Journey One
The Beginning in Kanto
By: DestinyCera
Chapter Two
Training and Beliefs
"So, let's start catching some more friends, Pyra!"
"CHAR!" Pyra, the now level 7 Charmander, gave off a fireball in excitement. Destiny, her trainer, chuckled at this. Pyra's a great partner. I have to give this everything I got without making her pass out.
Along Route 1, Destiny had noticed that only Pidgey and Rattata showed up in the tall grass, ranging from Level 2 to Level 4, rarely getting to Level 5. However, she didn't want to wait and wait for Level 5 pokémon to come out and fight. Thinking it over, Destiny decided Level 3 or 4 would have to do: she would train them regardless. Just as she had decided this, a Level 3 Rattata streaked across her path, nearly knocking her over as she struggled not to step on the poor thing. "EEE!"
"Char, Charmander…" Pyra mumbled, wondering if this was typical for trainers to squeal when they nearly fall over. Well, Destiny was not a typical trainer as far as Pyra knew. For one, she walked along beside Destiny rather than being cooped up in her pokéball. Most trainers didn't care about pokémon preferences, but Destiny had noticed how Pyra disliked being in the ball and had asked if she just wanted to walk around. That had earned the trainer even more brownie points with the charmander female – the first ones were earned when Destiny had saved her from that awful food and starvation!
"That was not cool, Rattata. I know this is your home, but can't you at least voice you're coming through?"
"Ra…" The Rattata now sat on its haunches and looked away from Destiny, a complete show of 'get lost' if there ever was one.
"You rude little…I'll show you some manners! Pyra, get ready for battle!" Destiny pointed at the Rattata. "Use Ember!"
"Char, char – CHAR!" All her training with Destiny had proved useful now as she struck out at the rodent quickly! It countered with a Tail Whip, doing not a bit of damage, leaving it wide open for when Destiny tossed the pokéball at it.
"You're mine, little one!" Destiny watched patiently as the ball rocked once, twice, three times then clicked shut. "YES!" She picked up the pokéball and held it up to the sky. "We caught Rattata!"
"Char, Charmander!" Pyra agreed, pleased that Destiny had said, "we caught Rattata" instead of "I caught Rattata" as most trainers would have.
Destiny looked at the ball, eyes sparkling with joy. "Our first of many friends, Pyra! Can you believe it?" She turned to the Charmander. "You'll always be the first pokémon I ever had, Rattata here is the first we ever caught. Do you understand?"
"Char." Pyra nodded, sweatdropping a bit. Because of what Destiny was implying, her and this Rattata were going to be spoiled silly – not that she had any problem with that, or course.
"Let's check this little one out." Destiny said, releasing the Rattata from the pokéball onto the grass.
"Ra? Ratta?" The Rattata looked around confused, hardly believing it had been caught so easily even though it was very young.
"Easy, there." Destiny cooed as she picked up the Rattata in her arms gently to see if she had caught a male or a female. Noting she'd caught a young male, she smiled. "Okay, young sir. What should we name you? You are a Rattata, so how about Ratz? That sounds nice to me, but what do you think?"
"Ra?!" Rattata could not believe what he had just heard. SHE was asking HIM what to name him! He'd been taught that all trainers just took over a pokémon's life once they were caught, naming and trading them willy-nilly.
"I mean it, Rattata. Is Ratz an okay name for you, or would you prefer another name? Yes or no."
Rattata just nodded, as he was still stunned this trainer was even doing this.
"Okay then, Ratz. Welcome to the group!" With that, Destiny gave the surprised Rattata a quick kiss on the top of his head and placed him next to Pyra. "This is my starter partner, Pyra – she's a Charmander, as you can see. You two are going to help me become a Champion along with whoever else we met along the way, right?" Pyra and Ratz nodded, Pyra more clearheaded than Ratz. "Fabulous! Let's keep going for now – Pyra, you lead the way, since Ratz here is still wounded."
"Charman!" Pyra saluted and did as asked as the trio marched through the tall grass of Route one, looking for another friend to add to the roster.
"Ra…" Ratz sighed, very tired from his battle with Pyra but still following along behind Destiny to stay safe from other pokémon in the grass.
"Hmm?" Destiny looked to the small Rattata and smiled gently. "Tired, Ratz?" Before the Rattata could do more than nod, she picked him up and cradled him. "Here we go, little one. Just relax, I won't drop you, I promise."
