Staring at the small, shaking creature that was in front of him, Ichimatsu looked with disgust at his new Pokémon which he just had gotten from professor Dekapan. A Cyndaquil. Which was nothing like a cat-type that the young male really wanted to have at first.

'But these are the only ones I have.' Was what kinda lame excuse the professor gave him. Pfft, bullshit. The professor should try harder on searching for cat-type Pokémon.

And thanks to that Ichimatsu was pretty much stuck with this scared Pokémon. Sure, he could have picked out between two other Pokémon, but those were far more away from his tastes. That water-type Totodile was too hyper and that grass-type Chikorita was just... not his thing. And thus the only type that was left was a fire one called Cyndaquil. A Cyndaquil that seems to be very frightened of its new trainer that is.

''Hey.'' Ichimatsu started speaking to his new Pokémon, but the poor thing only flinched some. The young male wonders why it was so scared. He did know his voice was pretty low, but it was not that bad, right...? Or maybe it was because of his 'dark aura'. ''...From today on I'll be your trainer, huh? You better not disappoint me.'' Ichimatsu told the creature and Cyndaquil just gave a small nod. ''Good. Because if you do, there will be consequences.'' This may sound harsh, but Ichimatsu was like this.

Once more, Cyndaquil gave a small nod. It really will try its best not to be a disappointment for its trainer. Especially not because of how well... threatening he was looking.

With that, Ichimatsu turned with his back to the fire Pokémon. He still needed to process some things in his mind. A Pokémon trainer...how did this all even work? They say as a trainer, you have a goal in life, but, Ichimatsu had got none of that. Then why did he become a trainer? Well...perhaps the reason was obvious: he wanted to train cat Pokémon. He wanted to train them with no further goal in mind. No badges, not becoming a champion. Nothing.

Glancing over his shoulder, the young male noticed Cyndaquil was staring a lot at him. Ichimatsu looked away again then. Why was it looking at him like that? Was it expecting him to say something or whatever? ''L...Let's go already.'' He decided. The silence was too awkward. Not only he had got trouble socializing with humans, but even with his own Pokémon.Maybe it was because Cyndaquil was not something what he expected to turn out to be at all.

Walking away, the small Pokémon quickly followed its trainer, but thanks to its small feet, it actually had got quite some trouble catching up with him. The trainer decided to ignore it (for now). They were not in a hurry anyways.

Now, where should they go to? Ichimatsu had got zero idea of what he should be doing from now on. Prof. Dekapan gave him a map in case he got lost, but... It was kind of lame to look at those things, wasn't it? Embarrassing. Ichimatsu just kept walking straight then and the poor Cyndaquil kept following its trainer. Its feet was growing so tired from having to walk so fast to keep up, it trips and fell on the ground with a thud - getting messy from the dirt.

At first, Ichimatsu didn't notice, but when he glanced behind him some to see if Cyndaquil was catching up with him he saw his Pokémon sitting with a dirty face on the ground wiping itself clean with its paws. ''What the...'' Ichimatsu turned around and walked back to his Pokémon then. ''What are you doing? Did you fall or something? You're clumsy...'' He said and a soft whimpering noise came from Cyndaquil.

Ichimatsu looked at his Pokémon, checking if it got hurt somewhere then. He took it paws and the Pokémon flinched some - but only because Ichimatsu hit a painful spot. Ichimatsu frowned then and carefully wiped some dirt away and saw a small wound with blood. ''No way.. oh great..'' He muttered, obviously not amused by this. It hasn't even been a day he got his Pokémon and it was already wounded. ''I-It's not a big wound, you should be able to walk further, right?'' Ichimatsu then asked. The Pokémon glanced up to him and then back to the ground some. It tried to stand but fell back on the ground again and actually started crying now.

A grunt came from Ichimatsu at this. This was exactly what he needed: a Pokémon that was crying because it was clumsy. Dropping his bag down and opening it, Ichimatsu quickly started to dig through it to find something to wrap the wound with. He found a tissue. It was not the greatest, but still good enough to use, right? He then turned back to his Pokémon again and gently grabbed its paw. He didn't want Cyndaquil to cry any harder after all. He knew the wound needed to get cleaned up some first, but there was only grass and trees around here so water was useless. Or well... there was one option...

