"Okay," the blue-haired shut-in who went by the name of "Indigo" stated as he narrowed his gaze upon the area in front of him: Route 1. "Now I just need to figure out exactly which direction I'm supposed to head in after this." he stated. Now see, here was the issue at hand: he had run out of Pallet Town without a map, a Pokédex, or...anything that a Trainer would need, barring an actual Pokémon; he had one of those.

Some would call Indigo incredibly eager to head out on a journey. This was not the case; in no way was the youth excited for this journey. Most ten-year-olds would be eager to go on their journey into the world of Pokémon, but there were three points that prevented Indigo from enjoying this journey: he was sixteen, (not ten,) had common knowledge on how the world worked, and he had been forced to go on this journey. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if ninety percent of the last 6 years of his life hadn't been spent in a small room, browsing the internet.

Now, in regards to the more apparent problems he was facing, he was making his way through Route 1. Fortunately he had managed to make his way around quite a bit of tall grass by using common sense and simply walking around it. Weird how none of his fellow Trainers had ever thought about going through the nearby trees. The boy by the name of Indigo knew to avoid tall grass for one reason: just typing "tall grass" into PokéTube was likely to bring up a video of a wild Pokémon coming out of literally nowhere. This was something that Indigo had decided that he wanted to avoid.

Indigo slowly made his way through the area, cautiously glancing around as he did so. See, there was another thing he wanted to avoid as well. Now, wild Pokémon were one thing, but he had heard that real Pokémon Trainers made a habit out of randomly challenging people who enter their line of sight. This was something that Indigo had vowed never to do to any other mortal entity, as he could only imagine how annoying it would be for someone to come out of nowhere and try to challenge you to a Pokémon battle.

"I don't understand this." Indigo murmured to himself as he walked around another patch of grass. Though he was speaking, there wasn't anyone in particular that he was speaking to. "Was Winter always this cold?" Yes, Winter was always this cold. Indigo, of course, wouldn't know this because of his shut-in tendencies. Perhaps he should get a Fire Pokémon or something. "Oh right, Pokémon."

Indigo halted for a moment, reached into one of his jacket pockets, and produced a red poke ball. As Indigo had basic knowledge on making poke balls work, he pointed the poke ball forward. With a pop noise, the poke ball would open. The nearby area would suddenly be flooded with a bright red light as the Pokémon that had lay dormant for roughly thirty minutes since its last appearance quickly appeared before the blue-haired shut-in. "Uh. Go, Lancelot."

The Pokémon by the name of "Lancelot" slowly began to glance up at its Trainer whilst wearing its usual bored expression. Lancelot was blue and had a swirled tail along with a brown shell. To put it simply, Lancelot was a Squirtle. The weirdest part about this journey so far was the fact that Lancelot, a clearly masculine name, had been given to a female Squirtle.

Indigo began to clear his throat as he slowly glanced downwards at his first partner. "Er..." After all, there were some things that Indigo needed to know about this Pokémon in order to make the current arrangement work. "You know how to not spontaneously die in a battle, right? I mean, I'll be kind of pissed if the Professor gave me a crappy Pokémon. No offense."

Lancelot continued to stare up at her Trainer whilst wearing that same expression of boredom. "Squirtle." she croaked.

"That's a yes, right? Wait, no." Indigo seemed to ponder for a moment. "Once for no, two for yes."

"Squir..." Lancelot quietly croaked. She didn't look like she understood what Indigo wanted from her.

"I'll take that as a no." Indigo replied. "Well, shit. This has taken a turn for the unfortunate."

"Squirtle?" Lancelot squinted.

"I don't get your meaning." Indigo said in response. "But we should probably get going, so I'm just gonna shove you in the ball again..."

But before the shut-in Trainer could finish, he felt a sort of chill run down his spine. It wasn't something that cold weather could cause due to the abundance of warm clothing he was wearing. Indigo slowly turned his head off to the side. As he did this, a lad slowly entered his field of view.

The lad was your typical youthful Trainer; baseball cap, short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and sneakers. There was nothing that could be counted as immediately odd about this individual...except for the fact that they were dressed in such attire on a cold, Winter's day.

"Er..." Indigo couldn't even begin to describe where this lad had come from as he had no idea himself. He could only hope that this wasn't a Trainer.

"Hi," the lad smiled. "I'm a Trainer. Want to battle?"

Dammit Murphy. Okay, let's calm down. Indigo took a deep breath. "I'm not a Pokémon Trainer." he said after a few moments.

"Then...that Pokemon is wild?" the lad asked as he glanced down at Lancelot.

Lancelot squinted in response to this. "Squir?"

