My first fanfiction, looking forward to get some pointers here and there as to how to improve my writing early in the game. Wish you all enjoy ~
Disclaimer: I own not Pokémon, but I love Lillipup and hope to own one soon.
Though she's mentioned it before, I never really took the time to consider it. A Pokémon trainer? I don't even get along with Pokémon. They're too noisy, saying the same thing over and over again. They never mind their business. They seem to either always want attention, or always want to bug me. But. As this one sat on my lap, my previous accusations of what these things really are were abandoned.
But .. I guess I should start at the start..
"Dan-!"
"I'm up." interrupting my mother's failed attempt to wake me up, as my eyes were already very much open, I tapped at the glass tank inhabited by a sleeping Caterpie. I heard my door creek open, expecting to hear a sigh, either directed toward my messy room, or the fact that this is my second all-nighter of the week.
"Another?"
I nodded firmly, making sure not to take my eyes off of the small, green creature.
"Maybe you should play with it, instead of studying it all night for your so-called 'research'" She said before casually leaving the room with a couple of dirty clothing she got from the floor.
"Play with it?!" I jumped up to follow her into the hallway. "You know I can't stand those things, Ma."
"Then why do you spend so much time looking at them?" Ma placed a couple of clothes in the wash.
"You know why! It's a Caterpie. They're only found in the Kanto region. Why in the heck would it be anywhere near Kalos?" My arms out, waiting for an answer.
"It migrated?"
Really? "Through water?"
She shrugged, losing interest I assumed. "Shouldn't you be watching that bug?"
I ran back into my room as fast as I could, only to see the demon still sleeping soundly. With that, I decided to get dressed and stop wasting my time.
"Daniel" I heard from down the hall, still stuffing my head through a clean shirt, "You've got company."
Company? I wasn't expecting anyone. I stuck my head out of my door to see who it could be. And there she was. The most flawless, perfect, gorgeously made way-to-ruin-my-day. Clarissa.
You would think a sixteen-year old boy being visited by a sixteen year old girl is romantic, right? This is very much not the case, you see. We can't stand each other. In fact, the only reason she stopped by is to get pointers from my mother (a retired Gym Leader), like she does every time. So it was no coincidence that we gazed dreadfully at one another upon eye contact.
"Oh, it's you." I muttered.
"Good morning, Daniel." She said as pleasantly as possible. Sweet, right? Keep in mind my mother was standing right next to her as she said it.
"Get along you two, I'll go fix up breakfast." Ma smiled, sliding into the kitchen.
I waved my arm to her down the hall, signaling her to follow. She arrived and immediately started. "Your room is gross. Do you ever clean?"
"Na."
"That's disgusting. Why would you call me in here when it looks like this?"
I pulled some desk drawers open, before I found my wallet and bag. I threw the glass tank over to her, who caught it, frantically. Finally throwing a black beanie atop my brown, braided hair, I headed out the door.
"H-Hey! Danny!"
"I told you not to call me that. It sounds girlish."
"Where are you going? And what is this I'm holding?" She looked at it in all angles before looking back at me once more.
"You mean where are we going. And that's a Caterpie."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Where are we going?"
Despite our resentment for one another, we still don't seem to mind going places with each other, we did grow up together after all. Can't fight that.
"We're just stopping by Aquacorde. It'll be real quick. I have to pick up some food for that Caterpie, otherwise it might die of starvation."
"And what about breakfast?" She twirled her hair with her finger as she always does out of habit.
What about breakfast? Oh I had an idea. "Ma! Clare says she's taking me out to eat, you don't mind do you?"
She glared at me with obvious killing intent as I plucked something out of my ear, hearing, "Shouldn't it be the other way around? I mean, the guy usually pays on a date." from the kitchen. We both frowned at the thought.
"Look, is that a yes or a no?"
It wasn't immediate, but I received the favorable response moments later and we headed out the door.
The town, Vanniville, how should I describe it? Well, I guess super small would be a good profile. Not much people, only a few houses. I never got why we lived here, I always wanted to take a trip to Lumiouse City, try and see what high population looked like but never got around to it. It's a hell of a distance away anyway, so I don't plan on doing that any time soon.
