A/N: Okay so this is my first story on FanFiction so if you could go easy on me and actually tell me what I need to fix that would be great.
*beep beep beep* "Oh no..." I groaned as I awake to another bright and sunny day. Well, actually I had another dreadful day of school. So, i guess that made everything look gloomier than it really was.
I slipped out of my beds covers and sat on the edge of the bed. I was contemplating sleeping for a little longer but the escalating beeping of my alarm jerked me out of any thoughts.
I punched the alarm button shutting it off until the same time tomorrow and then glanced at the modernized rooster of an alarm clock. 7:02, I duly noted. School was at 7:30 so I had to get moving or else I would miss the bus.
"Ughhh." I groaned again. I finally jumped out of bed and sluggishly walked down to the kitchen. Of course I had a two story house so I quickly met my mortal enemy for the fifty millionth time.
Stairs. I walked down them slowly, making sure not to trip and break my ankle, again. Once I finally reached the kitchen I was able to pop some toast into the toaster and grab an apple.
But suddenly something struck me. Today was Saturday. That means no school! Time to go back to bed and slumber peacefully.
"Yesss!" I yelled aloud. Until I remembered where I was. I clamped my hand across my mouth to prevent disturbing their sleep. Hopefully the door to their room muffled their sound.
I was making my way up to the stairs so I could fall into my bed and catch up on some much needed sleep. Unfortunately I didn't make it their, finding a nice warm spot on the smooth kitchen floor. Oh well, this could do.
-.-.-.-
This was my daily routine on school days. Well, not sleeping on the floor but dragging myself out of bed only to bore myself to death at school for 8 hours and then come home to do hours of homework. Of course, I hadn't planned for living such a dreary lifestyle but my parents decided to step in and take control of my life once again.
I am fourteen. Fourteen! I should be out traveling the world, capturing pokemon, sleeping under the stars, meeting trainers, and battling gym leaders. Not going to school and learning pointless algebra.
The worst part was that my father was a gym leader, of all things. He felt I that I need to learn more about pokemon like training them and type differences before I can begin my adventure.
Sure, that's fine but I'm already four years behind and I can't wait any longer. I was hoping for my 14th birthday last week that I could get a pokemon but my dad said he was holding a special present for me. A week after my birthday he would give it to me and my birthday was on Saturday.
-.-.-.-
I awake to a gentle shaking on my shoulder. I opened my eyes a crack just to see who was annoying me so much. It was my dad.
"Hey champ. Wakey wakey. Come on we gotta get moving. We got a long day ahead of us." He spoke softly.
"Oh, hey." I replied weakly. He said that we had a long day ahead of us. Does that mean what I think it means? Oh Arceus I hope it does.
I grabbed my father's hand and together I was able to get myself up. My back was sore for sleeping on the floor for so long. I glanced at the clock on the stove. 10:13. Not my ideal time but it will have to do.
"Go get changed and meet me out in the backyard." He ordered me over his shoulder.
I couldn't have sprinted faster up the stairs. I flew into my bedroom, opened my drawers, and threw on a black tee with some cool jeans. Then I raced to the bathroom, did my business, and brushed my teeth. Without taking a second to breathe, I was out the door in the backyard.
I looked around. We had a nice two story home with beautiful garden and luscious grass. Littleroot was a nice little town especially since Professor Birch was so close to my home.
My yard had no fence and led right up to the house behind us. I took another look to locate my dad but he seemed to be hiding.
"Daaaad." I called rather loudly. Then, out of nowhere, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun around and lifted my arms to defend against the intruder. It was my dad who wore a rather shocked look on his face thanks to my antics.
"Hey, slow your roll Mr. Karate." He winked at me. " I got your present right here. Now close your eyes and open your hand." I could barely contain my excitement as I did as I was ordered.
Something hard yet smooth entered my hand. It felt round and had that metal chilliness to it.
"Open yours eyes, champ." There it was, resting on my palm. A pokeball. It was just a simple one. Red and white design with a button in the middle to enlarge it. It's sleek design glistened under the sunlight.
"Wh-what's inside it." I stuttered.
