"Well your Cubone and Charmander are perfectly healthy, though there is something you need to know with your Cubone." The nurse at the front desk explained to me.
"What's that?"
"Cubone is very young, it cannot be more than a few days old. That is why it is so small. I would wager to guess that it hasn't eaten anything since whatever trainer released it."
"Will it be okay nurse…" I trailed off the sentence, still not getting her name, as her name tag was never placed on.
"Mandy." She answered for me.
"Cubone is at a delicate state right now, even the very few that are bred to be starters are at least a few months old before they are given to their trainers. It really needs a lot of TLC. They are naturally loners, but only by circumstance." She explained the trailing off in explanation made it evidently clear that along with her age that she was fresh right out of med school.
"So I need to take extra care of it, well to be honest I was kind of planning to do that already." I replied.
"Well good, because it will need at least a couple of month's to actually getting accustomed to not only its new family, which it will recognize as you but to also eat solid food."
"So your saying that it cannot eat right now? Then how am I supposed to feed it?"
"Usually a Cubone will feed off its dead mother's breast milk for the first few months. After all of the milk is dried out, it will then gorge out its skull and uses it for a helmet. Until this time Cubone's are known to stay very hidden. Often times finding a hiding spot where it won't be required to leave any time soon." The women nursed explained, probably reciting something she learned in whatever medical school she studied at.
"Look, Mandy. I'm no zoologist here, and I'm not going to med school any time soon. Just tell me what I need to do to feed it, and I promise you it will be well taken care of." I replied back, I knew it could come off as kind of rude, but to be honest I just wanted to leave the damn place. Spending my time talking about Cubone all day didn't help the fact that I really wanted to go to the Viridian forest and spend the time needed there to train my Charmander, and to take care of the baby Pokémon until we were ready for our first gym match. She just gave me a long glare, showing clear signs of irritation.
"Look sir, if you are not willing to properly take care of Cubone, I will gladly find someone who will! The fact that you brought a Pokémon in such dire need in this center shows clearly that you in fact should not be In charge of raising any Pokémon. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
"Ashamed…..Ashamed!? Are you serious right now, I found the little guy an hour or so away from here!" Reaching back in my back pocket, I pulled out my Pokédex and slammed it on the desk.
"Trainer, Kale Gibson, born August 16th 1994, Kanto league registration date June 6th 2012. Pokémon Two, Starter : Charmander received June 6th 2012, Cubone, captured June 6th 2012.""As I said, I found it!"
"Oh my god I'm so sorry." She responded, with guilt dripping from her voice.
"Now, how do I feed it?" I once again asked, this time dragging the Pokédex off of the desk and back into my pocket.
"In the Pokémart down the street, they will have some formula its expensive, but you should be able to continue feeding it for a couple of months before it won't need it anymore."
"Thank you!" I shot back. She turned around and placed a tray that held the two Pokéballs in place that looked almost identical of a pan you would use to make cupcakes. Instantly I grabbed them, and placed them on my belt.
"We gave it a skull. It's a composite formed of synthetic material, it has the same density and strength of that it would find from another Cubone. It should grow with the Pokémon, also we gave it a bone to hold on to."
"Thank you Mandy, I appreciate it." I shot back, with disdain in my voice as I walked out of the center. Viridian was lively full of people, plenty of them trainers that took the same path I did. Those that was anxious as ever to get to Pewter city. I immediately went over the market, a short walk away from the Pokémon center, still quite nerved from my confrontation with the nurse. After a few moments I arrived. The market itself was slightly larger than the one that I had worked at. People were crowded, the halls were jam packed, and the line was long. The market it's self actually had video cameras and two armed security guards, to prevent theft. One guard was standing by the door way, the other towards the back, Viridian because it was so close to Victory road was one of the busiest centers in all of Kanto. With the economy the way it was, it was no surprised that they employed people just to make sure no one ran off with their inventory.
