren't actually going to see him off. Doug didn't seem to care, as he walked beside his partner. Mike sighed at his disappointment but keep on going. He passed by a couple of the farms on his way out, noticing the barely awake Milktanks, the already fighting Tauros, and the blue flamed Rapidash stallion. And Mike silently wondered if he'd ever catch a pokemon colored differently like that.

When he reached the village gate he heard his name being called and stopped. An old woman, the eldest in their little town and the closest thing Mike would ever consider a mother, came running up, holding something in her hand. When she reached him, she was panting heavily, making pretty clear that she shouldn't being doing such an activity. "Wait," she weezed, "Wait." Mike stared at the elder a bit confused. "Why have you come, running to me, this early?" he asked. Before she could say anything, she shoved something into his hand. His eyes widen as he looked down at the brand new PokeGear that was forced into his hand. Mike sighed as he sticked out his hand, trying to give it back. "I can't take this." The old woman smiled at him. "Of course you can. And don't even try giving it back, cause I won't being taking it back." And with that, she turned around and walked back to her home. Mike smiled as he watched her go, holding his new device tight. Doug started jumping a bit to get a look at the new toy. His trainer laughed as he watched and slipped the PokeGear into his pocket. He then turned around and walked out the village, towards his future.

Sorence streched his arms back, almost knocking Magby off his shoulders. The Pokemon struggled for balance, swinging its arms around in a circular motion. Sorence noticed this and put his and on Magby's back. "Don't worry. I won't do that again. We do have to work on your balance skills though." He said with a large grin on his face. Magby gave an enthuesiastic nod and flexed, only to fall off this time. On the floor, Magby jumped up and dusted itself off, then climbed up Sorence's leg and back to reasume its posistion on his shoulder. "We have all we need." Sorence said, checking his belt to find an empty Pokeball for an uncaught Pokemon. "But I just realised I don't have a bag for my stuff or food for you, huh?" Magby gave Sorence a little flick on the forehead for forgetting to do so.

As he walked over to the Mart, he noticed the comotion going on inside. As he opened the glass doors to find the majority of his class buying all they need for their journey. Magby was excited when he saw the Pokemon filling up the Mart. He was wiggling on Sorence's shoulder, wanting to jump off to see all the new Pokemon he's never seen. "Well, we might as well get what we need and not cause any trouble, seeing how you want to jump at the chance to meet Pokemon. We'll see some when we start our journey." He scanned over the shelves to find a duffle bag worth 200 poke along with some food worth 100 poke. "Well, I'm going to be set back a bit, but it will be better that having a dying Pokemon on my hands, huh?" He asked his Magby. Magby followed up with that remark with another flick to the forehead. "Damn. You sure know how to express yourself. That's good though since we need someone who can show what they are doing in a contest." He made his way to the cashier, with a bored look on her face. He bought the items he wanted then exited the Mart.

He put the food for his Magby in the red bag along with his own. "We might as well eat. Let's find somewhere to go. He noticed Dom and his Chikorita were eating with Dawn who was out cold next to them. "Let's eat with them. I see no one else out here." Magby gave a quick nod and jumped down onto the ground. It then sprinted towards the group, dust trailing behind him. As he came up upon the Chikorita, he tripped on a stone, wiping out and flying into the Chikorita. Both were sprawled out on the ground. Sorence sprinted up to Dom. "I'm so sorry! Magby is just a bit *emphasis on bit* excited to see other Pokemon. He hasn't seen any yet, so he was bursting when he was in the Mart. I guess when he saw yours, he just lost it. Mind if we eat with you?"

Claire blinked; it was if the girl hadn't heard her speak, turning her head as if someone had called her name. With a shrug and glancing up at her Charmander, who looked equally confused, she headed outside as well.

"Well... What now, Charlie?" She asked, wincing as the Pokemon grabbed her ponytail in an attempt to balance himself, scrambling up higher onto her head so as not to fall off down her back. "We've already ate this morning, and I don't want to get into your can of food yet if we don't have to. Are you hungry?"

Her vision suddenly blurred; Charmander had lightly grabbed a hold of her head and shook it left to right, his way of saying no. After a few giggles, she rolled her eyes, heading down the sidewalk.