"Ratt…" Ratz looked up at Destiny and felt peace coming off the girl in waves. Maybe he could trust this human. As they marched around the grass, another Rattata, this one a level 4, popped out to try and 'rescue' its friend. However, Pyra wasn't having that and used 2 Ember attacks to make it faint and flee, taking only a tiny bit of damage from its Tackle attack. Then yet another Rattata tried – this one level 3 – but Pyra sent that one packing as well with a well-placed Ember-Scratch combo.
As Destiny smiled at the proud Charmander female, Ratz stirred a bit in her arms. "Ra?!" His ear twitched as he heard a rustle behind them.
"What?" Destiny turned, having heard the rustle as well…and just barely dodged out of the way of a Pidgey's Tackle attack, being careful not to hurt Ratz in the process. "What the hey!"
"Charmander!" Pyra cried out, stunned the wild bird would try a direct attack on her trainer. That wasn't fair! "Char, char….CHAR!" Pyra used a Scratch attack to teach Pidgey some manners, lowering it under half its max HP. It had enough strength left to give Pyra a Tackle in the gut, knocking her back a bit but not damaging her much. Before she could finish it off, Destiny tossed a pokéball at it, capturing the tiny bird. "Char?"
"We need a Flying-Type on the team…and there must be a reason for its attack. Maybe it was jealous?" Destiny reasoned out loud as she picked up the pokéball. "Now it might not have to be, hmm?" Ratz sniffed the ball as Destiny put it to her belt instead of opening it right away. "Let's go to the center and heal you three up so we can train you all evenly."
Once the caught Pidgey was checked out, pronounced a healthy Level 3 Female and named Tini, Destiny and crew went back to Route 1 to train. Ratz was eager to show the two females, three counting his trainer, what he was capable of in battle! Thankfully his first opponent appeared to be simple: A Level 2 Pidgey. Ratz puffed a cheek in disappointment, but began his fight willing none-the-less and beat it in 3 Tackles. "Ra!" He cheered for himself.
Destiny applauded a bit, but had noticed the distain Ratz had had for his opponent. "Ratz, may I have a word?"
The pokémon blinked. Had he broken some rule of battle? He didn't think so, and yet she sounded a bit unhappy. "Ra?" He sat to face her, his good cheer fading some.
"While I AM proud of your first victory, I'm not too sure you are. I saw the look you gave that Pidgey before the battle. You thought it would be too easy to beat at first, hmm?" Ratz gave a nod as she continued. "Well, that's not good. You should never underestimate the foe you are up against, no matter if they look stronger or weaker than you. A strong foe can use weak attacks or miss constantly, while the weaker can get critical hits and use speed to make up for brute force."
Tini nodded and chirped something to Ratz about a time she fought a Level 6 Caterpie and lost. Ratz made a face at Tini, like 'that was dumb' and Tini gave a sad chirp at that.
"Now now…I'm not too sure what Tini was telling you, as I don't speak pokémon, but I'm thinking she was relating a time when she learned that lesson herself, which is good. If you don't believe that one, let me relate another: I've seen one of Father's best, biggest Tauros get taken down by a little bitty Spinarak, because not only was it faster than Tauros, it was also using Poison Sting – a move that's weak on its own, but if it works and poisons the target…oh, baby!" Destiny shuddered, remembering the bellow that beast gave off before he passed out from the poison and had to be rushed to the pokémon center. Ratz looked at her wide-eyed. He believed her now, seeing her reaction to the memory, but it was still hard to swallow.
Pyra was equally shocked. She'd heard that Destiny came from a home with a lot of pokémon around before many times while Destiny had taken care of her. However, now she was perplexed: If Destiny was given permission to go on a journey from such a home, why not take one of those larger, stronger pokémon with her on the journey rather than go through saving/training a weakened Charmander and catching low levels like Tini and Ratz?
Destiny gave each pokémon a hug after her lecture got through to them and decided it was time for more battles! "Let's get back to training. Ratz, you stay back this time, you're almost at half-HP, I can tell from your breathing. Tini, you're up next."
Tini saw a Level 3 Rattata wandering in front of them and immediately attacked! However, since it was the same level, it gave the same damage that Tini could, but it moved faster, delivering the first hit before Tini could brace herself. "Oh! Tini, back, Pyra, take her down!"
Tini was not happy about being switched out, even as Pyra roasted the Rattata into submission. Destiny was not having her start a pouting session though! "Listen, sometimes it is necessary to switch someone out in battle. It doesn't mean you can't fight necessarily, it just means you need some help. Even trainers need help from time to time when raising their pokémon, which is why there are pokémon day care centers. I don't think you'd like being there all day, so I'm training you, but if you prefer…" She let the thought trail off.
"PIDGE!" Tini fluttered her wings in surprise and terror. She had already started liking being trained by Destiny; she didn't want to go with other humans who might not be so kind to her.