"No, it's my Pokémon." Indigo stated rather bluntly.

"...Then, you're a Pokémon Trainer?" the lad asked again.

Indigo stared at the lad for a few moments...and then proceeded to sigh. Damn, foiled again. "Yes, I guess you could say that I'm a Trainer."

"Oh cool, then let's battle!" the lad exclaimed with a nod.

Indigo could only stop to ponder how it was possible for an individual like the lad to look so happy whilst challenging a random person out of the blue. He started to wonder if being a Pokémon Trainer slowly changed someone as time passed...in the bad way. Bad as in like how Zubatman stooped lower whenever he fought Gengarguy. Maybe the parents for Pokémon Trainers could just universally be defined as...terrible guardians. Wait, his train of thought was beginning to wander.

In any case, Indigo slowly glanced down at Lancelot. He needed a way to get out of this. "Uh...I've never been in a battle before, so your Pokémon won't get much experience out of fighting the single Pokémon I happen to have. It's pretty useless looking."

The lad dismissively waved away the point Indigo had made. "It's fine, I still get Pokédollars out of winning."

'Wait, you can make Pokédollars by doing this?' Indigo thought. He cleared his throat. "I see..." Indigo narrowed his gaze on the lad. "Conversely, I'd get Pokédollars if I beat you. That's how it works, right?"

Lancelot blinked. She had little to no idea of what was going on at the moment. Perhaps she was a bit absent-minded.

The lad snickered. "What, you didn't even know that? Wow, you're a dumb Trainer."

Indigo took a deep breath in response to this. He had to remember that hitting children was bad. "...Okay, I'll battle you."

After a bit of shuffling around the area, the two Pokémon Trainers finally stood 10 meters away from each other. They were near a few trees as well as some small patches of tall grass. The area there were fighting in was snowy; movement would be impeded for small Pokémon that couldn't fly.

Indigo took a deep breath. He directed the bored-looking Lancelot to the area in front of him using his hands, fingers, and a particularly tasty looking stick of jerky. Though the Pokémon went where he had directed it, Indigo still felt as though Lancelot was somewhat sub-par in regards to Pokémon that he could have gotten. It didn't help that he didn't know how to properly have a Pokémon battle, or the attacks that his Pokémon could use...

Lancelot stared ahead with its usual bored expression as it stood there on its two hind legs, slowly wagging its tail back and forth.

The lad reached into his back pocket and produced a poke ball. "I have two Pokémon, but I'll only use one of them. Hows that sound for a handicap, mister?"

"Do whatever you want." Indigo replied after a moment. He needed to calm down; if all went well, he could most likely buy some PokéTacos with the Pokédollars he'd get from winning.

The lad nodded. He tossed the poke ball that he had held into the air. "Go, Pidgey!" he called.

The poke ball would suddenly burst open to display a bright red light that surged down in a fashion similar to lightning. The visage of a winged monster would soon make itself apparent in the air near the lad. When the red light that covered it faded, all that remained was a small bird-like Pokémon.

There was silence between the two Pokémon for a few moments as they stared at each other...

"...Pidgey, use Tackle!"

Before Indigo could even react, the small bird had cleared the distance between itself and the small turtle known as Lancelot. It left a colorless trail in the air as it zoomed forward with such an incredible speed.

Lancelot seemed mildly startled by this as well. Her first reaction was to try to move to the side, but the attack was too quick.

With a heavy crash, Lancelot would take the brunt of the Tackle and slide backwards before reclaiming its balance. Tackle wasn't a particularly powerful move on its own, but the speed obviously added some form of force to the attack. Lancelot's tail was still wagging back and forth as it dropped on all four digits.

The Pidgey was already circling around and making its way back to the lad.

"Damn. Go after it?" Indigo said without any particularly commanding presence.

Lancelot would promptly dart after the Pidgey. She wasn't particularly fast, so catching up was definitely something that she'd be unable to do.

"Pidgey, go straight up and then use Gust!" the lad spoke.

The Pidgey nodded in acknowledgement and quickly streaked up, breaking off any attempts at pursuit that Lancelot had made. The Pidgey would quickly turned its focus downward. It began to flap its wings with a great strength, causing a tiny gale to swirl around in front of it. With another flap of its wings, the gale was sent down towards the Squirtle.

"Oh, that looks bad." the shut-in grumbled in response to this. Obviously the Trainer he was fighting had much more experience than himself. Calm down. Indigo needed to calm down. No, he needed to focus. He needed to put all of his focus into winning. He was feeling PokéTacos today, so he was going to get some PokéTacos.