"Well, I need to get some kind of soda. I didn't have any this morning..." Claire mused, making her way to the "human" mart. She stepped inside the air-conditioned building, shivering slightly, and made her way to the back of the store to get a bottle of the carbonated drink. She then made her way to the front of the building, noticing a friend of her mother's at the counter.

"Hi there!" She said, putting her item down on the counter. He shook his head, leaving Claire puzzled.

"It's on the house. Congratulations on becoming a trainer," he said, reaching up over the counter to pat Charlie on the head. "Hey, your mom left this here." He then reached under the counter and put a brightly colored Poketch. She grinned. Her mother wasn't really "in" on everything Pokemon, let alone electronics, and with a grin she strapped the watch-like item onto her wrist.

"Thanks! If you see her, tell her I've got it, would you?" She said, before heading to the door with her bottle of soda. "Wow, Charlie. Our own Poketch. This will really come in handy -"

He had attempted to reach down to snag a hold of the bottle of soda as it reached her hips. She sputtered - his paw had pushed it up while she was drinking from it - and she pulled it away from his reach, coughing.

"You don't want this, Charlie," she said, rolling her eyes at the Pokemon. "Do'ya think we can leave now? I wasn't sure if we should leave on our own... But we can handle it, right, Charlie?"

"Char!"

"Still, though..." She took another sip from her bottle before capping it, and storing it inside an elastic pocket on the side of her backpack. She stopped on the sidewalk, having walked back to the PokeMart, still talking to her Charmander as if he could comprehend her as well as she thought he could. "I'd like to couple up just for safety. I mean... we all don't have a lot of money and if one of our Pokemon faints, it'd be better to have someone with you to guard. Then again, it's not like I was the best of classmates during school."

She had been the bored student in the back, listening but thinking of better things - such as battling and actually catching Pokemon instead of rambling about the types. She'd attempted to socialize when she was younger, but as she got older she became too loud and rambling for the majority of them.

She decided she didn't want to wait any longer, deciding to head out of the city.

"Are you ready, Charlie? We might have to battle before we get to the next city," she said. She hadn't really been anywhere outside of Adinitium City, so she didn't know what to expect in terms of distance or time. She simply walked, and what seemed like short time later she reached the edge of town. The end of the dirt path; trees started as well as tall grass. It was like she was going to step into an alternate dimension.

"Char!" His voice was excited, hasty, and just like her Pokemon, she was as well, taking the first steps into the tall grass that was home to so many Pokemon. Her Charmander, still on his spot on the top of her head, looked around just as she was.

"Don't attack anything unless I tell you to, got it?" She told her Pokemon. "I don't want you getting hurt... if worst comes to worst, we could always flee."

Tyler's back got bashed in by a young woman, spilling her pokeballs. “Hey, what the-” He said, jumping back. “Ohm it's... god, um.... Bianca,, right?” He said, glad someone got his name right, for ONCE. On top of that, Raine recognized him as the guy who aced tactics. Oh, happy DAYS!

“You should be more careful.” He said, and heard some random person that was apparently a class mate call out, heading towards the exit, followed by some foolish looking woman with a Chimchar head out.

“Great, that means less trainer's that will want to challenge me.” He said with a groan, and turned to Raine, “So, my earlier offer. If you are thinking about accepting it, I suggest we get moving. I plan on getting stronger, and that means I have to fight like crazy, so I need to get a move on to challenge random people to a match. Therefore, I gotta get going, or I'm sunk. Not good.” He said, stretching his arms.

He nodded to himself, a sudden flow of impatience surging from him. Flare, to his side, flapped his stubby little wings in excitement, “Right you are, Flare, Let's get going.” He said, waliking backwards to the exit. “Let's go become the best, Raine!” He said, turning and walking, not caring if she followed or not.

Now, his life would truly begin, unbarred. He was free to do whatever he so wished, Arceus help the punks who decided to become obstacles in his path. His feet hit dort, ancd he looked around the grass, walking just along side it, looking up at the sky as he did. Torchic was his watchbird, looking around with excited chirps. His head was already taking notes of the terrain around him, should someone walk up to him, and challenge him. Torchic had yet to breathe the bursts o f fire that was ember, so he would have to rely on his claws for, in pure close combat. How stale. He said, accepting his fate, band began looking for weak-looking competition.