"Then please know I do what I do for a good reason." Destiny said more gently, stroking Tini's head and back.
Tini cooed softly. Yes, this was a good trainer. Just as Destiny stood back up from petting Tini, the little bird noticed a Rattata sneaking up on her! "PIDGE!" She chirped madly.
"Pyra!"
Pyra didn't have to be told twice. The Rattata tried a Tail Whip to start things off but Pyra had other plans, huffing a bit to make her fire as hot as she could stand before using Ember. It landed a critical hit on the Rattata, almost scorching it black as it weakly fled.
"Good girl, Pyra." Destiny rubbed the fire lizard's belly, then picked up Tini and gave her a cuddle. "Good girl, Tini. Thank you."
"Pidge-pidge!" She chirped happily as they headed for the pokémon center.
Back at the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy was just finishing up with another trainer's pokémon when Destiny came in. One look at the girl and she knew Destiny had been training non-stop in the grass. Nurse Joy stifled a giggle at Destiny's grass-stained clothing. "How is the training going?" She asked with a smile.
"It's going very well, thank you. I'm afraid my little ones have yet to reach a new level yet, but I doubt it will take them much longer to. We just need a small healing to tide them over for now."
Joy giggled. "Very well. Let me see them for a moment." Destiny handed the pokémon over to the nurse and she checked them over. Pyra was in the pink; she had only a few little scrapes to show she had battled. Tini was looking pretty good as well, while little Ratz was the worst of the bunch, although even he looked okay for being almost at half of his health points.
"There we are, all better." Nurse Joy handed the happy pokémon back to their trainer. "Please come back again."
"I will." Destiny gave a slight bow-curtsy to Joy in return. "Thank you." The pokémon each gave a cry to Joy in their language with the same tones in their voices as they left.
Joy smiled with a happy sigh. "I love my job."
Destiny laughed. "That was just luck, Ratz! Nothing more!" The purple mouse pouted at his trainer. "You Tackled the Pidgey, it missed. Luck number one. Then you both hit each other, and that was fair, but THEN you strike a critical hit to end the wild match up. MAJOR luck." She put her hands on her hips as she laughed more. "If that had gone the OTHER way, you'd be madder than a Beedrill with no honey!" Finally she stopped laughing and smiled at him. "Just be glad you leveled up from that luck match and never mind my laughing in surprise, hmm?"
Ratz pouted all of two seconds before forgiving her outburst by cuddling against her legs.
"Good boy. Now, let's win another bout, hmm?"
"Rat!" He cheered. The next opponent wasn't too hard, a Level 2 Rattata, but then the Rattata's big sister seemed to want a spar! She was Level 4 and at full health…
"No go, Ratz, get back – PYRA!"
Ratz shook his head and nailed the female with a Tackle, only to almost be knocked out by a returning Tackle from her!
"Ratz, I said BACK!" This time, Destiny physically picked up the little male rat and pointed to the female. "Pyra, you know what to do."
"Char!" Pyra got in there, not taking any damage from the opponent's Tail Whip attack. When it was her turn, she blow out a good sized Ember attack, knocked the female rat out in one blow. Pyra nodded to herself, very pleased, but didn't think Destiny would notice, as she held onto Ratz for now…not as a treat, but to restrain him from fighting again. Not that he had the energy for it, but who knew – he just might be that stubborn to try anyway…
"Tini, you're up." Destiny's voice was flat, making Tini's feathers ruffle slightly in fear. "It's okay, Tini. I'm not mad, I'm just…sad." Now all 3 pokémon looked at her in curiosity. "I thought I was doing a good job raising you all…" They all cried out that she was, but she shook her head, looking at Ratz so sadly, it hurt him. "…But I guess I'm not if you won't listen to me…"
Ratz gave her a few licks to apologize. He didn't want to make her feel bad; he'd just wanted to show how strong he was…
"I'm sorry for making you all see me like this. I'll be fine." She nuzzled Ratz' head and smiled small at Tini. "Come on, let's keep going."
Tini just barely beat her next opponent: a Level 2 Pidgey, as it was lucky with a critical hit against her, but not lucky enough to beat her. "Pidge…" She was happy to level up, but tired out.
"Let's head back to the center, shall we?" Destiny smiled, letting Tini ride on her shoulder on the way. "We're back, Nurse Joy. They all need a healing once more."
"Would you like to rest for a bit before you continue your training? The pokémon might enjoy the rest and you look like you could use a little shut-eye yourself, as well."
"Well…" Destiny looked at Pyra, Tini, and Ratz to get their opinions and they all nodded. "Okay then. Is there a room for us here?"
