Getting up in the morning was an easy thing to do for Kate. It was much easier today because she was getting her first Pokémon. Dozens of Taillows flew by her window, as she was still sleeping in her bed.
"Pidgo, pidgo," her Pidgey alarm clock rang.
"Nmmm nmm," she searched for the off button and pressed it. She slowly rose out of her bed rubbing sleep from her eyes and stepping on her long pajama pants.
Her room was filled with Pokémon merchandise. Pokémon posters were pasted on the walls and Pokémon dolls were on her shelves, mats, and computer. Novels and magazines about Pokémon filled her bookshelves. In her Gamecube was a game about catching Pokémon.
You guessed it. She was a Pokémon fanatic.
Kate opened the door to the bathroom and started to follow her usual morning procedure. She started to brush her teeth while looking in mirror. Her hair was a complete mess and she was still sleepy. She spit out the toothpaste and washed her mouth out with water. She brushed her hair and put it into a loose ponytail. She picked out a blue T-shirt and denim jeans to wear. Putting them on with her running shoes, she walked downstairs, and saw her mother making breakfast.
"Morning mom. Is breakfast ready?" Kate asked sitting down at the kitchen table.
"Not yet Katie, dear. Why are you so anxious today?" her mother asked flipping pancakes.
"I need to get my first Pokémon from Professor Birch mom. So please hurry up," she started to shuffle her feet under the table, making a bit of a racket.
"Oh Kate no need to worry. He's just in the next 2 towns," her mother said smiling happily.
"But Littleroot's like 4 miles away! I have to get there fast!"
When the pancakes were done Kate ate them hastily and ran out of the house. She grabbed her bike from the garage and started to pedal down Route 102. She braced herself for bumps and kept pedaling.
"I have to get a new Pokémon! I'm going to be the best Pokémon trainer anyone has ever seen!" Kate pumped both of her fists into the air happily. Letting go of the handle bars the bike started to go out of control.
"No! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
When the bike hit a bump Kate flew off the bike flailing through the air. Luckily she landed on something soft. She rubbed her head and jumped when she heard mumbling. She got up quickly and saw that she landed on a boy her age.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to land on you like that," she said looking at the boy, as he dusted himself off.
"It's okay I guess. I'm not dead and luckily you're not fat," he said as he looked at her with a somewhat bored look.
She laughed flatly; she was very mad about his little fat comment. She checked her pockets to see if her money was missing and sighed when she saw she had it all.
"Oh no! My bike! Where did it go?" she looked around at her area and saw that it had flew into a tree. It was broken and now she had no transportation.
"Sorry about your bike. Too bad it's your fault it's totaled. Well nice meeting you whatever. See ya," the boy started to walk off after his flat goodbye.
"Not so fast, mister," the boy stopped in his tracks when he heard her enraged voice, "I need help getting to Littleroot and you're going to help me!"
"Me? Why? I'm not going to help you unless- we settle this in a Pokémon match!"
He grabbed a ball from his belt. It was small with red on top and white on the bottom. In the middle was a button. He pressed it and it grew twice in size. He threw it to the ground a few feet in front of Kate. In a red light something took shape. Out of the Pokéball came a smiling Pokémon with boxing gloves. It was a Makuhita. It pounded its fists together and smiled.
"Well pick a Pokémon so I can get this over with," he said, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Well you know what? The thing is," she took a deep breath preparing to scream, "I don't have a Pokémon!"
"What? You mean you're a newbie?!" he said shocked that he challenged a beginner.
"Well, yeah," she said looking at the ground embarrassed.
"Maku maku..." the Pokémon stood beside his trainer and frowned. He punched the ground furiously. He was itching for a fight.
"Sorry Makuhita. She's a just a kid without Pokémon. Let's go," the boy returned his Makuhita to his Pokéball. He began walking down Route 102 twirling his Pokéball in his fingers, "Damn newbies. Why travel down a route when you have no Pokémon?"
"Huh, what were you saying?"