"Thanks for the seat." Sorence said taking it as he watched Daphne walk away. He quickly unzipped his bag and retrived some Pokemon food he was carrying in there. He realised that he didn't have any dishes for him and Magby, but he didn't want to bother his family anymore. He emptied the bag of his food, along with some Oran berries he got from his parents earlier (sorry for not mentioning them). He then poured a small chunk of the Pokemon food into the bag and brought it down to the floor. He waved to Magby who was nudging the Chikorita, encouraging it to play. Magby noticed its trainner was calling him, so he waddled back to his trainner. Sorence motioned to the food and Magby sat down and began to snack on it, picking up pieces with its puny hands and shoving it into its beak. Sorence unpackadged his sandwhich and began to chomp down, finishing it off quickly.

Magby finished off a few minutes after Sorence, then got up, ready to go. He seemed satisfied with the Pokemon he met. Magby motioned that he wanted to leave, so Sorence said to the group, "Magby wants to leave now, so I guess we should get on the road." As he was finishing packing up, he noticed Sean coming by. He offered them to go to the Battle Club. He looked down a Magby who wanted to leave, so he decided to listen to his Pokemon this time. "I'm sorry Sean, but I want to get on the road now. I wish I could come. Maybe we'll meet up sometime." Sorence said with a sad look on his face. He wanted to go, but the world was calling to him. He began to walk away towards Route 4. In a few minutes that felt like hours, he was in the field that was well known in that town. "Magby, let's go and officially start off our adventure."

Raine watched dryly as the strange boy named Tyler ran off with his torchic, not checking back to see if she followed. In all honesty, the offer to start off together startled her, but she didn’t really care either way. However, Raine wasn’t really the type to trail after someone else, so she thought this was a helpful turn of events.

“Well, Luce, everyone’s off to train,” she said to her mareep as she grabbed another pokéball. “Let’s get these pokéballs and do the same, shall we?” The mareep bleated in affirmation, and they went to wait in the long line. The items cost a lot more than she was expecting, and she muttered something about overpricing vital goods as she paid the four hundred pokédollars.

She strapped the pokéballs to her belt which now held the two ready to use in addition to Luce’s. “Let’s be off on our way then, shall we? You want to get stronger, don’t you?” she asked. Luce nodded eagerly in response. Despite his timid nature, he did want to improve. Smiling, Raine pet his head. “Alright then! Off to the wilderness!”

And she maybe if she was lucky, a few interesting encounters. Raine could never pass up a bit of thrill.

“Oh right, I need to figure out how this thing works,” she mumbled as she walked out of the PokéMart. She fumbled with the C-gear and Xtransceiver on her wrist. She had found it among her father’s old belongings – apparently it was an extra set he didn’t have use for when he left. “Is there a map function?” she asked herself. “Ah, found it.”

Briefly examining the map function, she said to Luce, “Looks like we’re heading off to Route 4.” The mareep nodded in response, visibly excited.

Leaving the city made Raine feel that her journey was truly beginning, but it seemed to make Luce feel a little more uncertain. Eagerly walking on ahead through the grass, Raine noticed a bit too late that the mareep having a bit of trouble keeping up. A good distance ahead, Raine stopped her gait and watched Luce try to totter toward her. “If you don’t hurry up, some wild pokemon’s going to get us,” she called, half-joking and took a few steps toward her mareep.

---

Nurse Joy’s stage-whisper drew Daphne’s attention rather than diverting it, and though honestly she wasn’t normally what anyone would describe as a nosy person (quite the opposite, actually), you heard what you heard, and something about the tiding was troubling to the Professor’s daughter. Someone attacking trainers along Route 4? For what purpose? It seemed cruel to simply walk all over less-experienced trainers and do that kind of damage to the hapless pokemon involved.

She was reminded of the ponyta in rehabilitation, and frowned. Battles were one thing; intentionally curb-stomping someone into submission because they were weaker than you was another thing entirely. Something should probably be done about that. At the very least, it warranted looking into.