"Of course! Right this way, please."
When Nurse Joy returned to the room in a few hours, having given Destiny about 4 hours to relax with her pokémon, she came back to a room that was pretty clean and straightened! "What the…"
Destiny bowed from the center of the room, her pokémon imitating her motion to Nurse Joy. "I hope you don't mind that after that refreshing nap you allowed us, we cleaned up a bit in here so that you or the next trainers in here wouldn't have to."
Nurse Joy smiled. "I'm happy for the help, but that is my job. I don't mind it at all."
"Point taken, ma'am." Destiny bowed once more. "Thank you again for the rest and for healing them up. We'll be on our way now."
Nurse Joy walked them out. "Take it easy and come back when it gets dark if you like. The pokémon center is always open to trainers who need a place to stay for the night."
"Thank you!" All four waved good-bye as their arms/wings would allow, then headed back to Route 1 for more training.
Another lucky battle for Ratz (again, facing an opponent the same level as he was – 4) got him to Level 5 with ease, while another Level 4 battle helped him higher. A Level 2 Pidgey was next, taken out with one critical hit! Then came a Level 3 Rattata, who finally gave him some damage before fainting. Destiny was finally having a good time letting Ratz wander a bit as he fought opponent after opponent without being too badly hurt. A Level 3 Pidgey was his last battle as a Level 5 Rattata, heading on up to Level 6.
"Okay, Ratz, you show-off. Time for Tini to get some points of her own."
Ratz simply gave a toothy grin to Destiny as he joined Pyra on the sidelines.
"Go on, Tini. You can do it."
Tini found a Level 3 Rattata to battle and beat him with 3 Tackle attacks. "Pidge! Pidge!" She cheered for herself before spotting a Level 3 Pidgey watching her. This Pidgey seemed to think she was acting immature and Tini was not putting up with that! "PIDGE!"
"Tini, careful!" Destiny called, but it was too late. Tini was Tackling the other Pidgey with everything she had. Thankfully, the other Pidgey was so surprised she missed at a critical point in the battle and was knocked out. "Tini! You did it!"
Tini cheered herself on, surprising herself by kicking up a spray of sand. "Pidge?!"
"Hey! You learned Sand-Attack! Way to go, Tini!" Destiny picked up the tiny bird pokémon. "Let's heal you all one more time, then call it a night?" The pokémon booed that idea. Laughing, Destiny yielded to the majority. "Fine, you want to try some more battling, let's try in a different area once you're all healed."
Before they headed out as promised, however, Destiny headed for the PokéMart to buy some more Pokéballs. "You never know – may find some new friends on the way!" She grinned before buying 3 more potions and an antidote along with her 10 new pokéballs. "Let's go!"
As Destiny went to go and train her pokémon in the new area, Ratz noticed a little fence and walked along it to a dead end tree…only to see a potion just sitting there on the ground! Seeing no one else was there to claim it and figuring it would just go to waste there, he picked it up and took it to Destiny. "Ra!" He mouthed around the bottle.
"Where did you find that, eh?" Destiny smiled as she put it in her satchel. "Good find, Ratz." He beamed up at her as they entered Route 22. "Here we are. Let's get to it!" They all three cheered before heading into the grass.
Tini had just defeated a Level 3 Rattata when a Level 5 male Mankey appeared! "Hey! We don't have one of his kind on our team yet, do we guys? Tini, let's try to have him join us, eh? Go for it!"
The Mankey was faster than Tini, but she got him lowered enough for Destiny to try a capture…and it succeeded! "Pidge!" She cheered, seeing the ball close around the furry monkey-like pokémon.
"Thank you, Tini! Let's name our new friend….Latin. After all he is a Pig Monkey and Pig Latin is fun to talk in." She giggled. Tini…sweatdropped. "You don't think so, eh? How about then…Prime! As he will become a Primeape with training?" All three agreed with nods that this name was acceptable. "Good. Welcome to the team, Prime."
Next it was Ratz' turn. With a critical against a Level 4 Rattata, it was an instant KO in Ratz' favor. A Level 3 Mankey popped out against him, but Ratz scored yet another critical KO. Destiny stifled a snicker at Ratz' streak of luck. I wonder how he'd do without his luck? Probably very, very badly…
Next came another Level 3 Mankey, but that at least gave Ratz a little bit of damage before a Level 4 female Mankey decided to try her luck. She was no match for Ratz' training – he leveled up to Level 7 with ease and started to zip around much faster than before, having learned Quick Attack with his level.
Destiny applauded. "Congratulations, Ratz. Let's keep this up, hmm?"