Without receiving a command from her Trainer, the Squirtle simply stood there. "Squir..." Lancelot obviously didn't seem to understand why she wasn't receiving any real commands.

The swirling gust of wind would slam into the tiny turtle, kicking up some snow and a few blades of grass. Lancelot, who had been caught in the attack, was quickly rising and being spun around like a top. "Squir!" she croaked. She was obviously confused with the situation. Soon, the swirling gust of wind would reach a tree. As a result, Lancelot would be slammed against said tree with an incredible force.

The lad grinned. "Heh. Looking good, Pidgey!" he said.

The Pidgey slowly descended with a few flaps of its wings. It turned its gaze forward to see if the enemy Pokémon could still fight.

Lancelot slowly descended to the ground after slamming into the tree. She slowly began to push itself up; obviously she couldn't take another hit. This battle was just about finished.

"Ah, you tried. Let's stop here, got it? It's not your fault that my Pidgey is just too awesome." The lad said with a grin as he glanced over at Indigo; however, he was not greeted with a facial expression that showed regret over loss...

The person known as Indigo was staring ahead at the enemy Pidgey with a look of interest. Without even glancing down at his Pokémon, he spoke. "No, I think I figured it out. Let's keep going."

The lad chuckled. "What, have you seen your Pokémon?"

"Lancelot, run after it." Indigo curtly stated in response.

Lancelot glanced over at her Trainer with a look of mild confusion before turning her gaze towards the Pidgey again. She grit her teeth before running forward. The purpose of this was unclear to the tiny turtle due to the fact that she had not received an actual attack order from her Trainer.

The lad crossed his arms. "Ha. This again? Pidgey, use Gust!"

However, there was no breakage in the shut-in Trainer's interested gaze. "Lancelot, jump."

Before anything could occur, Lancelot quickly tightened her leg muscles before turning her focus upwards. She most definitely couldn't jump very high, but she could still jump. Following her Trainer's commands, the Squirtle hopped a few feet into the air.

Without ascending, the Pidgey began to flap its wings with a great force. The wind began to violently churn. Soon, the winds would reach their expected form; a swirling gust of roaring winds. With a mighty beat of its wings, the roaring gust would surge forward, or rather, upwards towards Lancelot. To most, this battle was definitely over.

Except, the lad noticed that something was wrong. "...?!"

The tiny turtle Pokémon was spinning like a top as the swirling gust's winds caught the grooves in the Squirtle's shell. The speed at which she was spinning combined with the swirling gust was causing Lancelot to quickly rise into the air. 1 meter turned into 2 meters, 2 meters turned into 4 meters, and 4 meters turned into 8 meters. Soon, Lancelot would reach the 12 meter mark; it was at this point that she began to panic at the thought of falling.

"Uh...chill out!" the shut-in spoke in a somewhat loud voice. It would seem that he was slightly more observant than he came off as...but he was still a new Trainer and carried no leader-like traits. It didn't help that he didn't want to carry any leader-like traits.

"Pidgey, chase after it! Quick, use Tackle!" the lad commanded.

Immediately, the Pidgey zoomed upwards with an incredible speed. As it chased and chased after the Squirtle, it found that its target was getting further and further away. The Pidgey couldn't catch up.

"It's still rising?!" the lad exclaimed in disbelief. This kind of battle tactic was something that the lad had never seen before. While the lad was above Indigo in regards to battle experience, he was still inexperienced. Even so, the lad knew that this tactic was definitely something that no Trainer would be able to pull off during their first battle unless they were incredibly lucky...right?

Soon, the Squirtle's ascent would stop; she finally reached 16 meters. It was at this point that the spinning Pokémon began to quickly descend towards the oncoming Pidgey.

And suddenly, the lad realized what the enemy Trainer was planning on using all that height and momentum for. "Pidgey, get away!" he yelled.

"Lancelot," the shut-in's gaze narrowed. "Go wild. Smack it or whatever. No wait, Tackle is a move. Tackle it!"

The Pidgey's ascent quickly halted. It was about to turn around and dart back to the ground, but it was too late.

Using the momentum generated from her spinning descent, Lancelot was sent rocketing down towards the Pidgey like a blue streak of lightning. Although she was panicking, she knew that she should to follow her Trainer's orders. "Squir...!" The blue streak of lightning smashed into the Pidgey from above. Though the attack was a weak tackle, the joined forces of gravity and the momentum generated by spinning were augmenting the force behind the attack.

There was a heavy crash noise as the Pidgey and the Squirtle descended to the ground with the speed of a bullet. The two Pokémon smashed into the ground with enough force to whip up a cloud of dust as well as a shockwave to spread said cloud of dust in every direction.