Finding what I was looking for, "Ground Pokémon formula" I grabbed four of them, due to the instructions a Cubone would run through a box of this stuff once every two weeks, each box was about the size of a cereal box. Next was on to a tent, and a backpack to fit it all. Looking around I finally found one of proper size of a back pack, and a small tent I could fit it in. People seeing me walking in the Viridian forest would assume I was going on a camping trip, in essence I was. I'm not planning on leaving until I know for sure we can get past the first gym. I'm at a type advantage and most trainers that choose Charmander usually would have to battle the first gym three or four times before their first victory. With every challenge costing money, I couldn't even afford to lose twice I reckoned.
After waiting in line for about thirty minutes, I finally got the front counter, and laid my items on the desk. The clerk quickly scanned every item and repeated out my total to me.
"The total is 427 dollars." Immediately I was about to scream out, but quickly thought better of it. Reaching in my pocket I just paid the clerk and left for the forest. Releasing Charmander who quickly stood by my side, I then released Cubone and picked him up.
"Cu, Cubone." Cubone responded and rested his newly skull helmet on my head.
"Charmander, Char, Char!" Charmander looked up at me, waving his tail happily.
"How you doing buddy?"
"Char!" Tilting his head back he released an ember attack in the air.
"You show off!" Charmander just raised his hands to his shoulders, with his palms facing the sky and shrugged his shoulders. The look actually made me laugh, it was adorable but playfully funny.
"You know, you're alright Charmander." I responded, he just gave me a blank stare.
The forest was filled with life, already you could see Butterfree flying up in the sky, trainers all around either walking, battling or just sitting there collecting their thoughts. The trail was fairly wide, as I started walking. I wanted to get a good distance in my first day, knowing that the trip through the forest could some times last up to four to five days, depending on if you got lost. Stories had circulated through my town of Himela that a trainer from there actually gotten lost, and wasn't found till three weeks later, most of its body was eaten by Rattatas, Pidgeys and Spearows. Recently Pokémon Rangers had been deployed to Viridian forest to prevent such happenings, but still caution was advised. Many of the Pokémon trainers had actually gone off in pairs to prevent from happening to them. Safety in numbers mindset was actually quite popular.
"Cu! Cubone!" The baby Pokémon was starting to break into a cry. Looking around I noticed it dropped its bone, I noticed it was only a few feet behind me. Turning around I went to pick it up.
"Awww that thing is adorable!" A trainer approached, she looked like she was about my age. She had black hair, with blue eyes. Her hair streamed down to her shoulders, with cute figure that was addictive to look at. Oh god she's beautiful. Her clothing was some black cutoff jean shorts, with a pink shirt. I could feel something hit my leg, I looked down and saw Charmander grinning, he used his small hands and pointed to her, then back to me.
"Char!" I just glared at him.
"You little punk." I muttered under my breath.
"How old is he?" The girl asked, she laid a hand on his back and started to pet him.
"Cu!" He responded happily.
"He is about a few days old, I just actually caught him yesterday." I responded.
"He was by himself?" She asked concerned.
"Yeah, actually had to save him as he was being attacked by a Rattata, he took quite a beating. I would hate to think what would happen if me and Charmander didn't show up."
"That is so sad, he's so cute too!" She replied.
"Yeah, he is going to be a handful for the next couple of months, but I'm glad to have him."
"Cubone." The baby Pokémon responded, nuzzling its head even more into my neck.
"I'm Nicole by the way." She introduced herself and held out her hand, I shaking it I introduced myself back.
"I'm Kale, it's nice to meet you Nicole. Going for your first Gym badge?"
"Yeah, I just started a few days ago. So you just have Charmander and Cubone?"
"Yeah so far, though I'm hoping to catch one or two more before our first badge. We have quite a bit of training to do before we get to that point. What about you, what Pokémon do you have?"
"Oh, I have my starter Bulbasaur, Ralts and Butterfree."
"What's a Ralts?" I asked curiously, never hearing of such a Pokémon before. Nicole just raised her eyebrow as if she couldn't understand how I didn't know what a Ralts is.