Oh, and to give you a picture as to what Clarissa looks like; you're typical blond hair and blue eyes. She's not all that attractive, though I may be a bit biased. She always has some orange scarf with her, she got from her grandmother or something. Other than that, her style of clothing could change from plain white T-shirt and basic jeans, to fashion model. Though it seems today she chose a more modest outfit with a white T-shirt again, short jeans to accompany—
"What are you looking at?" She frowned.
I just caught myself staring at her before I flashed back to reality and proceeded to walk forward.
I had my hands stuffed into the pockets of my leather-black jacket. Really, it wasn't the smartest thing to wear today, given the oh-so-annoying sun. I mean, it really wasn't the smartest thing to wear, but I couldn't resist it– made me feel cool, and what's wrong with that?
"Hey, Danny?"
I frowned, "My name's not Danny."
"Yeah, yeah. Question. If you hate Pokémon so much, why do you have a Caterpie?" She curiously asked, this time without a nagging tone in hope that I comply.
I shrugged. "Found it a few nights ago by route one. It seemed it had run away from something so I took it in, no real intentions."
She smiled, grabbing my shoulders, "Ohhhh~ you're falling in love with Pokémon?"
"I am not!" I stubbornly shouted, getting the attention of a Bunnelby. I yelped and quickly jumped behind my dreaded companion.
Clare laughed, hard, then had the audacity to call it toward us. I turned on my heel to leave the scene and she shortly followed.
"Why are you so afraid of them? If worst comes to worst you can use your humbled Caterpie to take it down." She held the glass tank up as of praising it, making a holy symphony and irritating the hell out of me.
I plugged my ears. "I'm not afraid. It's just their wild animals, I can't believe some humans get along with them."
"Some?" She pulled the tank back down, waking the Caterpie, "Don't you mean, 'everyone but me'?" She gave a grievous smile as she walked backwards in front of me, lowering her head into her shoulders, "Look, you should just become a Pokémon trainer, like me!"
I turned my head to the side as we both kept walking. "No way. And like you? You suck."
"I do not! My Fennekin's training is going pretty well."
"It's still low level." I sighed.
She walked back to my side, shoving the tank into my arms, making the green creature jump a bit. "At least it's not afraid of a Bunnelby." Clare muttered.
I ignored her as much as possible for the rest of the walk, until we finally reached Aquacorde Town. More people, but still not much. Clare and I are very familiar with the Town, given we're here almost everyday, either picking up equipment or just hanging out.
Walking into the town I saw my friend, Coron. Now, Coron and Clare were like opposites. Coron's a lot more adventurous, easy to talk to, independent, attractive— wait, what? ...She's a good friend. Unlike the monster standing next to me. I've tried introducing the two, but the only people Clare's use to talking to is Ma and I, so each encounter comes out rather... awkward.
Aware of the developing situation, I turn the other direction, just as Coron's brown eyes spot me. "Heyy! Danny! Come over here!" She stood waving her arm pursuing my attention. Hesitating a bit, I finally turned around.
"Hey, Coron." I muttered with lack of soul.
She motioned for me to come over and I complied.
"Danny! Let this guy know how good of a trainer I am!" She pointed accusingly at his face. Him; sitting on a bench, gazing at the pointer. He seemed weird, maybe the way he was dressed, or his white, spikelike hair. Maybe he was from another region.
I rubbed my chin, "Well, I'm not a trainer so.." A dreadful glare from Coron made my mouth move much faster, "..so— I think she's pretty good." I tried a smile.
The guy looked at me, arms stretched out across the bench he laid upon. As if not caring about the argument whatsoever, he looked up at the clouds in a dazed fashion. We expected a response but he just kept a staring, in a trance it seemed.
"Uhh, you okay?" Coron called, looking a bit creeped out.
"Huh?" He popped out of his daze, "Oh! Yeah, man. I'm alright." I noted this guy to be, in fact a weirdo, though I didn't want to judge too much, he continued. "Look, why don't we just settle it out wit' a good ol' fashion Pokémon battle? You in?"
