A/N: Chapter two, here we go. Thanks to those who have already favorited or reviewed. Since we're heading to route 203, if your feeling in the mood you might like to dig out your Pokémon D/P soundtrack and put on the music for Route 203.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon or any of the respective games or TV shows etc.
After Dad and I took my old stuff back to the hotel we set out again, this time with a very different objective. To catch a Pokémon. The two of us were now currently approaching the edge of the city and route 203 which lay beyond. Apparently this area is perfect for beginning Pokémon trainers but considering I don't yet have a Pokémon I'm not actually a trainer yet.
"I'm going to let you do all the work." Dad told me as we continued walking out of the town. "I caught my first Pokémon without any help so you can too."
"Why can't you just give me a Pokémon?" I asked him. "I bet you could give me something really strong."
"That's not how it works." he told me. "Being a Pokémon trainer is more than just having strong Pokémon. You still have a lot to learn, that's why your here."
"Like what?" I asked him.
"As I said, that's why we are here. Once you catch your first Pokémon you'll understand." he smiled and looked down at me.
"But how am I supposed to catch a Pokémon if I can't weaken it first?"
'I'll tell you when we get there." he said looking away from me and down the road ahead.
We continued walking in silence for a couple of minutes before the road branched into two. In one direction lay a dirt path leading into a grassy clearing, the other was a highway that lead out of town. I saw a small wooden sign beside the track and walked closer to read what it said. Route 203.
"This is it then." Dad said. "From here on out we can expect to see wild Pokémon. Keep your eyes open."
I looked into the trees beside the path and then down it to the path and at the grassy area that lay beyond.
"I don't see anything." I said.
"You can't just expect them to jump out at you." he said with a chuckle. "Lets keep walking for a few minutes."
So we did. The city disappeared behind us as we went down a small hill in the path and the trees beside the path began to get thicker. I could here some birds chirping in the distance but other than that we didn't hear a sound. As we continued down the path I watched Dad as he observed his surrounding. He would gaze into the trees on one side of the path and after a few steps would turn his head and look into the trees on the other side. I kept my eyes open too but I knew if anything showed up he would see it first.
Suddenly he raised his hand in front of me and without saying a word he crouched down and signalled me to follow him to the side of the path crouching.
"There. Up ahead." he whispered, pointing down the path. I looked to where he was pointing and saw a small yellow shape sitting beside a tree. I have no idea how he spotted it but I'm glad he did, it didn't look like it had seen us yet.
"It looks like an Abra." he said to me softly. "It'd make an interesting starter, if you want to catch it then your going to have to be really sneaky."
"Whys that?" I asked him.
"Abra know teleport." he said still whispering. "If you spook it then it'll disappear and you'll miss your chance."
"Ok." I said. A Pokémon that knew teleport could be very useful so I decided to go for it, it also seemed like a pretty cool looking Pokémon from this far away. I took my bag off my back and undid the zip slowly, fishing for one of the pokéballs we had bought earlier. I found one and quietly took it out before replacing the bag on my bag. I looked at Dad again and he nodded.
"Since its facing the path you'll have to use the trees as cover so it doesn't notice you. Make sure to move slowly and take your time, it shouldn't go anywhere unless you disturb it."
I nodded silently and then left Dad in our hiding spot to head into the trees beside the path. The Abra was about 50 metres away, so I had to cover a bit of ground without it spotting me. This is the first time I've ever done something like this. Stalking Pokémon is something I would never have imagined myself doing a week ago yet here I am. As I slowly moved closer I held the pokéball tighter in my hand, the last thing I wanted to do was give myself away by foolishly dropping it. I moved ever closer to it stopping every few steps to see if it had noticed me. It didn't move, maybe it was asleep or something? I creeped closer until I was little over 5 metres away, from here I could accurately throw the pokéball and have a good chance of getting it. It still looked like it was asleep to me, so I took the oppertunity. I threw the pokéball as hard and as silently as I could and watched as it arched towards the Abra.
I thought I had it for a moment but at the very last second in a dull flash of light the Abra disappeared from sight. The pokéball landed right where it had been sitting and rolled a in the short grass beneath the tree. I let out a deep sigh and stood up from my hiding spot to retrieve the pokéball from where it rested. I clipped it to my new belt so it would be easier to access for next time and then I signalled Dad from his hiding spot down the path. I waited for him to catch up to me before saying anything to him.