"Let me show you."
"I choose you Siri!" She cried, tossing the ball out on the ground. In its place stood a very small Pokémon that looked like it was wearing a green helmet while wearing a white dress. I just stood there in shock.
"Well?" She asked impatiently.
"It's kind of ugly and cute at the same time."
"Ralts…." The small Pokémon grumbled, as Charmander was hiding its face in a fit of laughter.
"Hey take that back!" Nicole yelled, clearly I had struck a nerve.
"I'm sorry I wasn't thinking." I quickly replied, mentally kicking myself.
"Me and Ralts can easily take you and your dumb looking Charmander!"
"Char!" Charmander quickly jumped in front of me and let off a growl.
"Alright, you asked for it." I answered back, pulling out Cubone's Pokéball I recalled him to it and stood behind Charmander, as Siri and Nicole were ready for battle.
"Siri start with a growl attack!" Nicole commanded, Ralts let go of a small but high pitched growl. Charmander didn't look intimidated in the least.
"Charmander! Show them how a growl is supposed to look like!" Charmander let go of growl that was much more deep rooted, Ralts started to pace backwards with fright setting in.
"Siri, shake it off with confusion!" Charmanders head started to grow pink, its hands shot up to its head in clear pain.
"Charmander, Ember attack!" Charmander opened his mouth, and let go of a flame that engulfed Ralts. When the flames dissipated, it still stood there but clearly in pain.
"Follow it up with a scratch attack!" I once again commanded, he instantly obeyed and started to charge towards Nicole's Ralts.
"Siri, quickly Confusion again! End this!" Once again Charmanders head started to glow pink hitting his running Scratch attack, but then nailing a tree head first as he stumbled afterwards. Ralts fell down on its knees, clearly shaken but started to recover. Charmander shook his head clearly in rage but already I could tell that the pain was getting to him.
"Charmander, one more ember, it is almost done!" With one final flame leaving its mouth it once against engulfed Siri causing it to fall fainted.
"Siri…..I'm sorry girl." Nicole looked down at her Pokémon then returned it to its ball.
"Good job buddy, you deserve a rest." I told him looking at him as he was clearly tired. Pulling out his Pokéball I returned him.
"Nicole I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I should not have insulted Siri like that."
"Go screw yourself Kale." Turning to the side, she went on the trail that I could only assume was deliberately chosen as it wasn't one I was traveling on.
"Well there goes that." I muttered to myself and started to walk deeper into the forest. I kept walking for a couple of hours, occasionally having to stop and rest. A few Weedles were crawling near a bench that I had sat down on, and I thought about capturing one before I thought better of it. I would love to catch a Caterpie, Metapod or Butterfree though especially with my first gym battle up coming. Though as of yet though I have yet to run into even one Caterpie which was furious to say the least. I have read that Caterpie was actually very common in Viridian forest, but hours into it I have yet to even see one. Other than a few Butterfree's I had yet to even see any of its complete evolution line, and the Butterfree's would simply fly away any time I tried to battle them.
Getting up I started my journey again only to stop about thirty minutes in as I noticed the night sky was starting to set in. Looking around I noticed a lake to my right, finding a clearing I pitched my small tent then released Charmander.
"Hey, look what I found." I looked at Charmander as I pulled out a couple of Oran berries. Luckily by the lake there was a bush with literally hundreds of them. Charmander greedily took them from my hand and started to chow down. The blue ooze of the berries was spread all across his face as he finished.
"Slob."
"Char!" He responded, then jumped in my in my arms, wiping his face on my own.
"Seriously!?" I yelled trying to wipe my face off with the sleeve of my shirt.
"Rattata!" Middle sized Rattata screamed out, standing up on its hind feet with its hands feeding its mouth with a small acorn, looking at us in curiosity.
"Oh hey Rattata, how are you little one?"