"Open it." He calmly responded. My stomach leapt up into my throat and I carefully threw the ball into the yard. In mid flight it opened and released a red laser with a zapping sound. The red light zoomed across the yard and quickly took the form of a pokemon.
"No way." Out came a Smeargle. One of the last pokemon I expected to get. No, scratch that. A Smeargle never even crossed my mind. It's head only reached up to my stomach but looked agile enough to make up for it. It's tail brush was colored an almost neon blue. It's large round eyes simply stared at me. Waiting.
I turned back to my dad. "Wh-what's its name? Is it a boy? How old is it? Is it really mine?" I interrogated my father.
My father laughed. "Yes it's really yours. It's only a couple months old now and it made sure it had no name previously just so you could name it."
"Oh wow! That's so awesome!" I was already racking my brain for potential names. Something cool. Something catchy... Hold on a minute.
"Whats so special about a Smeargle? I really don't know anything about it. I really didn't think I would get a normal pokemon so I didn't research them as much." Oh wait, I forgot my dad is the owner of Petalburg Gym which specializes in normal types. But still my dad isn't the type (pun intended) to make me do something just because he does something.
"Son, you gotta put some faith in your old pops, alright? I wouldn't get you just any old pokemon, now would I?" He chuckled. He was always so good natured and just... kind.
Just then I heard some scrabbling behinds me. Turning around, I found my Smeargle trying to climb the neighbors house.
"Hey Smeargle, get down!" I yelled. Then I looked closer. He was painting on their house and needed some extra height to finish his masterpiece. I sprang into action and while it was beautiful, I didn't want to have the police come down to investigate.
I grabbed my pokemon from the wall while my dad made his way over to the house. Was a Smeargle's paint permanent? Guess we will find out.
My dad released the water from the house onto the house and thank goodness it came off. It dribbled down sinking into the plants below.
My dad gave me a look and said exasperatedly, "He's gonna be a handful."
-.-.-.-
That was the day I finally left my cozy home. I said goodbye to my teary eyed mother and shook hands with my proud father. They both waved me off and out I went. My journey with my Smeargle began.
We set off on towards Oldale Town. We had to march through a very grassy area where lots of poochyena hid. I was still pondering what his attacks would be like. Probably tackle and pound for now. But I had no idea what others would come my way once he started getting more experience in battling.
Smeargle was walking right beside me, taking in the beauty of nature with wide eyes. He was currently transfixed on a small butterfly with was floating in front of us.
"Hey buddy, we have somethings to do now since your my pokemon like name you but first I want to battle a wild pokemon. Maybe that will spark an idea for a suitable name for you."
"Smeargle." It replied simply nodding its head. He finally tore his gaze off from the butterfly long enough to give me a look. Of course, I couldn't understand him but I took that as a sure. Then he went back to watching the butterfly zip further away from us. Eventually we lost sight of the insect that seemed to preoccupy my Smeargle's thoughts.
Suddenly he sat down on the soft grass in front of a a rather large and smooth tree. With his tail in his hand, he went to painting that butterfly that controlled his attention only moments ago. His brush danced across the tree, face in utter concentration, tongue sticking out lopsidedly. After what seemed like a minute he was done.
The butterfly was a nice neonish blue and while lacking all the other assortments of colors the real butterfly had, it was perhaps even prettier. He seemed to have memorized every detail and poured it out onto his canvas. Even the small dots that covered its wings. It was absolutely stunning to look.
He sat back in satisfaction, nodding once at the picture, then proceeding to stand up and continue marching along. I was still awestruck gaping at the masterpiece but eventually I realized my only pokemon had just left me. I ran ahead to catch up to it.
We kept on wondering through the route hoping to encounter one of those annoying poochyenas. But they all have seemed to fled the area. At least that's what I thought until we finally came upon a small black and gray dog. Or was it more of a wolf. I don't know but let's fight it!
"Smeargle, attack that poochyena!" I commanded him. The still unnamed Smeargle looked at me once and then sat down on the ground.
"Hey Smeargle, attack him before he attacks you!" The poochyena took this as an strike and immdiately jumped at my poor artist pokemon. It landed on Smeargle and used bite trying to inflict some real damage. Smeargle hit it in the face until it let go and hopped away, trying to create some space.