"It was so close." I said excitedly to him. While I had indeed failed to catch it, the process had been very thrilling.
"I saw. It's a real pity it disappeared like that." he said. "But you might well get another chance."
"Yeah. I hope so." I said to him. "Let's keep looking."
I didn't the smile on my Dad's face because I was too busy looking further down the track. Maybe I could do this. Maybe I could catch a Pokémon all by myself. Already I had learned a lot more than any lesson in school could teach me.
We continued down the path for another few minutes before anything else happened. The trees grew a little thicker still as well as getting a little closer to the track but there was still plenty of empty space on both sides, filled only by a few scattered trees. I was excited when I spotted the next Pokémon before Dad, to be fair I was a few metres in front of him, but he is taller than me. I raised my arm up, imitating what had done earlier and then I crouched down and walked back to him.
"Up there, whats that?" I said to him and pointed right down the middle of the path. A brown four legged Pokémon was walking towards us with its bushy tail wagging.
"I think it saw us." Dad said. "Some Pokémon don't mind humans but given it knows we're here I'm not sure you'll be able to catch this one."
"Why not?" I asked him, looking back at the Pokémon down the path.
"Since you have no Pokémon to weaken it with surprise is your only weapon. Since you don't have that you have nothing against this Pokémon." he said, clearly he knew exactly what he was talking about. "This might be a good chance to try out your Pokédex though. Its not registered yet but it should work just fine."
Without saying anything I took the backpack off my bag and unzipped it again. This time I found the small red device and took it out.
"Open it and hold it up between you and the Pokémon."
"Ok." I said, not really knowing what I was doing. The device came to life when I held it up.
"Initial setup required." it said it a rather dull male voice that surprised me. I almost dropped it but grabbed hold again at the last second. I didn't look at him but I knew Dad was trying not to laugh.
"Sorry." he said. "We should have set it up before we came out here. It doesn't matter now though. Just follow the instructions and it should be fine."
I touched the screen a couple of times following the instructions the device gave me while also trying to keep an eye on the wild Pokémon that was slowly making its way towards us. It was still quite a distance away but I could now see the goofy looking grin on its face and two large teeth sticking out of its mouth.
After a few more instructions on screen the device spoke again.
"And would you like to register a trainer now or later?" it asked in the same dull tone.
"Later." Dad said clearly to it before I could respond.
"Saving preferences." the device told us before appearing to turn off.
I gave Dad a puzzled look, did I break it?
"Give it a second." Dad said. "When it turns on again it should be working normally. This pokédex will be a lot more useful than you can imagine so make sure to get it out whenever you are unsure about anything."
"Should we move to the side of the path." I asked. "The Pokémon is getting pretty close now and it might not like it if we get in its way."
"Good idea." he said.
The Pokémon looked harmless but with no Pokémon of my own, getting into a battle might with it would be a bad idea. We moved off the path and stood under a large tree a few metres away from the track. The Pokémon didn't look phased at all, in fact it barely even noticed we moved at all.
"Try the Pokédex now." Dad said.
I lifted the Pokédex up in front of me once more and again it came to life. This time however it was a lot more useful.
"Bidoof, the plump mouse Pokémon." it said in a far more interesting but still slightly metallic male voice.
"Bidoof." I repeated, taking in the information. It was now I thought about how many new Pokémon I would see out here, I've never seen a Bidoof before now and no doubt there are many more Pokémon new here.
"Keep listening." Dad said, not taking his eyes off the Bidoof. By now it had almost reached the spot we had been standing just moments before, it didn't seem very excited about us being there so it just kept walking forward.
The pokédex continued talking. "Bidoof are commonly found in this area. Due to its friendly nature it is often chosen as a beginner Pokémon for new trainers."
I nodded as if the pokédex could somehow see I understood what it said. I looked at the Pokémon again and then at the pokéball on my belt. I might as well try to catch it, I might get lucky.
"Are you going to try and catch it?" Dad asked.
"Yeah, I'll give it a try." I said. I reached for the pokéball and without wasting anytime I threw it as hard as I could in the direction of the Bidoof. It didn't even see it coming. The Bidoof disappeared in a red flash of light and the pokéball snapped closed trapping it. I watched nervously as the pokéball rolled around on the ground for a moment before snapping open again unable to contain the Bidoof.