"Rat, Rattata, rat!" Charmander instantly responded with an ember attack, overwhelming the small Pokémon which now lied down lifeless. Then running on all fours Charmander ran up to it, picked it up with its mouth, tilt its head back and swallowed the Pokémon whole.
"Eww gross Charmander!" Charmander just responded to that with a loud belch, then ran up to my feet and lied down, and curled its flamed tipped tail around his body. Opening my back pack I grabbed a milk bottle and starting mixing the Pokémon formula for Cubone, once finished I released him and picked him as a baby and stock the nipple in his mouth. It was amazing how much he was like to an actual baby, how he reacted to it. It started to feed greedily to it, dropping his bone which he seemingly temporarily forgot about it and wrapped both of his hands around the bottle for a better grip. When he was done, he pushed the bottle aside and started to flail his arms around looking for his bone, after I gave it to him he held it closed to his chest and started to fall asleep.
Getting up from the log I was sitting on, I walked in the tent carrying Cubone still in my arms as Charmander just woke up and followed me inside then started to cuddle up with me as both of my Pokémon fell asleep. I started to think about the day so far, from going so deep inside of the forest all the way from Viridian city. Thinking of that girl Nicole, and how her Pokémon were doing wondering if she was okay. The trip its self is a four day shot and that's if you decide not to stop. Many people actually can spend up to a week just traveling through the forest just to get to pewter.
"Bzzzzzzz" Charmander instantly woke up and lifted his head at the noise.
"Just a group of Beedrill Charmander, If we leave them alone we should be fine." I told him noticing him looking at me waiting for a command.
"Butterfree sleep powder!" Wait, now that voice sounded familiar.
"Now that's our cue to go Charmander."
"Char!" He screamed as I returned Cubone as he was peacefully sleeping. Charmander and I ran outside of the tent and back towards the trail. Nicole and her Butterfree were trying to run from 8 Beedrill.
"Charmander, pick a Beedrill and ember it!"
"Charmander!" He responded as he followed my command instantly picking one out of the group and hitting it with its fire attack. Beedrill that was hit by the flames stuttered for a second and flew off in the opposite direction away from the rest of the group. I looked around and saw a stick that was about three feet in length, grabbing it I swung with all my might and hit another one in the chest as hard as I could. The Beedrill just fell down unconscious. Charmander started to release Embers at every bee looking Pokémon, some of them flying off, others fainting. Butterfree released a confusion knocking one out.
"AHH!" Nicole screamed out loud, a Beedrill stabbed her with its stinger. Running over to her I swung my stick as hard as I could knocking the Beedrill out. Her Bulbasaur popped outside of his Pokéball and started to Vinewhip another one that was getting close to her. After a few lashings of Bulbasaurs Vinewhip it ran off the other direction. Finally all of them left.
"Are you okay?" I asked crouching down to get a good look at the wound on her shoulder.
"It hurts like hell."
"Well, good thing Beedrill isn't poisonous to humans huh?"
"Still hurts like a mother." She muttered.
"Here let me help you up." I reached out to her hand that wasn't on the wounded side. Grabbing my hand I pulled her up.
"You have any place to go?"
"No, they destroyed my tent." She explained.
"Well, follow me I have a tent by the lake." She recalled her Pokémon then followed me to my tent. I went and grabbed some small branches and built up camp fire, which Charmander was happy to provide.
"Thank you Kale." Nicole spoke up to break up the silence that loomed in the air for the past five minutes.
"Don't mention it, if I was in the same situation I would hope you would of done the same." I explained.
"I don't know to be honest."
"Well thanks." I responded jokingly sarcastically which caused her to get a small chuckle out of her.
"Are you traveling with anyone?"
"No, just me and my Charmander and Cubone at the moment."
"Well mind if I tag along? I mean were both going after the same badges and everything." I gave out a small smile.
"Well, as much as I love Cubone and Charmander, it's kind of hard to hold a conversation with them." Charmanders head perked up and looked at me.
"Char!" He screamed as if he was offended.
"Oh shush you rat eater!"