Daphne waited patiently for Lex to conclude his business, then made eye contact across the room and raised a brow, tilting her head towards the door. On the way over, she hazarded a plan of sorts, wondering if he’d see it the same way she did. “I don’t know about you, but… all this business about mysterious people doing odd things sounds troublesome to me.” She never had been much good with small talk, and preferred to just say what she wanted to say. Lacing her hands together, Daph stretched them over her head as she walked. Lazy she most certainly was, but she was also naturally inquisitive when something interested her. “A friend’s family runs the training gym in town; I think it might be worth heading over to see if we can’t get some experience before we do anything about it, though.” They didn’t want to end up like the others, after all, those trainers whose pokemon had been rushed to the Center. Best way to insure against that was to be stronger, full stop. The extra funds couldn’t hurt either.

So the two of them made for the training gym, thankfully not terribly far from the Pokemon Center- a matter of a few blocks, actually. Shrugging, Daphne opened the door and held it out behind her for Lex. The gym itself was arranged fairly simply; it looked like there were maybe two trainers and a leader; not so bad. She wondered if they’d both have to run the whole gamut or if one trainer apiece would be enough to take on the boss. In the end, it was probably fine either way; a little more experience wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Yawning (she did sometimes wonder if people mistook her sleepiness for boredom), Daphne approached a sharply-dressed kid with a fancy-looking hat. “Hm… what was I supposed to say here?” she wondered aloud, staring off into the middle distance with a blank look on her face.

The boy gave her a weird look. “I challenge you?”

Daphne looked mildly surprised. “You do? Oh. Well, all right then, I suppose.” She remained blissfully oblivious to his staring and fished around in her backpack for Tiberius’s pokeball. “Ah, let’s see… here we go.” She smiled in that half-there sort of way she got sometimes and lobbed the ball with an effortless underhanded toss. There was a brief flash, and Tiberius materialized, looking considerably more enthused than Daphne did. Well, that was all right by her, really. The trainer, loudly proclaiming that his name was Oyoh and he was going to wipe the floor with her (did that even make sense, or was she taking things too literally again?), mimicked the move with much more gusto, and a rattata appeared. The battle judge raised a flag, signaling the start of the match, and as soon as it snapped downward, her opponent was shouting some more.

"Rattata! Quick Attack!" Oyoh called out. The small rat was speeding towards Tiberius, moving side to side to throw off the horsea's focus.

Tiberius looked a bit addled by the speed at which the rodent pokemon was approaching, but Daphne wasn't at all fazed. "Just wait... when it gets close enough to hit, use Smokescreen." She was never one to yell during battles, but preferred the rationality and calm of thinking her strategies through. As soon as rattatta committed to its strike, Tiberius let loose a cloud of obscuring fog, moving to the side to try and stop the attack from connecting.

The rattata was lost in the smoke screen, but tried to maneuver its way through the black smoke. Rattata, without contrary directions from its trainer, began to blindly attack different areas of the smoke, hoping to hit its target.

"That's right, keep it up..." Daphne murmured, almost under her breath. The rattata was clearly flailing, and though one of its blows did manage to catch a glancing scratch off Tiberius by luck, the continued use of Smokescreen was only making the fog thicker and harder to see through. "Now... Bubble." The move was relatively weak, but had the added bonus of sometimes slowing an opponent down, which was just the sort of thing that could come in handy against a faster foe. A stream of aqueous spheres issued from Tiberius, headed straight for the rattata.

It was, as it turned out, was hit by the small, exploding bubbles. The blow stung, but it wasn't enough to hurt the rat pokemon too badly. "Rattata follow the attacks!" Oyoh shouted from a distance, trying to help his pokemon, though he was almost as blind as it was.

Rattata took his trainer’s advice, taking the hits head on and going in for a weakened Quick Attack.

"Keep moving, buddy," Daphne urged, though it was a bit much to ask in amongst all the other things he was doing, at least for such a young pokemon, and there was a muted thud as the attack hit square on. Shaking off the damage, though not unaffected, Tiberius adjusted his position under the Smokescreen and fired again. "Just short bursts, and stay in motion," his trainer instructed patiently. Tiberius's defense stat was his weakness, but then rattata were not especially known for their durability, either. It was an exercise in level-headed strategy, now.