My pokemon then proceeded once again to sit on the ground but this time he started painting on the green grass. From what I could see it looked like a big canine mouth that was wide open.
"Stop drawing and start attacking. He's gonna bite you again. Attack him now." I yelled at my Smeargle. Finally, he stood up and ran over to that surprisingly vicious dog/wolf. The pooch started growling angrily at the little painter pokemon and reared back to defend. Smeargle reached him and released a nasty bite on the unsuspecting pup.
Smeargle repeatedly bite the small poochyena until it fainted. I jumped in the air pumping my fists and yelling. Running up to my Smeargle, I hugged him. He looked on passively as if this wasn't anything new.
"Wow that was great buddy! You were pretty fast." I congratulated him. "But what was up with the sketching in the middle of the fight?" He looked at me at me quizzically and broke out into a smile as if he were on some kind of inside joke.
"Gle-smear-smear." He chuckled to himself like I was an idiot. Though I had little idea as to why I was and idiot. Then it hit me.
"Artifex. That's your name. Incase your wondering, its latin for artist. Which you seem to be..." I smiled towards him. He smiled back as if he was alright with my name choice. Then another small insect caught his attention and he followed it, mesmerized.
"Ugh, hold up Art. I'm your trainer. Listen to me." I called out at my very own Smeargle. I chased after him only to get sidetracked by his painting which he made during the battle. Damn, it was good. Getting a closer look, I was able to see it was actually the poochyena he fought that was supposed to be the monster with large teeth.
Why would he draw this during the battle. Maybe it was a moment of divine inspiration. I sighed and slapped my hand against my forehead. Hopefully this is just a phase or something.
We continued with our journey for like the fifth time that day, meeting other poochyenas that we battled with (or ran from). At first the only attack Smeargle would do was bite. Until something peculiar happened again.
This was our fourth battle that day, which might have been a lot for the first day but he seemed to enjoy fighting just as much as me so I didn't complain. Throughout the rest of his battles he used bite until something peculiar happened. All the other pooches used bite but the one we were currently battling tried using a different tactic.
"Grrrrrrr!" He growled at Artifex trying to intimidate him. Art quickly dropped to his bum and started painting. I tried yelling at him to get back up and battle it out with the poochyena. The wild pokemon was just as confused as me when Art started doodling.
He quickly finished and prepared to fight again. Then, out of nowhere, Artifex growled at the little pup. The black dog jumped out of his skin and disappeared behind some trees. I called back my little artist so I could interrogate him.
"What's up with the sketches Art?" I asked confused. Not waiting for a response, I marched over to his sketch. I glanced at it only to realize it was a portrait of the pooch but it's with its teeth bared similar to when it growled at Artifex. Great. Is this gonna be a pattern.
Eventually the began set to set and I decided I wanted to show something to my pokemon that he has never seen before, at least I think.
"Art, let's climb this tree. There's something I gotta show you." He was trying to find more butterflies to paint but he walked over to me anyway.
"Climb this tree with me." Together we scaled a large oak on the side of the road to catch a nice view of the sun set. When we finally reached the top I couldn't help but smile at such a breath taking site. The entire sky was gold tinted with a light pink. It was magical and Art certainly thought so.
I positioned myself on the top branch so I could lie against it without the fear of falling down. We just sat there, trainer by pokemon and pokemon by trainer, taking it all in. Then, like the snap of a finger, it was gone. Slightly saddened by this, I glanced over to see how Artifex was doing. With no time to waste, he was already painting the sky on a large branch. I was surprised because I realized that the tone of the blue wasn't constant. He used lighter blues around the sun and deeper ones the farther he got away.
Once he was finished, he turned himself over to sleep and quickly lost himself to his dreams. I was transfixed by his painting. While the light was fading fast, I could still see the beauty of his artwork. It looked almost exactly alike to the real thing except for the blue coloring. The hues were perfect and the clouds actually looked like the rolling hills I saw.
"Wow." He is good. I think his name is a keeper. Chuckling to myself, I slept right next to my pokemon up in the trees gazing at the stars. Oh boy was this gonna be a journey.