Chapter One: Another One's Journey

He stopped in front of Route One, the tall grass and his brown hair swaying in the breeze. His brown eyes scanned the area, then his Poke Ball, which he tightly gripped in his hand. Professor Oak had told them some of the Pokemon he'd handed out that day weren't from Kanto, and naturally he was excited to know what his selection was. He wanted it to be a surprise for when he battled another Pokemon. Looking at the ball also reminded him of his quest to become the champion of the region's league, the Indigo League. His dream, like almost everyone else's he knew, was to become a "Pokemon Master".

"Hey..." Someone else had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention, and the trainer quickly turned around. It was one of the guys he'd met in the professor's lab. He was dressed in a purple long-sleeved shirt in contrast to the other boy's short-sleeved green one, and had black hair. They were both about the same age, eleven years. "Do you wanna battle?" he said, his voice mellow.

"Sure...but can I get your name first?" the trainer replied. "I'm Louis."

"I'm Brent." His opponent took a Poke Ball from his pocket and backed away a few feet, allowing some space for their Pokemon to battle. They both tossed the red-and-white capsules from their hands, which opened in mid-air. From within emerged two Pokemon from a flash of red light...

On Louis' side was a Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokemon! The orange ant creature was a little over half as tall as his new owner. Trapinch's beady black eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and combined with its perpetual toothy smile it looked quite happy.

On Brent's side was a Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokemon! He had a horn on both his head and the end of his tail, and possessed a red nose of comical proportions. His body was composed of what appeared to be brown spheres, each with two tiny feet.

At the appearance of these combatants, their PokeDexes activated. Brent's was still in his pocket, giving him a shock as it tried to open, but Louis had his in hand. The PokeDex was a red machine that almost opened like a book, displaying information on any Pokemon they would encounter. The professor had given them to the boys, the better to record their findings and complete his life's work of making an encyclopedia full of Pokemon information. They both blurted out information about the two in a digitized man's voice. Brent chose to turn his off, while Louis listened to his PokeDex entries.

"Trapinch #328: The Ant Pit Pokemon. Trapinch mostly lives in the arid deserts of Hoenn, and is rarely found in Sinnoh. It builds conical pits for its prey to fall into. It can survive for days without any water.

"Weedle #13: The Hairy Bug Pokemon. Weedle can be found in the forests of most regions. Its large nose is useful for sniffing out leaves that are safe to eat, and it can even be found hiding under them. Its bright colors and poison stingers are meant to ward off predators.

"See more by pressing the O button."

Trapinch looked at Louis eagerly, waiting for a command. He quickly thought of something and commanded, "Bite him!"

"Try to dodge and use a string shot."

Weedle was able to make a move before Trapinch could even reach him! He shot a string-like material from under his nose, further slowing the ant. The white material stuck his limbs to the ground! "Bite it off!" Louis cried, hoping it would work. Trapinch was able to bite and nudge the string off, then run at full speed toward Weedle.

"Trah!" it shouted, tumbling over the worm as it bit its face. They both ended up falling onto the grass, injuring both of them but injuring Weedle more.

"Sting it!"

"Del!" the worm grunted as it jabbed Trapinch in the lower jaw with its head. Luckily for Louis and Trapinch it wasn't a fatal hit, because the ground-type was resistant to poison and toxins!

"Now get it with another string shot, then sting it again." Weedle did as he was told, shooting the stuff at Trapinch and trapping it for a second. Right when he thought he was free to attack, the bug struck him in the chest with its tail barb! This proved to be a critical hit, though it did about as much damage as it might to a normal Pokemon. As Trapinch jumped back in pain, he realized he had not only been struck hard, he'd also been injected with poison! He felt his head throbbing and his legs weakening slowly, but was still able to go on.

"Trapinch must be poisoned..." He took a quick look in his PokeDex, which stated:

"Poison - a status condition inflicted by almost every poison-type move. It slowly drains a Pokemon's health, and if not cured in time can even bring it to its lowest level of stamina. Poison can be cured by an Antidote or Pecha Berry, among other items."

I see... he thought, and closed the machine. "Try to go on! Dodge the Weedle's moves and try to bite it!"

"Trah." The ant nodded in response. As the Weedle squirmed forward Trapinch found himself barely missing the head-barb attack and shaking his head out of the way. He proceeded to bite Weedle's head! Apparently he bit hard, because the Weedle found himself unable to move, unable to battle. Trapinch dropped the insect onto the ground, smiling weakly at Louis.

"That wasn't bad for our first battle." His new owner hugged Trapinch, who nudged his cheek. "I'll get you back to full health soon." He pulled out an Antidote and sprayed the Pokemon's wound with it. Trapinch winced for a second, but soon realized that the pain was immediately soothed. He wasn't at full stamina, but at least he wasn't hurting so much. He mumbled a pleasant "trah" afterward.

Brent pressed the button on his Poke Ball, opening it and sucking Weedle back in again. "Good game," he congratulated, "and I hope I meet you again."

Louis replied, "I hope I meet you again, too. Thanks for the battle."

Brent nodded and headed back to the lab, where he'd been told they could revive fainted Pokemon. Since Louis was headed toward Route One anyways, he saw no need to bring Trapinch back into his ball.

He crouched and asked Trapinch, "You think you're ready to go?"

"Trah!" Trapinch beamed.

"Alright..." As the duo left for the open road the boy mumbled, "Goodbye, Pallet Town..."

Comments

This is my first real trainer story, and I plan on finishing it. I didn't want to use regular starters, or anything named Vulpix, Ralts, Pikachu, Eevee, Meowth, Shinx or Absol, so I chose Trapinch, who's probably not used as much because it's not a canine, feline or sometimes bipedal. I know getting Weedle is...kind of a ripoff, but I also thought that Beedrill would be great in anime-style combat.

If there's anything you don't like about this, please be harsh and unforgiving about it so that I have a better concept of what to change and such.