The boy jumped; surprised to see Kate behind him. She smiled and said, "Will you please direct me to Littleroot or better yet take me there? I really have no idea where to go."
The boy sighed and muttered something about beginner trainers. He kept walking waiting for Kate to leave but she kept following him asking for directions. A few trainers down the road looked at them oddly. Some muttered something about them being a couple and others said he owed her something. He growled, stopped, and turned to Kate.
"Will you please stop following me," he paused for a moment, "Hey what's your name?"
"It's Kate. What's your name?" she asked.
"It's Jake," he said, "Now please Kate. Quit following me!"
He kept walking; Kate was close behind following him. He ignored her, and sped up his walking. She did the same and soon they were both at the same pace.
Jake growled and turned around hastily. He gritted his teeth and opened his mouth to say something but he closed it when he heard a sound behind him. He looked toward the tall grass and saw it shaking.
"What's the matt-"
He turned towards her, his finger on his mouth, silencing her. He walked towards the grass and stopped a few inches before the it.
He reached for a Pokéball on his belt. This one was different from the other, which contained his Makuhita. Instead of being red, it was blue with two red stripes.
All of a sudden a figure jumped out of the grass. It was a little gray dog and had red eyes. It bared its teeth at the two; growling fiercely at them.
"It's a Poochyena," Kate claimed looking at the dog Pokémon, "and it's so cute!"
Jake had a confused look on his face. "Cute. Sure whatever. But I'm going to catch that dog."
Poochyena started to bark at them loudly, trying to get their attention. It started to howl towards the sky; its cries echoed throughout the route. Four more Poochyena jumped out of the grass and growled loudly.
Jake's confused look changed to one of worry. 'I only have two Pokémon and Kate has none. I can't beat five Poochyena with two Pokémon and a newbie.'
Kate noticed Jake's worried look and felt guilty. She had no Pokémon so she couldn't help him. She looked at the Poochyena; they were still growling and were preparing to attack.
"Jake, I think we should-"
Kate was interrupted by a howl. The first Poochyena they saw was howling again. The other Poochyena howled along with it; all of them were howling towards the sky.
"It's Poochyena's Howl. By howling it raises its strength. We're in trouble now," Jake said his brown eyes widening in worry.
The Poochyena finished howling and started to growl again. The leader bared its teeth once more and dug its claws into the ground.
"Hey Kate," Jake whispered to Kate who was standing behind him in fear.
"Y-yeah?" she managed to spit out. She was having the biggest fright of her life.
"On the count of three run. I'll handle the Poochyena. You just run," Jake said, his brown eyes were still locked on the Poochyena.
Kate gulped. She didn't feel like moving right now. 'Those Poocheyena are really intimidating. I feel like my legs went missing or something. Anyway I just can't leave Jake here all by himself.'
"Did you hear what I said Kate," Jake asked again.
"No way. I won't leave you here; you have no way of winning against those Poochyena. I have a better plan anyway."
"And what would that be Ms. Newbie?" Jake asked her, addressing her with a new nickname.
"My plan is," she paused for a moment thinking, "We're going to run away."
"Run away! I don't want to-"
His plea was in vain. Kate grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away from the Poochyena. The Poochyenas gave chase and followed. Jake's face was grim. He didn't want to run away. He wanted to be the big hero. He didn't want to run away with some newbie.
The dog Pokemon soon rounded on them and blocked their way before Odale Town. They growled; their teeth were tipped off with blood. Kate skidded to a halt. She was a few feet in front of the Poochyena and the intimidation they gave off was bigger than before. Jake was now out of Kate's grasp and grabbed his Pokéball and Great Ball.
"Okay! It's time that I take control. Go Makuhita! Go Treeko!" he threw both capture balls in front of the Poochyena and in a red light appeared Makuhita and another Pokémon.
This Pokémon had a long tail and was very green. He had big yellow eyes and a red stomach. "Treeko," the Pokémon muttered quietly.