The lad could only stare forward into the murky brown cloud with his vision obscured. "Tch. Pidgey, use Gust!" he called.

Despite this, there was no mighty blast of wind to blow away the cloud. As the dust slowly settled, the lad was greeted with the sight of two faintly glowing green eyes that seemed to peer forward. These eyes were attached to none other than the blue-haired, dark-skinned shut-in.

The lad slowly turned his gaze downwards where he was greeted by a different sight; a blue Pokémon standing above a familiar Pidgey. The Pidgey's eyes were glazed over in its unconsciousness whilst the beaten and bruised looking blue Pokémon's eyes carried their usual hint of boredom. That Pokemon was most definitely the other Trainer's Squirtle.

Lancelot slowly proceeded over to her Trainer, obviously tired from battle.

The green-eyed shut-in pointed his poke ball at the Squirtle. "You know, this means that we get to have PokéTacos." he could be heard murmuring. Immediately, the Squirtle would disappear in a flash of red light.

The lad pulled out his Pidgey's poke ball and pointed it at the unconscious Pokémon. "Pidgey, return!" he said, prompting the bird Pokémon to disappear in a flash of red light. Following this, the lad turned his gaze over to Indigo.

Indigo responded in kind by staring back at the lad. "So, how many Pokédollars do I get?"

The lad squinted. "That wasn't fair! You said that you never battled before!"

Indigo blinked. "I haven't had a battle before." he said. "It was just common sense, that's all. It had these weird-looking grooves on its shell, and I saw it rising when it got hit by the gust before, so I figured...you know."

The lad was irritated that such a battle tactic could be watered down as mere "common sense." It irritated him not because he was jealous, but because referring to it as common sense made it seem as though the lad himself was an unskilled Trainer. In reality, even the lad could tell that this fight's outcome wasn't determined by just common sense. Whether this could be described as luck or just talent, the lad didn't know.

With the battle said and done, the two Trainers registered each other in their PokéNavs and then parted ways. The lad had lost a few Pokédollars, but was now inspired to become the best Trainer he could be so that he could someday beat the shut-in. The shut-in had gained a few Pokédollars and was going to go on to the next destination in his adventure to see if they had PokéTacos: Viridian City. Only time would tell if he would be greeted by the glory of a tasty corn shell. This was most definitely the beginning of a Pokémon Trainer's journey.


"Ah, and you say he started on his journey?" the red-haired female with blue eyes spoke into her PokéNav.

"Yes, about an hour ago. I'm surprised that he ended up going in the first place, my girl." the familiar voice of Oak responded.

"Didn't his parents kick him out?" the red-haired female asked with a slight chuckle.

"Even so, running into an Onix at such a young age...I don't blame him for preferring to stay inside after that." Oak murmured.

"It's fine, isn't it? He's probably gotten over it already." the red-haired female assured.

"Well, if you say so. I merely wanted to call and inform you." Oak said.

"All right. I'll chat with you later, Professor Oak." the red-haired female said.

"Splendid. You should come back some time so I can check your Pokédex, Crimson." Oak said with a slight smirk.

With a nod, the female known as "Crimson" ended the call. She had been relaxing on Route 8 after a long day of preparing to challenge the Elite Four. She wasn't in any particular hurry though. Perhaps she would visit Professor Oak some time soon. She reached into her bag and produced a poke ball. She tossed the poke ball forward, allowing the Pokémon inside to come out in a flash of red light. "Come on, Mordred."

Soon, a winged orange lizard would appear. The flame on its tail was burning intensely as it turned its gaze towards its Trainer with an eager look. "Char..." it uttered in a deep growl.

Crimson tilted her head a bit. "Ready to keep training?"


Hello, my name is Corpse. Well, not really. You should totally call me Corpse though. If you have reached this point, you have finished reading through the latest chapter of my cruddy Pokémon fanfic. Kudos to you! If you haven't already noticed the incredible amounts of theme naming I have going on here, I think you may be a bit daft. And that's a part of you, so you should never change. Also, yeah. You know normal Pokémon logic? Screw that, it's too boring. I'm gonna factor in a bunch of stuff that they don't in the games. In any case, I put a marginally vast amount of love into this chapter, so have fun tearing it apart for each and every mistake. Expect the next Chapter by either the end of this week, or the start of next week. Hugs and kisses and other manly stuff.

Songs Listened To: Pendulum - "Crush", Bleach OST 1 - "On The Precipice Of Defeat", Quad City DJs vs Wayne Sharpe - "Bark-ley-Oh!"

How Long This Took To Write: About 2 hours.

Inspiration: I couldn't beat Manus because his stupid darkness bolts are stupid and dumb.