She returns to her mother's friend's house with the bulbasaur walking next to her. "So what should I call you?" Walks in into the house but picks up the pokemon before going in. "Mom! Come look." Astrid makes a point to hold her from underneath.
"Balbasaur doesn't seem bad. Miss Saur is too fussy for day to day. Would you be happy with that?" Astrid asks looking at the Bulbasaur.
She nods.
Lariena and Delia walk out to greet Astrid.
Astrid beams "Look isn't she the prettiest?" scratching her behind the ear.
Lariena nods. "Good… Aren't you early? Did you steal that pokemon?" Expression shifting from proud to cross in half a second.
"No Mom! He let me in." Astrid holds the bulbasaur very close to her chest, eyes widening as the notion of the saur possibly being taken from her overwhelms her thoughts.
Lariena nods and smiles. "I'll have to thank him. Did you get the one you wanted?"
"Yes" She doesn't hesitate.
The bulbasaur starts to growl and wiggle free before jumping to the ground.
Astrid "What is wrong?"
The bulbasaur stomps on the ground with each foot.
"you don't like being held tilted like that?"
She nods to the girl.
Lariena looks at her. "Give me a hug. I am so proud of you. Do you have everything?" She smiles brightly and opens her arms.
Astrid hugs her mother and steps back. "Well I'll be going now. I love you mom. Thank you Mrs. Delia." She motions to her bulbasaur to follow and runs down the road. Tripping over a rock and landing under her pack.
Her mother winces watching her only child run off with a skinned knee and no clue where she is going. Lariena can be heard going into the house "I am not seeing my daughter for far too long. I do not care if it is before 10 am, Bloody Mary's?"
Delia laughs and the two women walk inside nodding.
Route One has sun, sun shine that touches the skin and causes everything to smell warm. Astrid looks down at her pokemon walking next to her and wonders if it is yummy sun but doesn't ask. She looks at her cut knee and walks over to the stream by the route. The water is clear and cool. She brushes pebbles and gravel from the skin. The blood rinses away.
"Bulbasaur" she asks. "Come over here. Please." She pats the grass next to her.
The pokemon joins her on its belly in the warm green grass. She looks at the girl's leg and licks it as Astrid pulls it out of the water.
"Thanks." She says to the licking and pulls out the Pokedex pointing it at her pokemon.
"Bulbasaur: The Seed Pokemon. It carries a seed on its back right from birth. Bulbasaur can be seen napping in bright sunlight. By soaking up the sun's rays, the seed grows progressively larger. It can go for days without eating a single morsel. In the bulb on its back, it stores energy."
She smiles and pets the pokemon. "I think it is fine if we take our time getting away, it isn't like we are meeting anyone." She wipes off the water and opens a first aid kit, calmly applying ointment and then a bandage and taping it secure. "So want to battle? We can find some wild pokemon to get stronger with?" She scratches the pokemon's ears.
The bulbasaur looks up at her lazily basking in the sun shine. She blinks then nods slowly, then faster. She hops to her feet and growls. There is a small purple rat across the stream drinking.
Astrid looks at the two. "Okay, but there is water in the way." She says to bulbasaur standing up herself.
The bulbasaur looks at her then the rat across the water then back to her with a slight pout. The rat runs away into the grass as the girls walk away from the water.
Astrid points "look there is another one over there."
Bulbasaur snarls at the rat. The rat scratches her. Bulbasaur tackles rolling in the grass. The rat escapes when Astrid takes out her Pokedex again and aims it at the purple rat.
"Rattata: The mouse pokemon. It eats everything. Wherever food is available, it will settle down and produce offspring continuously. Rattata is cautious in the extreme. Even while it is asleep, it constantly listens by moving its ears around. It is not picky about where it lives - it will make its nest anywhere. It gnaws on hard objects to wear down its fangs, which grow constantly during its lifetime."
The rattata charges head long into the bulbasaur who dodges. She jumps onto the opponent.
Astrid calls out "Vine whip." Her pokemon very quicky wraps the rat up in the vines that spontainiously sprout from the bulb's base and slams the rat away. The rattata scrambles to its feet and runs off. Astrid drops to her knees and hugs bulbasaur for winning. "Good Going. You kicked butt"
She stands up very proudly and says "Saur" with a stomp and a nod.
The girls tackle many, many Rattata's wasting an afternoon with the rodents and other local critters.