The battle dragged on for a few more minutes, Rattata getting pelted by Bubble and then returning the favor with a Quick Attack. Finally, after too many direct attacks, rattata simply stopped moving.

"Battle, over!" A judge called when the smoke screen cleared. Oyoh threw his hat on the ground and grudgingly gave Daphne the reward money, which she received with a sigh of relief. It felt better to not be completely broke, that much was certain. The next order of business was to give her horsea a checkover, and she gathered him up as gently as she could. There were a few cuts and bruises; nothing critically-damaging, but enough that he’d definitely need some assistance before the next round.

Mike yawned as he looked across the street as he saw the boy in pink, Sean was his name if he could remember right, come running out asking some of the others if they wanted to go the battle club and the more he thought about it, it didn't seem like a bad idea. And slightly to Mike amazement, Doug wanted to go as well. Then again the Aron was a born battler, always waiting for the next, even if many people wouldn't believe this from looking at him.

So, Mike got up, dusting some of the dirt off his clothes and headed across the street, Doug happily following close behind. Once they were over there, the trainer gulped as he went towards Sean. Mike always hated started a convesation but now his Aron was nibbling a bit at his heels, a sigh that he was running out of patience. So with a sigh Mike went up to Sean and asked, as polite as he could, "Mind if me and my pokemon, tag along?" Quietly hoping he'd be aloud to.

Sean would be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed at being turned down three times in a row. He looked over at Amy and they shared awkward faces, “Damn,” he said, “Dominic’s kind cute too…” Amy laughed out loud in a shrill tone that would have been annoying is Sean wasn’t Sean.

So, accepting defeat, Sean took his friend’s hand and walked along the road toward the Battle Club. Following close behind was Amy’s Cleffa, holding the invisible hand of Sean’s Seanapillar who played along contentedly. Amy began talking about the recent goings-on in her life and Sean just short of eagerly listened and added the appropriate “uh-huhs” to prove that fact.

From behind them came a small voice, relatively suddenly, “Mind if me and my pokemon tag along?” He said almost too quietly under the chatterbox to Sean’s side. They both jumped at his question, seeing as he seemed to come out of no where. Amy shot him a look briefly that said, “OMG! He’s a ninja!”, or at least that’s what Sean thought it should say. In return he sent a look back saying, "Y'know, he's not too bad looking." (granted, Sean's taste in men could be as various as the rainbow). He beamed at the boy and said, “Sure! The more the merrier!” He held out his hand for him to shake, “I’m Sean,” He said sweetly, “And this is Amy,” who only waved.

Sean looked down and saw the small steel pokemon at his feet, “And you’re an… aron! I remember you guys from class.” Following his trainer’s example, Seanapillar approached the other pokemon with light in its eyes, “This is my wurmple Seanapillar”
“Wuuurrmm” Seanapillar crooned.
"And this here is my adorawubble Cleffa named Clea!" Amy said melodically. However, Clea couldn't respond for herself due to the fact that her trainer had picked her up and was snuggling her half to death. Sean giggled lightly.
“Are you heading out on a journey today as well?”

As Raine's mareep tottered forward, a wild Treecko descended from the above tree branches and landed between the two.

A level 5 Treecko appeared!

With surprising speed, the wood gecko pokémon jumped at Mareep. It flipped through the air and fell toward Mareep, its thick tail coming down on it for a Pound. There was no way the significantly slower sheep could dodge the attack.

Raine saw the wood gecko pokémon descend and cursing, dashed forward in an attempt to save her mareep. However, Luce had lagged too far behind, and before Raine could save him, took a hard blow from the treecko’s tail.

“Darn it, I was joking!” Raine shouted, watching Luce struggle with wild treecko. She had thought she would have been a little more prepared for her first battle. Instead, Raine found herself fumbling through her bag for her pokédex to get a read on the treecko’s data. “Luce! Get a grip! Tackle it!” she called, just as she managed to get the pokédex open.