Ratz kept it up just long enough to get to Level 8 before he was too tired to do more. "Ra…" He smiled sleepily.
Destiny chuckled. "You can rest in your pokéball if you want to for now. I'm going to train up Pyra some more before we head back for the night, okay?" Ratz nodded and let her put him away with Prime, who'd simply been put away for now before she let him loose on poor Nurse Joy in the center.
Pyra was on fire, if you will excuse the pun! She knocked out a Level 3 Mankey, 2 Level 4 Mankeys, a Level 4 Rattata, a Level 2 Mankey, and a Level 2 Rattata before taking a bit of damage from another Level 4 Rattata. Her next streak started with a Level 4 Mankey, 2 Level 3 Mankeys, and a Level 2 Rattata – ending only because she and Destiny found a Level 5 Spearow to capture.
"Yes!" Destiny cheered as the ball clicked shut. "Let's see…you grow into a Fearow…and you appear to be female…how about…Rega? Short for regal, like her wings?" Pyra and Tini nodded, thinking that a lovely name. "Alright then. Rega, it is. Pyra, let's continue our training one more level."
Using Ember on a passing Level 3 Rattata did the job and Pyra got to Level 11. She smiled to herself, feeling very grownup to be such a high level. Destiny saw the look of pride on the little Charmander's face, but refrained from telling her that there were higher levels yet to get to. Once at the center, however, Pyra saw what it a high level really looks like!
A blonde girl trainer was having her Level 50 Rapidash examined when they arrived. "I'll be with you in just one moment." Nurse Joy said cheerfully, examining one of the fire horse's back legs. Pyra was enthralled: the blazing mane of this beast put her little tail to shame. The Rapidash took one look at Pyra then gave a gentle snort. Pyra looked a bit down – was the horse being gentle because it saw her as a child?
Destiny saw Pyra's face fall at the Rapidash's snort. "What's wrong, Pyra?"
"Char, charmander, char…" She shook her head and looked from her tail to the blazing glory that was the mane of the Rapidash.
Destiny smiled gently. "Don't worry so, you're still growing. Here, look at this." She pulled out her PokéDex and showed the picture of a Charizard to Pyra. "That's going to be you someday."
"!" Pyra could not believe it – she would become this fearsome dragon-looking creature? "Charmander-man-char?"
Destiny smiled. "You'll still be you inside, but this is how you will evolve to look like. Your attacks will be more powerful and you'll be able to fly as well. Won't that be fun?" When Pyra looked to the side, as if saying she didn't know, Destiny picked up the little lizard and swung her around in the air to simulate flying, holding her gently but securely. "Here comes Pyra, the mighty Charizard! Roar!"
Pyra giggled in delight as the other pokémon cheered her on while Nurse Joy and Destiny laughed…then the other trainer began to laugh, but not in a nice way.
"You really think spoiling your pokémon with possibilities that may never come true is a good way of training? Hmph."
"Excuse me, miss, but it's not an impossibility. The only way it would not come true is if she choose not to evolve. When and if that time comes, we will deal with it."
"The name is Blair and why would you let the pokémon choose if it should evolve or not? Pokémon level up so they can evolve so they should. Simple."
"Pokémon are living creatures and have choices just as we do. I will not take their choices away from them."
Blair chuckled. "Boy, I've met some naïve trainers, but you take the cake! What next, you're going to be saying that pokémon deserve to be free from their trainer once they get sick of them?"
Destiny smiled and spread her hands to show her five pokémon in one swoop. "I've only recently started, only recently begun my journey, but I say now and will always say – if any of my pokémon wish to leave, I will be sad if they do, but I will respect that decision."
Blair was cracking up. "What a fool! I'm going to be amazed if you make it past Pewter Gym, never mind the Elite Four!" Nurse Joy stayed silent as the girl mounted her now healed Rapidash. "I'll give you some advice, free of charge…Grow Up! Pokémon are our companions, yes, but they are also ours to command and WE are the ones to be obeyed! Remember that." She nudged the sides of her fire horse and galloped out of the center.
Destiny looked to Nurse Joy after shaking her head. "I don't believe what she said and still hold to what I was taught – pokémon are our friends and need to be treated as equals, with trust and love, or nothing will prosper for either pokémon handler or the pokémon themselves."
Nurse Joy smiled. "Good for you. Now, let's get these little ones healed and you to bed. It's gotten late."
"Thank you so much."
FireRed PokéDex Says:
Charmander – The Lizard Pokémon
From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. Its life would end if the flame were to go out.
Pidgey – The Tiny Pokémon
Does not like to fight. It hides in tall grass and so on, foraging for food such as small bugs.