Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon
My mom was always a little over-protective when I was little, but that makes sence, considering the war. I somehow managed to block out the pain of seeing everyone my age go off on an adventure while I was stuck in school. Like most of them, my dad died during the war. We lived in Cerulian City at the time, but shortly afterwards we moved to a little place called 'Veridian', between Pallet and Pewter. She made the remark that traveling so far was enough of an adventure for a while. We didn't explore Mount Moon, instead we just passed by it. My mother said she didn't feel like exploring, and that I wasn't allowed to go in alone. I wanted a Pokemon, but we could never agree on which one I wanted.
Eventually I moved to the big city, Saffron. I worked in the mall, watching as trainers of all ages would enter and leave, always getting supplies for their journies. Occasionally I would visit the city I grew up in. The gym was always a pain to see, but I stopped by the pokemon center alot, usually to make a donation and stay over night. Trainers usually shared the 'public' rooms, which were just two bunk beds and a bathroom, but there were private rooms available for a price. They were far from five stars, but they were cheaper than a hotel and easier to find.
I felt to old for it, but I got my trainers licence at age twenty. The nurses at the centers are only trained to meet medical conditions, so I figured the best place to learn more about which Pokemon was best for me would be the Pokemon fan club in Vermilion. It was just south of where I lived, much closer than the lab in Pallet; why I never visited the lab while I was living in Veridian is beyond me.
I was smart enough to get some Pokeballs before starting my adventure, along with a couple great balls. After talking with a few people in the fan club and accidentally causing a few arguments between people over which Pokemon in the area was the best to try to capture, the only thing I had learned was that drowsey weren't very popular at the moment. Despite meeting plenty of trainers while working at the mall and visiting the pokemon center, I had never heard of a drowsey.
I decided to skip the cave next to the city and just head over to the tall grassy area on the other side of it, since pokemon that lived that cave are supposed to be ugly. It was getting dark, so I wasn't planning on staying long. Fortunately for me the walking had done a number on my legs. I sat down and leaned against a tree. Had I known I would fall asleep, I wouldn't have done that.
I found out what a drowsey is that night. I woke up to that thing feeding on me. If you don't know how a drowsey feeds, you're lucky. Being in a disgusted panic, I did the first thing that came to mind; I screamed really loud and, in an attempt to get it away from me, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a random ball. It just happened to be one of the great balls. Not the best thing to do when you want to get away from something, but at least it couldn't get to me.
My life changed forever that night. I took it to the pokemon center right away, knowing the nurse could tell me more about the strange pokemon. It was gross, but he was still mine, so I named him Nightmare and spent the night there. I took him home the next day.
I was in a contract with my landlord and coudn't leave the apartment for three more months. I saved every penny I could during those three months. I spent my off hours bonding with Nightmare and, to a lesser extent, training him. There was a pokemon daycare north of the city, so he stay there while I worked. The old man did a good job of training him while I was busy, so that put us at an advantage when we started our adventure.
I sold my furniture and donated everything else but a couple of outfits, my phone, soap, backpack, two pairs of socks, and my best traveling shoes to charity. I kept my wallet in one pocket and my pokeballs in the other, and I had a few snacks in my backpack. I heard the gym leader used psychics, so I decided that my first goal would be to defeat her.
I didn't make Nightmare stay in the ball unless I was taking him somewhere that made it absolutely necessary, which is sadly a lot of places since almost every building wants pokemon in their pokeballs. I knew most trainers made them stay in the balls when they weren't using them, but it just seems cruel.
We looked at ourselves in the mirror one last time before leaving our empty apartment. I was wearing my warm-weather outfit; a black and red pair of long shorts that almost touched my knees and a black tank top. My cold outfit was in my bag; a tight pair of black capris and a tee shirt. I had my black jacket wrapped around my waist and pair of pink leg warmers in my backpack. My long brown hair was in a bun, held up by a spin pin. Nightmare had a large blue ribbon tied around his neck; in colder weather he could use it as a scarf.
"Are you ready?" I asked as I cleaned my big blue glasses with my shirt. Nightmare nodded and began making noises. I wasn't sure what he was saying, but he sounded exited. I smiled at him and headed out the door. Nightmare followed after me, then ran down the hall as I locked up.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" my landlord asked as I handed in my keys. He looked at Nightmare as I assured him "Nightmare is coming with me, so I'll be alright. We've been training, and his caregiver has been training him. He may act young, but he's strong."
I hadn't been to Cerulian since capturing Nightmare, so I started our journey by taking him there. It didn't take long for us to run into our first battle. It was a nidoran female, and it was charging right at us. I guess it was just being territorial, but I'll never forget the fear I felt as I remembered that their horns had poisen in them. I froze. I tried to command my pokemon like any good trainer would, but my troat closed up. But as my starter jumped in front of me, I knew he was protecting me.