Coron pondered a moment before hopping up and pointing to his face again, "Yeah! But when I kick your butt, you'll have to admit I'm better!"
"Alright." The guy stood, rubbing the back of his head and making his way to the park clearing in which everyone used for Pokémon battles. Flat dirt. Coron quickly followed and I glanced at Clare who was both fidgeting and mouthing the words, "I'll actually buy you food if we leave now." Though it sounded like a good deal, I couldn't just get up and leave, what if Coron saw? With this in mind, I motioned Clare to come over and sit, reassuring her that it'd be a quick match.
"I guess you're right." She said as she finally sat down next to me. "But if it does take a while, you're paying for lunch." I sighed and shrugged before seeing the match about to start.
"Go, Bunnelby!" I shivered at it's presence, making Clare tease me a bit by imitating it's huge eyes. "What're you waiting for? Send out your Pokémon." Coron insisted.
The guy took his red backpack off and tossed out a Pokéball. All of our mouths dropped to see a Haxorus pop out. It was looking at the Bunnelby with "seriously?" spelled on it's face. The Bunnelby ditto'd his expression before the trainer returned his Pokémon.
"Oh. Sorry about that.." he mused as he called back the huge dragon. At this point I had jumped behind the bench as if it would protect me. Even Clare was a bit scared, or at least enough not to tease. Poking my head up, I saw Coron shuddering a bit, though remaining ready to fight. As reluctant as I knew she was, even she should have just returned the little bunny- rabbit thing and called it a match.
The red backpack continued to be ruffled through, the guy mumbling something before he finally smiled, "This should be it!" He successfully announced and threw out another Pokéball. This time, instead of a giant, terrifying Haxorus, out came a tiny, blue frog. "Were you hiding from me, Froakie?" He gave a cheesy smile.
"Can we just start!?" Coron demanded impatiently, likely still flustered by his previous Pokémon.
"Nah, we need an announcer first, man." He frowned before pointing to me, "You, Danny was it? Come be the announcer of our battle."
I sighed after hearing Clare's giggle and walked over to the field. "Begin!" I said with as much enthusiasm as possible but the man protested, holding up his hand as to say 'hold on'. "What?" I questioned.
"Do it properly, bro. The name's Alex, introduce our names to the audience." Alex said.
"What audience?" I followed his pointing finger to Clare who sat on the bench, both legs and arms crossed. I watched her shrug and mouth "Just get it over with so we can go..". I nodded.
Clearing my throat, "Ahem! Ladies and gentleman, on the left we have Coron and the normal type, Bunnelby! And on the right we have Alex and his water type, Froakie! You may begin!" I sighed once more, a bit embarrassed, Clare almost falling out of her bench laughing and Alex giving me a thumbs up. He slouched and put his hands in his pocket, as if it would help him focus on the battle.
"Start off with a smokescreen, Froak." The bubble frog did as it was told and launched the black gas into the air, covering half the field. "Now water pulse in it's direction." The water pulse was thrown in the smokescreen.
"That's weird" I said, sitting down next to Clare.
"Really?" Clare said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "How so?"
I ignored the sarcasm. "Froakie doesn't usually learn smokescreen until it evolves. Not only that, but he gave Bunnelby the advantage, last time I checked, Froakie can't just see through a smokescreen."
"Maybe he's just stupid— hey, you know awfully a lot for someone who dislikes Pokémon." She glanced at me, twirling her hair.
"Know your enemy." I stated firmly. She laughed. I looked back to the field to see Bunnelby pop up from the ground behind Froakie, using dig. Though it seemed not to surprise the Froakie at all as it delivered a harsh pound to the Bunnelby upon Alex's command.
"Now another water pulse." Alex said, the Froakie following his order immediately.
"Dodge and use quick attack!" Coron commanded. Bunnelby had just barely been hit by the sphere of water before managing to dodge. It pounced off of the ground and dashed straight at Froakie, full speed.
"Growl!" Alex said, his Froakie reacting quite fast, let out a loud growl right in the Bunnelby's face. Quick attack still landed, though I would assume it delivered a lot less damage since growl lowers attack. It had been timed perfectly, quick attacks were indeed hard to avoid.