The treecko flipped back from Luce, and started to jump away to avoid the oncoming Tackle, but found itself unable to move. Luce's Static ability had kicked in when so much of the gecko's body made contact with it. Now paralyzed, treecko was unable to avoid taking a full on Tackle. After taking the full force of the attack without being able to defend itself at all, Treecko found itself much weaker, and with its speed advantage gone, the best the Pokémon could was give a threatening Leer to lower Luce's defenses, then brace itself for another attack.

Raine saw Luce visibly cringe under the paralyzed treecko’s leer and shouted, “C’mon Luce! Don’t back down now, growl!” The mareep tried very hard to comply, but Raine couldn’t help but feel that his growl was more adorable than menacing.

Meanwhile, her pokédex had scanned the treecko, and a voice droned out, “Treecko, the wood gecko pokémon. It has small hooks on the bottom of its feet that it uses to climb. It ferociously guards its territory, and never panics. It uses its thick tail to attack and sense humidity to predict the next day’s weather.”

“Well that was helpful!” Raine mumbled sarcastically, but eyed the treecko carefully. Should she catch it? It did seem pretty fast, and knowing the next day’s weather did seem rather useful. After some quick deliberation, she called out, “Luce, use tackle again, but be careful!”

If the treecko endured this, she would try to catch it. The pokémon had successfully interested her, and Raine felt that a little cool and confident influence would do Luce some good. She hoped that the treecko wouldn’t faint.

The treecko dropped its guard a bit at the adorable growl from Luce, allowing the sheep pokémon to get in a good tackle and weaken the treecko's counterattack. The treecko went down on one knee and put its little green hands on the ground, trying desperately to keep standing and continue the battle, but having little success. It was visibly tired and bruised, and the static of its paralysis crackled lightly around it as the determined little gecko struggled to keep on.

As soon as Luce's tackle hit, Raine's hand latched onto one of the empty pokéballs at her belt. "Okay, Luce - stand back! Let's give this a try!" she called as she expanded the pokéball. The mareep slowly tottered back from the treecko, and Raine flung the pokéball at the weakened pokémon. If there was one thing Raine was confident in, it was her aim... amongst many other things.

She watched the ball make contact with the injured treecko, and merely watched in anticipation. There was little more she could do.

The ball hit the Treecko and popped open, capturing the Pokémon in a flash of light. The center glowed as the ball wiggled once... twice... three times... the settled with a satisfying click!

CONGRATULATIONS! The wild Treecko was caught!


Level 5 Treecko
Gender: Male
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Overgrow
Moves: Leer, Pound
Held Item: None

Raine ran up to the sealed pokéball on the ground, and gave a wide-eyed grin to a equally startled looking Luce. Picking up the treecko’s pokéball, she pumped her fist in the air and whispered an excited, “Yes!”

Then concern crept its way into her conscience. “You actually battered it up a bit, didn’t you Luce?” she mumbled. The mareep bleated uncertainly, and Raine experimentally tossed the pokéball to release the newly caught treecko.

She bit her lip when she saw it battered, tired, and still visibly stunned from Luce’s wool. Crouching down, Raine cautiously asked, “Hey, are you alright?”

Her pokédex had been right when it said treeckos stayed calm. Despite being unable to move, it looked at her with contempt before glowering at the ground. “Look, we’re sorry,” Raine said, fumbling through her bag. Fishing out a cheri berry and an oran berry, she placed them both before the wood gecko pokémon. “These will help.”

She noticed the treecko eye the berries, seemingly hesitating. It gave a glower to Luce, who squeaked and hid behind its trainer’s legs. Seemingly amused by the mareep’s change of attitude, the treecko took the cherry berry, quietly chewing at it. As soon as its paralysis subsided, it snatched up the oran berry and munched on that as well.

While the treecko ate, Raine asked Luce, “Are you going to eat that too?” gesturing at the oran berry he was holding. The mareep shook his head – he planned to save it for when he really needed it. His trainer turned her attention back to the treecko and asked, “Look. I like you. I want you to travel with me – will you?”

Not that it really mattered because she didn't plan to let this one go, but she didn't really want to force it either. To her relief, the treecko nodded slightly, albeit a little begrudgingly. “Alright then,” Raine smiled. Then she thought for a moment – she couldn’t think of a name for it. “You’re male, right?” she asked. Seeing as treecko had little physical discrepancies between genders, she was basing the deduction on the treecko’s behaviour. Another slight nod verified it.