I guess we did alright for our first battle. The wild nidoran bit Nightmare on the nose. Nightmare shook it off started pounding on it. The nidoran kicked his hands pretty hard. Nightmare stopped and back up a bit. The nidoran ran away, but we didn't bother chasing after her. Nightmare had a few bruises on his hand, but other than that he seemed alright, so we continued our journey.
About half way to Cerulian, we ran into a pidgey. It was just looking for worms, but Nightmare charged at it, ready to battle again. This time I wasn't as worried, but he was clearly having trouble as it pecked his head as he attempted to slap it away. He managed to grab its foot and give it a good beating like he had done to the nidoran.
I had a few Pokeballs and a great ball left, but I didn't want to use them yet. The battles tired Nightmare out, so we took a break at the Pokemon center as soon as we got the the town. I got a few strange looks for having a drowsey, and probably because of my age. The nurse asked that I put Nightmare in his ball before she treated him, which only took a few seconds since he was still in fighting condition.
As we started to leave some kid challenged us to a battle. It was my first trainer battle, so I hesitated for just a second before giving him a quiet "Fine."
As soon as we walked out I let him know "I'm in a hurry, so just a one-on-one."
"You in that big of a hurry to get beat?" he asked. I didn't like how confident he was, and Nightmare knew it. The psychic type looked up at me as though he was asking Are you sure about this? I responded with a grin and a nod, and he took off in front of me.
"I didn't get your name." the boy told me as he sent out a bulbasaur "I'm John."
"Li."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, sounding somewhat insulted
"Its my name." I told him, getting slightly annoyed "Are we going to talk, or do you want to battle?"
"I was hoping we could do both." he sounded a bit sad that I wasn't trying to be his friend, but I wasn't there to make friends; I was more concerned with visiting Mount Moon. I grinned as I thought of which pokemon to catch.
Nightmare used confusion, an attack that I didn't like using unless we had to. Bulbasaur was lifted several feet into the air. The poor thing moved its legs around as though it was trying to run away, but it was thrown behind its trainer.
"Bulbasaur!" John called for it, clearly surprised. The pokemon stood up, but it wouldn't walk. "Get this thing!" John ordered, but the bulbasaur refused. We won by default, but I didn't like it.
Most trainers would have felt ready to take on the gym leader after something like that, but since I only had one pokemon, I didn't feel confident at the time. Besides, I wanted a real battle.
We went to the pokemart to prepare for what I had in mind. My bag felt light when we first entered since it only had soap, snacks, and clothes. I got a few more snacks, as well as a potion and a full heal. I would have liked to get a few more potions and full heals, but I had to keep some money on me in case of an emergency.
Mount Moon was a long distance away, and it would take us at least a few days to go through, so I decided to wait until the next day to go there.
"I need you to promise me something." I told Nightmare as we went out to train. He looked up at me questioningly. "I was very impressed by that attack you used earlier." I assured him before continuing. He made an adorable noise. A few people turned to look at him, but they didn't seem to like the noises as much as I did. I continued "But I don't want you to use it unless it's an emergency. Do you understand?" Nightmare looked at me like I was being ridiculous "I know it's a powerful attack, but I don't want you to rely on it all the time. You can practice occasionally, just know that you have other talents, alright?"
He made a few more noises and took my hand. I held his hand like he was a young child. People continued to stare.
"Hey you!" someone called out "You haven't changed a bit!"
I looked to my left, not sure who was saying that. Someone was jogging towards me. He looked mad at me, but I didn't recognize him.
"So, you got yourself another drowsey? Aren't you to good for a pokemon like that? You're just going to abandon it like you did that jigglypuff." he looked so enraged, but the calmness in his voice clashed with his expression. His black hair was down to his shoulders and curved around his face, intensifying the curve of his jawline. His dark green eyes seemed to stare right into my soul, but I had no clue what he was talking about.
"How about a battle?" he smirked
I didn't like the way he said it, or the fact that he had probably been training longer than I had, but I wanted to know more about whatever he was saying. "Sure." I said bluntly as Nightmare growled
Apparently the jigglypuff that was abandoned by someone got adopted by him, and eventually evolved into a wigglytuff. It cheered happily as he let it out of the ball, but upon seeing me it became very angry.
"Nightmare, be careful." I told him as he looked back at me, clearly not understanding any more than I did "Something's not right about this."
"You're right about that." the man said as he narrowed his eyes at me "Nightmare was a good hypno. How could you just replace him with a mere drowsey? You even gave him his name." the wigglytuff made a few angry noises in agreement, making things even more difficult for me.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I tried to tell them
"Yeah right." the man said, and with a snap of his fingers, the battle began.