"Smart.." I quietly suggested, making Clare roll her eyes.
"That was pretty good, man." Alex commented as his Froakie landed perfectly on the ground, seemingly unharmed. "But it still looks like you gonna lose."
Worried eyes fell to Coron's face, her and I knowing he was right. Though not much had happened with their health points, Bunnelby was slowly getting outclassed. "Bunnelby, use leer!"
Before it could heed it's command, "Quick attack, Froakie." and the frog smashed into Bunnelby, making it fly off toward Coron. "Now, while it's down, use bubble toward the sky."Bubbles soon filled the adjacent sky above, just floating. This was also out of the ordinary, he clearly likes his field advantage, first the smokescreen, now this.
"Bunnelby! Get up and hit him with a double slap!" The rabbit panted some before willing itself forward, holding out both arms.
Alex brought his hand to his head. "My Froakie is a 'her', not a 'him', man. And you'll never win being as straight forward as you are." He chuckled as Coron let out fumes of anger. "Yo, Froak, throw a water pulse at the ground below you." The impact caused a small blast of mixed water and dirt, though the water seemed superior and made the ground slippery enough for Bunnelby to trip and fall right in at the mercy of Froakie. This guy was actually pretty creative. But he had more to show, it would seem.
"Now while you have the chance, uppercut him with a pound to the bubbles above!" Froakie's arm started to glow before she smashed her fist into the Bunnelby, sending it a few feet up, though not enough to hit the bubbles. "Smokescreen from below, now. High pressure!" I saw Clare's jaw drop as the smokescreen lifted the Bunnelby up, into the bubbles, as well as dragging the surrounding bubbles into the screen of black smoke. I was speechless as I saw the entirety of the cluster explode in shiny dust.
"Woah." Clare said, watching Bunnelby descend from the shining cloud of smoke, knocked out.
"Good stuff." He said to Coron who was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Alex returned his Froakie and shoved it back into his bag, giving a piece sign to her as he walked toward me. "Yo." He said.
"Hey?" I was a bit confused when I said it.
"You got skills bro. That announcing really got me hype. Listen, you need that Caterpie you holdin'?" He pointed at the tank, Caterpie was again, dozing off.
"Uhh, it's not for sale." I said, holding it up and taking a look at it.
"Oh, alright, that's cool. Let me know if you lose interest in it." Alex said, I nodded.
"Hey!" Coron came, running with the unconscious Bunnelby in her arms. Alex and I turned toward her. "Where did you learn to fight like that?!" She questioned excitedly, as if she were now his biggest fan. Alex scratched the back of his head.
"Hmm, when did I?" He asked himself. I turned to look at Clare who was ready to go while he thought. She was motioning "Let's go eat." and I turned back to Alex, hearing her sigh. "Oh, I know. Probably after I hit up Sinnoh, man."
"Hit up Sinnoh?" Coron questioned his speech.
"Yeah, Pokémon Contests were all the rage over there, and I guess it affected the way I did Pokémon battles. Really opened my eyes to how straight forward trainers battled." He sighed, "Still, I could get better, man. I intend to, anyway." Alex threw out a Pokéball that summoned an Altaria and hopped on it's back. "Well I'm off to go chill somewhere, see you two newbies around, maybe."
I waved him off, unable to decide if I were insulted or not. Coron turned to me, "I guess I'm really not that good of a Pokémon trainer, huh." She said, sulking a bit.
"No! You are, that guy was just on another level!" I said, giving a fake smile and rubbing my head.
"Can we just go eat?!" Clare yelled out. My stomach growled and I nodded.
"Eat? Sure! I'm hungry too!" Coron chimed in, smiling.
"Can she come?" I asked.
An angry "Fine." was Clare's response. "But she has to return that thing in it's Pokéball, it's just weird to carry a fainted Pokémon around like that." Coron smiled and nodded, returning the Pokémon.
On our way to the restaurant, Coron had noticed something and tugged on my jacket. "Hey, Danny?" I turned around, "Weren't you carrying a Caterpie before?"
I looked to see that the tank was indeed... Empty.