The Bidoof looked almost as if it didn't understand what just happened. It gave us a rather dumb look and then continued on its way down the path. I waited until it was a distance away before retrieving the pokéball from the path.
"Lets keep going." I said. I was a little disappointed I hadn't been able to catch the brown Pokémon but I decided not to worry about it because it was unlikely it would have been caught anyway.
"Maybe we should go off the path?" I suggested "We might find some more Pokémon."
"Its your choice." Dad said. "Your the trainer, I'm just here until you catch your first Pokémon."
Until I catch my first Pokémon I thought. So what would he do after that? I guess he'll just leave me out here and catch the first flight back to Hoenn.
"I don't know if I want to be left out here all by myself." I told him with a concerned tone.
"You won't be alone." he said reassuringly. "You'll have the Pokémon you catch along side you. Not only that but you may also find another Pokémon trainer along here, you could make a friend or two on your journey."
"We haven't seen anyone yet." I told him, stating the obvious.
"You'll likely see more trainers in Pokémon centres than out here on the routes."
"Ok, I just hope we don't run into any before I catch a Pokémon."
Another problem to think about, what if a trainer came along and challenged me to a battle before I caught a Pokémon? I mean, I look like a trainer, so that would be pretty embarrassing.
"Lets go off the path." I said changing the topic.
"Ok," he said, noticing I didn't really want to talk about it.
The trees at the side of the path weren't that thick so it wasn't hard to walk between them, the only problem is that if we went in too far we wouldn't be able to see the path any more. I made sure to remember which direction the path was in as we went deeper. After a couple of minutes of walking I spotted another Bidoof. This one saw us right away and decided it wasn't going to hang around. It ran and was quickly out of sight.
"Not to worry." Dad said. "There are plenty more out here."
I nodded and kept leading the way. The trees grew a little thicker blocking out a little of the sunlight but not so much that it was more than the shade of a single tree at a time.
"Look here." Dad said stopping me. "This is a berry tree."
The tree he was standing next to was indeed slightly different to the other ones in the area.
"You might be able to use some of the berries as bait." he suggested, picking a few berries off the tree he handed them to me. They might not be very big but if we need to we can lay an ambush.
"Yeah." I agreed. I would never have come up with an idea like that but I would like to walk around a little longer first before giving up and setting a trap.
"Lets keep walking a little more first." I said to him.
Leading the way further into the trees I noticed the ground was getting a little muddy. I spotted a couple of tracks in it, Bidoof tracks I guessed. Is there anything out here besides Bidoof? My thoughts were cut short however when a bird shot down several metres in front of us made a grab at something in the mud. It then flew back in the air and flew around in a large circle, keeping its eyes on the spot it had just swooped on.
"Thats a Starly." Dad said. "Its unusual to see them alone."
"Whys that?"
"Starly usually travel in flocks for protection." he said. "If this one is alone then it might be a good chance to catch it. Your going to have to be quick though, if it catches whatever is down there then its going to fly away again."
I knew what to do. Once again I grabbed the Pokéball from my belt and slowly moved closer to the spot where it had swooped down.
"Not too close." Dad said from a distance. "It won't come down if it thinks your a threat."
I watched from behind a tree as the Starly circled around just above the trees looking down at the muddy patch of grass in front of me. I lost sight of it for a few seconds above the trees but then it appeared again a little higher up than it was before. Suddenly the bird dropped out of the sky in a dive and flew quickly towards the ground. I reacted quickly and threw the pokéball at the spot it looked like it was aiming for. Somehow the pokéball flew close enough to accept the Starly as a target and before it knew what had happened it was swallowed up by the red light and trapped inside the pokéball.
The ball it the ground and shook around a little. Again, I watched nervously as it continued to shake violently. Before long though the shaking stopped and the pokéball rested gently in the muddy patch of grass it landed in. That's it. I caught a Pokémon.
"Yeah." I yelled excitedly running towards the Pokéball picking it up in one hand while still holding the berries.
"Starly." I said "Your my very first Pokémon."
A/N: Well, there you have it. A Starly, not much of a surprise but still a lot better than the shiny Eevee's a lot of trainers seem to be starting with now days. So what will happen next? Other trainers, getting lost or perhaps a freak thunderstorm?
As always, comments are appreciated.
