Chapter 2:
Allen Park:
The pokémon that Jack received was an energetic Squirtle. "Yes! Squirtle is my favorite pokémon. The water type is awesome," said Jack. Everyone was congratulating him and having their pokémon all meet each other too. They all decided to go to the park to bond with their new friends except for Taylor. He said, "I need to go home and rest my legs. I have a big race tomorrow that I expect to win. But first I am going to go run for a little bit with my Ponyta, one of the fastest pokémon." Everyone grinned and said under their breath, "Good, get out of here."
As all the pokémon were playing with each other, all of the friends gathered around and decided to pick the groups that they will be traveling with. There would be five in each group, as it says in the APPI handbook, is the ideal group size. Both Jack and Eliza decided to pick groups as if they were team captains picking their dodgeball teams. Eliza chose Jordan, Morgan, and two other students that were part of a different class: Jason with his Charmander, and Ian with his Ghastly. Jack, on the other hand, chose Sandy, Chris, Adam, and of course, Nadine. Corey who was left out of the group deciding was left to travel with Taylor.
The groups and their pokémon at this point were:
Alpha Team (as it will be referred to)
Eliza- Vulpix (F)
Jordan- Jigglypuff (F)
Morgan- Eevee (F)
Jason- Charmander (M)
Ian- Ghastly (M)
Beta Team (as it will be referred to)
Jack- Squirtle (M)
Sandy- Chikorita (F)
Chris- Meowth (M)
Adam- Sandshrew (M)
Nadine- Piplup (F)
"Taylor's Team" (as it will be referred to)
Taylor- Ponyta (M)
Corey- Dunsparce (F)
They all decided that they would get a good night's rest and meet up in the morning for breakfast before going on their journey. As they all headed different ways, Jack ran up to Nadine who lived in the same subdivision as him and started walking with her. Both had their pokémon out as they were walking and the pokémon seemed to be getting along. "Hey Nadine. I think my Squirtle likes your Piplup," said Jack. "Hey I think your right. I'm really glad that we're going to be traveling together," replied Nadine. Jack quickly returned with a "me too. Hey can I pick you up tomorrow morning for breakfast?" "Yeah definitely," said Nadine. "Okay, I will pick you up at 9:30. Make sure you pack your cell phone, pokétch, pokéballs, and potions."
After an almost sleepless night, Jack woke up and put on his shorts, and his favorite shirt. He packed plenty of spare clothes, money, toiletries, and pokéfood. He awoke Squirtle from his deep sleep and went to the living room to say farewell to his mom and dad. They wished him good luck on his journey and told Jack to call at every city he gets to. As soon as that was over, he put on his shoes, his baseball cap, and shades, and told Squirtle "Let's go."
As Jack walked up to Nadine's door with Squirtle, both of them were fixing themselves up for their crushes. After a couple knocks, Nadine stepped outside with Piplup and they proceeded together to the pokédiner. Jack and Nadine walked next to each other and their two pokémon followed a few steps behind. Before they knew it they had arrived at the diner to find that everyone else was already there waiting for them. Both teams were there, and they knew that they would be going their separate ways so they all said their goodbyes and Jack got a few hugs.
Alpha Team took the northeastern path to Mapletown and Beta Team took the northwestern path. No one heard from Taylor until he sent everyone the same text message at the same time: "First place, I won! Oh and why does Corey keep following me around?"
Beta Team left about 20 minutes after Alpha Team so that they could put together a strategy on how they should travel. They decided that they would set up camp every night near a lake or pond if they weren't already at a pokécenter. They would also all evenly pitch in money for pokéfood.
Route 1:
So there journey began, they all walked on with their pokémon down Route 1 to Mapletown. They were all eager to catch their first pokémon and they all jumped at the site of one, quickly claiming it theirs. Jack watched as Sandy caught a Wingull, Chris caught a Lotad, Adam caught a Shinx, and Nadine caught an Oddish. He waited until he found a pokémon that he wanted to evolve into a powerhouse. So he walked hours until he found a swarm of Nidoran . He got out his Squirtle a told him to use bubble. The Squirtle shot the bubbles out of his mouth at a young Nidoran and followed that up with a tackle. Jack quickly threw one of his six pokéballs at the weak pokémon catching. Nidoran was his first pokémon he caught and he couldn't wait to evolve it into a Nidoking.
The first night was slowly coming upon them as they had set up their camp. They had two tents, and they all had personal sleeping bags. While the sun was still up they decided to have some friendly battles with each other. Chris battled Adam first, and Jack battle Nadine next.
Adam brought out his Sandshrew, and Chris decided it was best to use his Lotad. Adam quickly got started by calling to his pokémon to use defense curl and Chris told Lotad to use growl. Then Lotad was called to use absorb and it sapped some of Sandshrew's health points, but Sandshrew was so well at defense. Adam's mouse pokémon retaliated with a powerful scratch that was a critical hit. Lotad fortunately used another absorb to restore some of its health points. This attack was enough to make Sandshrew faint and Lotad was victorious. Adam then brought out his Shinx and quickly shocked the water weed pokémon. Chris was forced to use his mischievous Meowth. The scratch pokémon came out of its pokéball and immediately used a powerful bite that caused the Shinx to flinch. Then the two ran after each other resulting in a collision between the two pokémon. Both lie there fainted as the two trainers ran towards their pokémon. They shook hands and congratulated each other on how well they did. They let their pokémon eat and rest as they got ready to watch Jack and Nadine face off.
Sandy, posed as a referee, presented the two trainers for their first battle. Jack yelled across the field, "Good luck! I'm not going easy on you." Nadine replied, "Alright, same to you." Nadine brought out her newly caught Oddish and Jack, his Nidoran. "Alright Nidoran, let's go with a poison sting." The poison pin pokémon shot out a poison sting towards the Oddish that wasn't very successful. "Okay Oddish return with acid." The weed pokémon shot out some acidic substance at the Nidoran poisoning it. The Nidoran used a peck that caused the Oddish to faint. "Good job Oddish, way to weaken it down," said Nadine to the small pokémon. The next pokémon that came out was Piplup, and she already knew what to do. The penguin pokémon quickly used bubble and followed it up with a pound that submitted the Nidoran. "Great work Nido, way to stop that Oddish. Now Squirtle, it is your turn." Unfortunately the Squirtle was infatuated with the Piplup and wouldn't attack. The Piplup, on the other hand, easily stopped the defenseless Squirtle.
"Great job Jack, it wasn't your fault your Squirtle was in love with my Piplup," Nadine chuckled. Jack smiles as he sat with his pokémon and waited until they fell asleep to go to bed. They had had a long first day, filled with excitement. Jack dreamed about the pokémon he wanted to catch and couldn't wait to get walking through the Sherwood Forest tomorrow morning.