"Makuhita!" the fighting Pokémon pounded its fist together happily. This was what he was looking for!
"Get ready guys. Oh and Ms. Newbie? You're going to learn something from this battle," Jake said coolly.
Kate smirked a little, but she wasn't so happy. Those Poochyena still scared her loads.
The Poochyena ran forward, baring their teeth. Two of them went for Treeko and three of them went for Makuhita.
"Treeko, dodge and use Pound! Makuhita, dodge and use Arm Thrust!"
Treeko jumped high in the air, dodged both Poochyena, and took a dive. He slapped both of them with its tail a few times. Unfortunately a Poochyena dodged his attack and bit hard into Treeko's tail.
Makuhita wasn't having much better luck. He dodged and used Arm Thrust on a small Poochyena. In 4 punches, it was out cold. The other two clawed and bit at his back.
"Treeko! Makuhita!" Jake shouted watching both his Pokemon getting hurt.
"Just don't stand there Jake," Kate said. She was able to speak properly now; the Poochyena weren't just standing around now so she wasn't really that intimidated, "Tell them what to do so they don't get hurt even more!"
"Shut up! I'm trying to think of a plan," Jake explained rudely.
"Well hurry up with the plan and help out Treeko and Makuhita," Kate watched as Treeko was slammed into a tree by both Poochyena's Tackle. Makuhita was constantly being tackled and bitten.
"Treeko use Absorb then Pound! Makuhita use Vital Throw!" Jake shouted to his Pokemon.
The Poochyena pounced for Treeko but it miraculously dodged. Treeko grabbed both Poochyena by the tail
and started to absorb their energy. When Treeko was cured he let go of both Poochyena's tails. Both Poochyenas were weak and couldn't stand up. Treeko pounded both with his tail and both were unconscious.
"That's the way Treeko!" Kate jumped up at Treeko's victory.
Makuhita rolled to his side; he barely avoided another one of Poochyena's Bite attacks. He stood up and grabbed one of the Poochyena's in his big hands. The other Poochyena ran for him but Makuhita threw the Poochyena in his hands as hard as he could. The thrown Poochyena slammed into the other and both were knocked out cold. Makuhita punched his fists together in glee.
"Maku maku!" he said happily before he fell unconscious.
"Makuhita!" Kate said running to the downed Pokemon, "Is he going to be all right?"
"Sure. Makuhita's been in tougher battles than this one," Jake smiled and returned Makuhita to his Pokéball. He looked at Treeko; a proud smile was creeping up on his face, "Treeko. You were great too. Return!"
"Treeko tree," Treeko said calmly before it was returned to his Great Ball.
"Wow!" Kate shouted, startling Jake, "That was a great battle! The way Treeko and Makuhita moved was great! Are Pokémon battles this exciting?"
"Well most are exciting. Especially the Gym battles and the ones on T.V. Wait a second. Are you telling me you've never seen a Pokémon battle before?"
"No! I mean I've seen them on T.V. but when you're so close to the action, it's almost like you're seeing them for the first time," she said happily, "I can't until I get my own Pokémon! It will be so exciting!"
"Well if you want one you'll have to go Littleroot right?"
"Yeah," she said to him. Suddenly something dawned on her. How was she going to survive? Getting from Odale to Littleroot? The Routes were probably scattered with Pokémon.
Jake must have read her mind when he said, "I'll escort you there. You have no Pokémon so you'll need some help. That okay with you?"
Kate jumped up in the air. "It's fine by me!"
Kate grabbed his hand and ran into the entrance of Odale Town.
~~~Author's Notes~~~
That is the first chapter of Trials of a Pokémon Newbie. My first and probably only fanfic. The next update might be in early January. I don't own any of the Pokémon but I do own Kate and Jake.
This is based on Pokémon Ruby so watch out for spoilers and maybe a little continuity. Watching Pokémon Advanced helps a bit too.
I love feedback so tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is highly favored. Flames will be translated and mocked.