"Sol! Absol!" it cried, the pokemon's eyes fixed on me like I was prey. I gave it a look I hoped equaled the intensity of the one given to me, and it charged at me, the scythe on its head charged up for a close range Razor Wind.

Now, I was never the strongest kid, mind you, and definitely not when I was a scrawny 13-year-old, but I knew a thing or two about self-defense. I swiftly dropped onto the grass and kicked my legs up, throwing the dark-type over my head. She (as I had determind by this point) landed on her own back, and skidded a couple feet before flipping herself up. She tried again with the Razor Winds, from a distance this time, and one of them clipped my hair, sending a few unlucky strands to the grass below.

I looked over at my bag, lying on the ground since the beginning of this confrontation. Three Ultra Balls were sitting pretty, waiting like passengers at a train station to be used. I took out the one I had stuffed in my pocket beforehand and clicked it, enlarging it in my palm. I wound up, channeling the little leaguer I had been a couple years before, and delivered... and she dodged without any difficulty.

"Crap," I muttered, 1200 in Poke down the drain. Trying a different strategy, I dashed at the four-legged dark pokemon, and she ran to her left to avoid me. However, I was ready for that, and dove, tackling her as her legs flailed under me. I let her go after we stopped rolling, and she growled "Sol..." as if to acknowledge that I was worthy of challenging her.

Suddenly, she shouted her name out loud as she bounded into the woods behind me. I quickly grabbed two of the Ultra Balls from my bag and gave chase, luckily not too far behind her. Both of us darted around trees and under branches like we were running in slow motion, missing many of them by mere centimeters. As soon as I got within an acceptable range, though, I chucked one of the two-tone balls at my target, and it made a beeline for the Disaster Pokemon, finally hitting her in the rear. I slowly came to a halt as red enveloped Absol, finally sucking her into the capsule like the genie and the lamp. The black and yellow capture device rocked back and forth as the Absol tried to escape the confines of it, and with each little sway the ball made, an hour seemed to pass by.

And then it stopped. And it clicked.

I slowly walked over to the now-silent Ultra Ball and picked it up. I had just gotten my first pokemon.

I immediately brought Absol back out, and as she appeared from her ball, she barked and looked up at me expectantly. I simply knelt down next to her and scratched just behind her head, and she closed her eyes and seemed to smile at her massage.

"You're such a good girl..." I said quietly, stroking her fur softly. "Oh, what should I name you?"

Her eyes snapped open, and she turned in the other direction, slashing away at the dirt. Her final message read "SHAD."

Not wondering how she knew the alphabet, I tried to comprehend her writing. "Shad... wait, you mean Shade?" I asked. She nodded enthusiastically, and I grinned. "Well then get over here, Shade!" Shade bounded over to me joyfully, and tackled me as I gave her a hug. Giggling as she licked my face, I managed to say "Ack! Stop!"

"Sol!" she replied simply, and I smiled. My journey was beginning, and I had no clue where it would bring me.

If only I knew.

Later that day, we decided to stop for some lunch, and I managed to get a couple apples for us to chow down on.

As we finished one each, though, we heard a rustling and the snapping of twigs behind us, as we had decided to eat right there in the forest. When we turned around, we saw a short kid with his hat turned stupidly backwards, and wearing ridiculous shorts. His pokemon was trailing behind him, and he shouted "Hey! You! Let's battle!"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking..." I muttered, standing up. "You ready for this, Shade?"

Shade nodded, barking out her named happily, and gave the kid's Rattata a look that would shatter Regice. The rat hissed back, and the kid shouted "Scratch, Rattata!"

"Dodge, and use Razor Wind," I said, bored. Shade executed a perfect leap over Rattata, and did a 180 as she brought her air blade down upon her foe. The vermin screeched in pain, but somehow wasn't knocked out by the attack.

Of course, the subsequent tackle by Shade (not under my command) did bring it down, and the kid scooped up his fallen pokemon.

"But... how? My Rattata's-"

"In the top percentile of all Rattata," we both said, and he looked at me as if I was psychic.

"Cash please," I told him, and he scrounged up a couple hundred Poke for my time. I pocketed it, and walked off, mumbling something that resembled "Bye."

As soon as we were out of his sight, I pat Shade on the head. "You're a pretty good battler!" I complimented, and she smiled, saying "Sol..."

I could maybe make a living from this.

2 months later:

Life as a trainer ain't easy. Nobody ever said it was.

But it sure as hell is fun.

Shade has grown into a helluva battler, starting to pick up on the strategies I use, and using them for herself, without command. She's been incredibly loyal as well, which I didn't expect given how standoff-ish she seemed when I tried to catch her. Shade's looking like my perfect starter, though...

That was only confirmed when, just now, a gym leader from a region named Sinnoh (apparently on vacation in Johto) challenged us to a battle. She said her name was Maylene, and her Lucario presented a heck of a quandary with the type advantage. We did manage to beat her, though, thanks to the fact that I had found an unused TM for Flamethrower buried under a tree and decided to give it to Shade, since she could learn it. And with Lucario being part Steel-type, it was lights out for him pretty soon. I didn't get a badge, of course, but I knew we were a pretty dang powerful combination by that point.

Anyways, I really felt that we'd come a long ways in the short time we'd been together... but what came next, I wouldn't have been able to predict if a million dollars was on the line.

We were just walking towards our next destination, Olivine City, when I heard a voice.

"Will..."

It was soft, unconfident, but still audible. When I looked around, though, I saw nobody there, so I continued walking.

"Will!"

Again I looked around, but again, there was no one around. I figured it was just some kid getting his kicks, and ignored the next time my name was called. A second later, though, Shade tugged at my pants, and I looked down at her.

"Will!" she yipped, a broad smile on her face. My eyes nearly dropped out of their sockets, and I rubbed them to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

"Will!" she barked again, proud that she had gotten my name down.

"That was... you...?" I asked wondrously. She nodded, and I scratched my head.

"Are you trying to teach yourself to talk like a human, then?" I followed up. I was met with another nod.

"Holy crap..." I muttered, and suddenly got an idea. "Do you want me to teach you?"

"Will!" she cried happily, tackling me for a hug. I grinned, still not believing this. I mean, my pokemon was going to try and talk? She was already amazing to begin with, never ceasing to amaze me with her power, but this? There was just no way this could be any better...

When in doubt, insert a Youngster Joey reference. xD

Word of warning: This chapter, as well as the next one, will be pretty short, but the rest of this story will be of normal length by my standards, which is to say an average of 2,500 words, give or take. It could run anywhere from 2,000-4,000, in case you're not familiar with my stories. Just a heads-up, I don't want anyone complaining about the length and not be warned that this was my intention. I just couldn't manage to fit that many words into these chapters, because I really wanted these chapters to focus on these specific events (You'll see in chapter two what my intentions were there).

And no, this story is not related in any way to Silver Soul. I just happen to be a bit of a sentimental slob (naming all my main characters Will), and I love Absols, especially in HumanxPokemon stuff. Please, though, do NOT make any references to Silver Soul other than in private, because otherwise, that's all the reviews will be.

Anyways, enjoy the story, this should be a great one (with a lot of action and suspense once it develops), and I hope you agree.

Until next time...

EDIT: Edited this chapter to be longer and added in a key part. Sorry about that, and sorry that this chapter is now more rushed than the guys in that movie Speed. Had to put that reference in there :P That last part didn't deserve its own chapter, though, so... here it is. I'm sorry.