Owari wasn't a man for family values. He had never known his father, his mother had been around infrequently, and he really didn't have a chance to make many friends. (There weren't many people in Pallet Town. There weren't even those centers for people to gather – Pokecenters and shops.)
So he wasn't very social, and the only interest he held in Pokemon was the study factor.
He was, however, interested when Professor Oak offered to let him have a Pokemon. His mother gave permission for him to leave home for the extended period of time it would take to go on a pokemon journey, and when he entered Oak's lab, there was a certain feeling of freedom in the stuffy air of the lab.
There was the greeting spiel that Oak always gave to new trainers – Owari had watched Oak do this before, and Oak's grandson, Luce, was there, sneering. At last, however, when Owari was ready to tell Oak to hurry up with it, Oak turned to a table and gestured to the three pokeballs on it.
"Take your pick, Owari!" He said, and as Luce complained, Owari studied the table. He was familiar with all three of the pokemon – they were strong starters, and all would be useful.
However, he could only have one. Owari picked up a pokeball at random and nodded.
"Ah, the Bulbasaur...do you want to give him a nickname?"
"Certainly." Owari said, glancing at the small pokeball. "I'll be traveling with him, after all." He tapped the pokeball, enlarging it, and released the Bulbasaur onto the floor of the lab. He crouched, patting the Bulbasaur's head.
"Hey there. Your name is Rat, okay?"
The Bulbasaur didn't know any better. It gave its version of a smile and purred. Owari stood back up, pleased. He wasn't planning to go through his entire journey with a Bulbasaur or any of its evolutions in his party, but for now, it would do well.
"I challenge you to a battle! Right here, right now!" Luce declared, holding another pokeball.
Owari rolled his eyes, knowing that it would be the Charmander that Luce had picked. He was the type to go for an opponent's weakness and exploit it.
"Fine." Owari accepted, walking away from the table. "Don't apologize, Professor Oak. It's his fault, not yours." He added, and had the satisfaction of watching Luce swell with anger. A Charmander would be perfect for Luce, come to think of it.
Luce almost growled. He released his pokemon, and when the Charmander looked at him, he smiled meanly. "Go get that Bulbasaur! Burn it!" He ordered, and the Charmander nodded.
Owari took a moment to be sorry for the Charmander, then looked at Rat. "Growl at it, then Tackle. Avoid the flame, and you'll be fine."
He didn't mention the claws, or the teeth. Charmanders could be vicious, when provoked.
Rat didn't have time to nod at Owari or do anything except obey the orders. When the Charmander got close, he growled, and the Charmander paused for a moment, giving time for Rat to throw himself at him.
(All of Professor Oak's pokemon starters were male. Owari hadn't heard a reason why yet.)
The tackle was uncoordinated, and Owari nodded absently to himself. Oak's pokemon weren't trained for fighting. He would have to teach Rat to fight himself, it seemed.
The Charmander, thankfully, was equally unskilled, and as Rat backed himself up, readying himself for another tackle, the Charmander looked to Luce for orders.
"Scratch him!" Luce ordered, as Owari expected.
"Circle around him, Rat. Tackle him from behind." Owari murmured to Rat, patting Rat's bulb gently. He straightened, removing his hand, and Rat began to run, albeit a bit slowly. Bulbasaurs weren't the most agile creatures out there, but this would work. The Charmander just blindly ran at Rat and tried to scratch him. There was no attempt at strategy. None.
Owari smiled as Rat tackled the Charmander from behind and managed to shove him into a wall. The Charmander slumped, fainted.
Well, they were young Pokemon. The battles wouldn't last for long with their hit point rates.
"Damnit!" Luce swore, running over to the Charmander. Rat backed up and returned to Owari, looking for praise. As Luce shook the Charmander, urging it to wake up, Owari patted Rat and murmured praise.
Luce swore one more time and returned the Charmander to his pokeball. He turned to Oak. "Heal him, will you?"
"Of course, Luce." Oak said. "That was a very good battle." To his credit, he didn't name any names. Luce nodded.
"Thanks. I'll win next time!"
Owari spoke up. "Professor, there are two pokedexes behind you. Are we going to get them?"
Oak blinked, then smiled. "Certainly! I'd be grateful if you two continued my work!"
He gave his usual spiel about the pokedexes, and soon Owari was on his way with Rat. Rat wasn't in his pokeball, as Owari planned to speak with Rat privately.
Some minutes away from Pallet town, Owari sat down under a tree and offered a carrot to Rat. "We need to talk."
Rat looked at him, chewing the carrot contentedly.
"You're young, and inexperienced. I have a rudimentary knowledge of strategy, and I can help you win battles and level up. You already know how to follow orders, which is good, but I'll need you to follow orders outside of battle as well."
