Disclaimer: Don't own pokemon, probably never will. That stinks.
Chapter 2
I woke up with a groan the next morning. I'd spent half the night, or what felt like that, memorizing the contents of my Pokedex from move sets to what pokemon lived where nearby. I managed to learn something about Mudkip from all of this: Mudkips can't learn ice beam naturally.
As for my Taillow, it learned steel wing as a byproduct of a breeder's accident. A Swellow had been taught the move and then escaped to here, not liking humans roughly 30 years ago, according to news archives on the Pokedex. Most local Taillow now knew that move.
I'd also decided what pokemon to make team member three from all of that searching through my dex: Turtwig. It and its evolutions were powerhouses and able to take a major hit with enough training, the only downside being a lack of speed later on.
I made my way into the kitchen and took a look at the clock not bothering to change out of my pajamas. "11:45 am! How could that be? Carly is probably out training right now!" I screeched having stammered out the first part. I quickly dashed off to my room to put on some proper clothes, grabbing a granola bar for breakfast. Immediately after I dressed and managed to compose myself, I called my friend Trevor.
Seeing as I haven't mentioned Trevor before, I probably should take the time to talk about them. You see Trevor and I are polar opposites. I mean, while I applied myself academically, he did so socially. As result I become very motivated for the future, him not so much. When he showed up at my house, i saw he had recently cut his raven coloured hair short. Speaking of short, after a recent growth spurt I was three or four inches taller than he was.
Naturally like any guy who believes the league is the fast track to fame, money and chicks he picked the very stereotypical Charmander as his starter. How original on the author's part.
"Trevor my main man!" I called out "What's the pokeball count?"
"Two! I just caught a Venipide last night!" was Trevor's reply to me. Normally that's not like Trevor. You see, Trevor is a bit of a slacker and Venipide are pretty rare here.
As Trevor began to walk towards me I asked him "How did you manage to catch one?" to which Trevor replied "It snuck into my room and it was lying there asleep. I tried to contain my laughter at the irony but failed to do so. One thing that was blatantly obvious was that the two would get along just fine.
With all of our pokemon out, we made our plans to search for our next additions to our teams, in a place that was very familiar to the both of my team members. Recalling everyone we left for our destination.
"Be careful Trevor. The Raticate are particularly vicious in this area. Then again, that would explain why everything here is chewed up, Trevor. Trevor?" and with that I realized not only was I alone but from the monstrous snarling I knew I was about to say hi to a familiar face. "Nice Raticate, good Raticate, and Mudkip I choose you!" I screeched, panicking. To top it off, I was getting to know his poker buddies.
I knew I was screwed. Not because of the fact that I'd never had an actual battle or because the Raticate brought friends but because I knew Mudkip hadn't been prepared for this. I started to pray for my life when I heard Carly's voice "Bulbasaur use vine whip!" grabbing the attention of Big teeth 1 leaving 2 and 3 for me until Trevor showed up.
"Lotad use Astonish" Came Trevor's call. I face palmed after hearing Trevor say this. Astonish was a ghost type move and Ghost attacks can't hurt normal types. Even I knew of this from watching battles on TV. Then it came to me; both of them had 3 pokemon while I still had 2. They were getting ahead and I wasn't. This was unfair!
I snapped back to the battle after hearing a pained cry of "Kip". Mudkip had been hurt because I wasn't paying attention.
"Use Tackle Mudkip" I shouted out, now focusing on what was going on. Clearly my opponent hadn't expected Mudkip to hit so hard. Problem was Raticate started to get bloodthirsty, so I quickly regretted my decision. Then came an unexpected surprise to say the least. Mudkip's tail struck the ground, knocking dirt into our foe's eyes. I knew that move- Mud Slap. "Finish with Ice Beam!" With that, the Raticate was a Popsicle. "Canadian hospitality" I thought to myself, smirking at my own joke.