Glancing back some at his bag again, Ichimatsu remembered he has got a bottle of water in his bag. He would actually like not to waste it in case he got really thirsty... his eyes then met his crying Pokémon again and grit his teeth some. For the heck of it. Ichimatsu grabbed the bottle and opened it. ''This may sting.'' He warned before slowly pouring some water on the wound to get some dirt out of it. Cyndaquil let out a crying noise when the water stung its wound and wanted to pull back its paw, but Ichimatsu had a firm grip on it. When the wound was clean, he placed the water bottle away and started to wrap the tissue around Cyndaquil's tiny paw. This should do for now. This way no dirt can get in it anymore or bleed.

Letting go, Ichimatsu packed his bottle back in his bag again and zips the bag up. Cyndaquil was staring at the tissue that was wrapped around the paw and then looked up to Ichimatsu - having stopped crying by now. ''You're okay? Let's go further.'' Ichimatsu said, lifting his bag up and putting it back over his shoulder to walk further. A slow nod came from the Pokémon and tried to take a few steps. It seemed to have some trouble walking though now.

A soft sigh came from Ichimatsu when he noticed this and stoped walking once more. Thee needed a better way with this... Oh - he had an idea. ''Come here.'' He said and steps closer to the fire-type. Cyndaquil looked confused up to its trainer and saw Ichimatsu bending down and felt his arms around its body. Then, its feet left the ground and Ichimatsu was lifting Cyndaquil from the ground. It still was very confused. The young male made some space and then places Cyndaquil in the hood of his hoodie. ''This should be better, right? Nice and comfy?'' He asked.

Taking in the situation Cyndaquil was in right now, the Pokémon shifted some and then nodded. It was very nice and comfortable. The Pokémon was smiling and nuzzled Ichimatsu some as a thank you - making Ichimatsu blush a bit. He wasn't really used to affectionate things like these. ''No more crying now.'' He quickly said to hide his blush and started to walk further again.

The Pokémon really was quiet when they walk further. It was very comfortable resting in Ichimatsu's hood and actually falling asleep in it too. Ichimatsu thought that's fine - at least no more whining now.

Yet he had still no idea where he was going. Everything looked the same. Didn't he pass that tree already? Ugh, seems like he was lost already. Sure, he could take the map out now, but that was honestly too much of a bother. Besides, Cyndaquil was resting in his hood and waking it up would be too much of a waste to do.

Let's see...What else did prof. Dekapan tell him again? Trainers travel because of many reasons. It could be honestly anything: to get badges and become a champion, find their true self or any other thing. Sometimes even for a job. All that seemed too much like a bother to Ichimatsu though - especially the badges thing. Earning badges meant having to fight with trainers - socialize with trainers. No thanks. And honestly battling sounds sort of ... scary actually. Maybe, just ... maybe one day during all this Ichimatsu will find out why he went traveling, but today was definitely not the day.

After a while, Cyndaquil seemed to wake up from its nap. It let out a pretty loud yawn that causes Ichimatsu to jump a little bit. ''Oh-it's only you. You startled me.'' The male sighed in relief some. He totally forgot Cyndaquil was there. ''Uh, you're feeling better?'' He asked. It was pretty lame to talk to something that can't speak the human language though... But, Cyndaquil nodded and that's good enough for Ichimatsu to know the Pokémon wasn't hurt anymore. ''Let me see your wound.''

Stopping, the young male made Cyndaquil lift up from his hood and placed him down on the ground. He squatted down in front of it and took the tissue off its paw. It seemed to be in a good state. He slowly (and carefully) let his fingers rub against where the wound was. ''Does this hurt?'' A shake from its head came from Cyndaquil. Perfect. That means Cyndaquil wasn't in pain anymore for sure now. That made Ichimatsu pretty happy actually. ''I'm glad.'' He said and even ended up patting Cyndaquil's head some, a soft happy noise coming from the small guy.

''So, you think you can walk again now?'' He asked this to be sure. Cyndaquil gives another nod and already started to walk then. A faint smile was on Ichimatsu's lips and walked with his Pokémon then. One less problem now at least. Ichimatsu decided not to walk too fast for the fire Pokémon either now so it could walk next to him.

And everything seemed to go well between them too now. Right now, Ichimatsu wasn't so annoyed by his new Pokémon. The only thing that bothered him still now was this damn forest. It was so big and everything looked the same. He hoped they could get out of this damn place soon. He didn't want to end up dying in a forest.

As they continued walking, Cyndaquil seemed to pause its walking not much later. Ichimatsu blinked, looking confused at the Pokémon. Why did it stop? But, that question soon got answered as Ichimatsu's eyes met another persons who was suddenly standing right in front of him.

''You!'' The person said with a big grin on his face, pointing at Ichimatsu. ''I challenge you to have a battle with me!''