Smiling again, Raine took the treecko’s pokéball in her hand. “I’ll give you a nickname later. I think you’ll want to rest for now,” she said. Seeing the treecko stand up and ready, she returned him to his pokéball and placed it back at her belt.

Wanting to express her excitement, she scooped Luce up in her arms and shouted as quietly as she could, “Luce! We’re one step closer to – ” stopping, she murmured, “whatever we’re going to.” Raine hadn’t thought about it before hand, so she wasn’t sure what she planned to do. Gyms sounded interesting, and contests seemed kind of fun, but neither seemed to fully catch her interest.

“I wonder if there’s anything a little more thrilling out there,” she said aloud, earning a curious glance from the mareep in her arms. Noticing his stare, she scowled and muttered, “I’m carrying you until you get a little more nimble on your feet. We’ll get attacked by every wild pokémon out here at your pace.”

The mareep bleated sheepishly and lied limp in Raine’s arms as she walked onwards along Route 4.

"Huh?" Sorence said as he turned around to see Derek on his skateboard riding after him. "You want to join me? Sure you can, but I'm just curious. Why do you want to?" Sorence set his Magby on the ground and extended his hand to the trainner after he responded. "I hope we make a good team then." As the duo began to walk into the dense Route, Sorence began to ask Derek, "Hey, just what are you going to do out in the world? Gyms, Contests, or something else? My goal is to get into Contests and be on the very top of the Coordinator group. I can't wait for the first one we get to do, eh Magby?" Magby jumped up and down at the thought of getting a shiny new ribbion for good work.

Continuing to walk on, Magby got a little bored, so he began to play with Derek's Pokeball on his belt. Knocking it back and forth between his hands, he accidentally released the Pidgey inside it. Magby surprised itself by the appearence of a new Pokemon from a white light that he climbed up a near by tree. He was too scared of the magical appearing Pokemon to even get close to his trainner. "Magby, what are you doing? Wait..." Sorence said, slowly glancing over to the Pidgey. "Did you let Derek's Pokemon out?" Magby, who was now on a high tree branch slowly slided behind the rough trunk of the tree. "Listen, I'm not mad, but you have got to be more careful. You don't want to disturb anyone or anything. That could hurt them or yourself. Now come on down." Magby shook its head. He wouldn't come down until the Pidgey was gone. "Don't give in Derek. I don't want to give him his way for everything."

As Tyler and Torchic walked down Route 4 in search of Pokémon, they heard a rustling. Then there was a sudden cry as a vine appeared seemingly from nowhere and smacked at Torchic, who only narrowly managed to avoid it.

As the two turned in the direction from which the vine came, the offending Pokémon revealed itself.

A Bellsprout, Level 3

"Oh, If only you could breathe fire, Flare. Then we'd have this just about wrapped up." Tyler called out, analyzing the possibilities. NO fire, so he couldn't burn the ground. He didn't know any flying moves yet, so that was out of the question. Guess it was good old close combat.

"Right, keep your distance, Flare. Let's begin by softening his abilities. Use Growl!" He said with a slight nod, pointing at the bell sprout for no reason. "When you're finished, go in for a scratch attack." He ordered.

The Torchic nodded, letting out a sharp series of "TorCHIC! TorCHIC!", it's voice imbued with energy, before dashing in to use it's sharp talons to aim a sharp slicing attack on the side off Bellsprout's face

The Bellsprout wiggled and bended its thin body, dodging as many of the attacks as it could. It whipped its vines back at Torchic in between attacks, the two trading blows back and forth. Unfortunately for Bellsprout, Vine Whip was not very effective on the fire bird, and Scratch was taking its toll much faster than was Vine Whip, especially with Bellsprout's paper-thin defenses and Torchic's Growl cutting its attack. A final scratch from Torchic knocked Bellsprout back onto its head, and the tiny body flipped over onto the ground, struggling to get up

He nooded with a smile at Flare. He wasn't doing that bad, for his first fight. The bellsprout was weakening, and Tyler knew how this fight was going to end, even without a decent fire attack. He paused know, wondering if he show show mercy to the fallen Bellsprout, but he shook his head. "Flare, finish him off, jump on him and use Scratch, and let's have a nice end to our first fight"

The Flame-bird nodded, and jumped up, aiming at the Bellsprout's face for another series of attacks that would hopefully end this fight. Tyler wanted to fight again real soon.