I then turned to see how Carly and Trevor were doing. Carly was wrapping up her fight and I could tell she didn't need any help. Trevor on the other hand… had just figured out his predicament and switched to Charmander. Took him long enough. Of course, Raticate rank lackey minor wasn't in mint condition either, so maybe I should give him some more credit.
"Charmander use Aerial Ace!" Trevor practically squeaked saying that, so the adrenaline must have started to get to him. I can't say I blame him because the only time he applies himself is when adrenaline is pumping through his veins. When I took another look at the battlefield I realized that the Raticate was down and that a pokeball was in its place. Crap. I'm way behind in teambuilding.
Well, time to get to work searching out my target.
"Markus, it's getting dark out. Maybe we should head back. I mean, we aren't going to catch anything that useful tonight." Trevor explained to me, nearly breaking my concentration. After placing a (crooked, and probably more than a little lopsided) makeshift crosshairs on Mudkip, I had staked out where my targets were normally found and had been waiting for hours. Fortunately, I had just lucked out.
"Ice beam" I whispered tensely to Mudkip. One shot, one frozen pokemon. I was 3 for 3 when it came to ice cubing my foes. Winning!
All it took was a well tossed pokeball… borrowed from Trevor because I missed and caught a Kricketot by accident my first throw (Not counted for ice cubing due to circumstance). I'm kind of surprised that I made the first accidental catch here. I mean, I'm not that bad of a throw. And would that break my perfect freezing record?
"I say we need to leave soon if we're going to become any good" Trevor said to me as we were walking back to my house "If we don't, we'll be the next badge less wonders." I paused for a second after hearing that. I didn't put much thought into that fact before now. To top that off, Trevor was right. We needed to test our skills out somehow though. I tried to think of a way to manage to do so.
"Come to think of it, isn't there a tournament in a few days? That would be the perfect test if everyone else shows up. I figure if we can both dominate, that would give us the proof we need to show everyone we are ready to go" I replied. "It's on the last day of school too. What could be better timing before we leave? That and sometimes big shot trainers go to these things, looking for new talent. Or fresh meat."
"So this is settled then. We train our teams, kick butt and leave for the big leagues, picking up any and all chicks on the way." Trevor summed up for both of us, the last part being his focus of the whole journey. Now how was I going to break this to him?
"What do you mean Carly's coming with us? I thought it would be us dudes! We won't be able to do half of the things I planned for when we're in charge, on our own." Trevor ranted, barely stopping to breathe.
Gently I explained why this was happening "It's the only way my mom will let me go. And then we'd both be stuck here."
"Markus, I need a good reason to not strangle you right now." Trevor threateningly snarled at me.
"I can have you turned into a human Popsicle?" I suggested.
"I hate it when you're right. Why does Mudkip know Ice Beam, anyway? I mean, Markus, it kind of makes you look like a Mary Sue."
"I honestly have no clue. I guess for the time being it'll be one of life's mysteries." I told Trevor.
"Well, Charizard is way more awesome than Swampert anyway." Trevor said, ignoring the fact his rant ever happened.
Irked as I was, I had to get my piece in. "No, not only is Swampert way cooler, it owns Charizard on the battlefield. What's Charizard got to beat it? Solarbeam? in the time it takes to charge, Swampert can unleash a Muddy Water, a Hydro Cannon, or just plain punch it in the face. I mean can Charizard move boulders?"
"Maybe" Trevor replied facetiously, with no regard for how trivial this was. Then again, I wasn't considering that myself.
"Golem don't count."
"Oh. Damn."
I'll probably take a lot of flak for putting down Charizard. To be honest, I like Venusaur better. Here are some random things I learned while writing this chapter.
1. Swampert has the highest base stat total out of all the final starter evos
2. Did you know there was a Miami, Winnipeg?
Also, Shout out to OceanSpiral for first review, and could I please have more from other readers? I know there's another 8 of you, and my 13 hits prove it.