Rat was like a smart dog – he understood, but he couldn't communicate back to Owari, and he couldn't explain what he didn't understand. He would have to be taught.
He nodded, and Owari handed out another carrot stick.
"We're going to capture what lives on this Route – Rattattas and Pidgeys. Just one of each, and then we'll train for a while. They won't obey me automatically. That's where you come in."
Owari paused before continuing. He was going to make this Bulbasaur into an enforcer, sort of. A pokemon he could rely on to protect him, and to keep his pokemon in line.
Perhaps he would center his team around Rat. Well. At least for now. When he had access to more pokemon, he would decide what to do then.
He flipped open the pokedex, and clicked through it, examining Rat. The description was basic, and he shook his head. Professor Oak and his more famous trainers had already found most to all of the pokemon in the world. Pokedexes were designed to have information on all pokemon – and the only way to access that information was to catch them. Oak just wanted Owari and Luce to capture more pokemon for him to study. A scientist could never have too many samples, correct?
Well. Owari would capture all of the pokemon he could, and he wouldn't store them in Oak's storage system. He'd simply have to customize his own system.
But that could wait, too. The creator of the storage system lived north of Cerulean city, and Owari couldn't do a thing without more knowledge of the system.
Owari stood after feeding Rat another carrot stick, and began walking. Viridian city was still several days away, and without a bike, or anything to travel with, walking would have to do.
Several hours later, Owari hadn't seen another soul or any other pokemon. Route five was simply deserted.
"Rat, I'm beginning to think we were lied to." Owari commented. The outskirts of Pallet town simply weren't dangerous. He shook his head, and began to leave the trail. "We're going our own way. It'll take longer, but maybe we'll find something."
Rat nodded and followed, not yet ready to complain that it had been walking for too long. It had spent most of its young life in a pokeball, and to be given a chance to live outside of it – well, Owari didn't mind, and so Rat didn't mind.
A rattata darted in front of them, and hissed, lifting its fur. Owari smiled. "Rat, Growl at it!"
Rat did, and the rattata shrunk back, preparing to run. Rat promptly stepped on the rattata's tail, and Owari crouched in front of it. They had discussed what to do when seeing another pokemon, and this was going well.
When the rattata turned and began to scratch Rat, Rat, unfortunately, was unprepared for pain. He lifted himself up, and curled as best he could, making pained whimpers.
Owari put a hand on Rat's bulb and scattered cracked corn for the rattata. It sniffed the corn, then began to ate it. (Rattatas were nuisances – whenever Owari's mother had put out a birdfeeder, rattata had climbed the feeder to eat the cracked corn that was in the birdseed. The pidgeys and spearows had not been happy.)
Owari smiled. "There'll be more food like that if you come with me." He murmured, careful to keep his tone gentle.
When the rattata gave a chirp-like sound of agreement – rattata were easily bribed – Owari gently tapped the rattata with an empty pokeball.
As he watched the rattata disappear in a flash of red light, Owari sprayed his spare potion on Rat's cuts and offered a carrot. As Rat took the carrot, the pokeball dinged and the pokedex flashed. He had caught a new pokemon, and the pokedex wanted to know if he wanted to nickname it as well as listen to the information that was unlocked.
Owari chuckled and scooped up the cracked corn. "Of course," thank goodness for vocal commands, "The nickname is R-A-X. Rax. And the information is?"
As the pokedex rattled off the basic information for a rattata, Owari checked Rat over.
When it was quiet once more, Owari closed the pokedex after checking his team's stats and stood. "Rat, are you alright?" He asked, knowing that it was already alright.
Rat nodded, stretching.
"I'm going to let Rax out...we're going to work with him until he's trainable."
Wild pokemon were harder to train than domestic pokemon, and often needed a stronger pokemon to keep them in line. That was where Rat came in. Owari was considering doing mock-battles, once he had more potions.
It would also help to build his relationship with the pokemon enough. He wasn't planning on keeping the rattata as part of his team for the entire run, but if he evolved it and set it free, or gave it to someone he could trust...
Rax would have it good, either way. No scrounging for food, no siree.
Owari released Rax, and crouched down again. His knees were getting a workout, but it was worth it.
"Hey. Your nickname is Rax, okay?" It was similar to Rat, but that couldn't be helped. Owari liked the name.
Rax murred and gave Owari a look that asked, 'where is the battle?'
"I'm not going to be conventional, here. We need to get used to each other before we get into battles."
Rax looked at Rat, eyeing him.
"And you two need to get along." Owari said, smirking. "No fighting, unless it's for practice."
Rat nodded, sitting down. Rax approached him and sniffed him. Then he backed up, skittish.
Owari patted Rax's head and straightened. "Come on, we need to keep moving. There's still some hours before night."
They walked.