With a final Scratch, the Bellsprout cried out in defeat, fainting in a nearby bush.

Tyler defeated the wild Bellsprout!

Flare gained EXP!

Tyler nodded, and hugged his torchic, tossing him an oran berry for energy. “Well done, Flare. First this bellsprout, then the world."

As Barbie and Dieter headed down Route 4, a rustle in the grass stopped them both in their tracks. A pair of cute brown ears popped up from behind some tall grass. From the grass popped out a Sentret, scanning the area from its tail. It rotated slowly around, its ears perked up listening for any sounds. Finally it turned to Barbie and her Totodile. It let out a high-pitched cry, and the sound of numerous other Sentret scurrying away could be heard. "Tret! Tret!" it screeched, as it ran about in a panic.

Barbie saw the sentret and took a brief pause to write down it's actions in her notebook. She took another moment to scan it in her Pokedex, but by that time, totodile was already chasing after it. "Dieter!" Barbie called out, chasing the pokemon. "Scratch!" Barbie yelled again, easily keeping up with her totodile.

Totodile ran forward and jumped in the air, his little claws glowing white and preparing for an aerial scratch.

Aware that there was no escaping the Totodile now, Sentret rolled up its body to take the Scratch with a Defense Curl, hoping to boost its measly defenses. Unfortunately, Totodile's hastiness gave it just the speed it needed to catch Sentret just before it could compeletely brace itself. Sliding back through the grass, the Sentret smacked up against a tree. Feeling cornered, the little Pokémon decided to fight back. It launched itself with its tail, returning Totodile's Scratch with one of its own. What the little gator had in speed, it lacked in defense, and the attack would undoubtedly hit for reasonable damage should it hit its mark.

Totodile was hit with a scratch on it's leg, the gator was trying to get away but didn't get the hang of dodging just yet.

"Dieter, scratch it again!" Barbelle called out, knowing she would have to go to a pokemon center after this battle. Luckily they haven't gone to far, and totodile was faster than sentret, plus had more health. Yet it was all a bargain. Whether her totodile could pull it off or not.

"Dieter! Leer!" Barbie called out, running alongside her totodile. Totodile sped up it's pace what and ran to stand in front of sentret, to temporarily distract it from running. Barbie threw her empty pokeball out, hoping to catch sentret.

The Sentret squealed and a bright light flashed around it. The Pokéball wiggled on the ground, its center glowing red. Once... twice... three times! The ball clicked and the Sentret was caught!

When Barbie saw that she caught the pokemon, both her and totodile froze; shocked that they caught their first pokemon. "Hheeeeeelllllllll yeah!" Barbie jumped up in the air with a giant fist pump and totodile joined in the celebration. The two danced together around the pokeball on the ground and finally ended the celebration with a high five.

Barbie picked up the pokeball and attached it to her belt. "You are awesome Dieter." Barbie said a little bit more loudly than she had intended. She was still a little excited from the battle. When she got out the thickness of the tall grass and came to a tree, Barbie rested against, inviting totodile to join her. Barbie also used this opportunity to let sentret out and get some rest too. It was early afternoon and they had time for a nap. Lazily clicking the center of the pokeball, sentret came out the pokeball, looking a little beat and tired.

When the two pokemon saw each other, they growled slightly. They were enemies just a few moments before, and now partners. Curious, totodile approached sentret and bit it's tail, but not hard, a playful nibble. Sentret responded by tackling totodile, and that started their friendship. After a few more minutes of roughhousing, Barbie reached over and pulled the pokemon apart, cradling them in her large arms. Totodile was trying to escape, but sentret just stayed and allowed itself to be rocked to sleep.

After some painful bites and squirming, totodile calmed down. He was a little tired from his fight, and decided a small nap wouldn't hurt.