Why HELLO there dear reader. If you're reading this for the first time, welcome! Now go read chapter one. If you already read chapter one when I first published it, uh...sorry for the wait? Meh, I had better things to do. Like procrastinate.

But anyways, the only reason I got this out today is because somebody left an absolutely WONDERFUL review. It inspired me like hell, lololol. So thank them. Well, that's if you actually like this story. But once again, I'm afraid that it hasn't turned out how I wanted it to. I was going to have it as a more light-hearted humorous story, but I've noticed with this chapter that it has some rather dark elements; I'm probably going to have to change the rating to M, not just for language or violence, but because of how...eh...dark? Some parts are. I don't know. Godamn I'm rambling again. WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS?

Anyways:

Enjoy.


Who needs planning?

The morning sun was no more as it slowly peaked in the sky, indicating that it was noon. Many more pokemon had now awakened, and the atmosphere in sandgem suddenly became lively. This of course was not known by a certain young man in route 202, who recently started his half-hearted journey. He was now a mile away from the coastal town, and had a chance to move at his own pace in the rural pathway towards his destination, taking in all of his surroundings once more. There was a distinct lack of trees along the route, and you could almost see the shadow of a city on the horizon. Every now and again another traveller would walk past him, but other than that it was pretty quiet. Luckily, he hadn't come across any other trainers yet. Ryan enjoyed being near all of this nature, but it didn't help when the same old ordinary bidoofs and starlies came jumping out of nowhere with killer intentions. Gastly scared most of them off, of course. He made a mental note to himself: Stay away from the tall grass. ALWAYS.

As Ryan walked further and further and time went on, he finally stopped in his tracks and looked around for a moment.

"...wait a minute...which way do I go?" He span around slowly for 360 degrees, but everywhere looked the same. Cloud had prevented him from seeing the horizon, and the dirt path had been swept away somehow. Great. Just great. This is what I get for not bringing a map. Now stumped on what to do, he sat down cross-legged, with both of his hands on each knee; supposedly a thinking position. His ghostly partner gave him a concerned look, but the trainer reassured him. "Don't worry, man - I have a plan. And yes, I am fully aware that I just rhymed." Ryan stood up, striking a confident pose as he reached into his pocket and took out a pokeball. Carefully, as if building up suspense, he expanded it and then threw it onto the ground. A bright light shone, and a pokemon in the form of a flaming horse appeared, looking slightly agitated. He began glaring at Ponyta, who returned the glare, thus starting an intense staring contest. For just a moment, you could hear the flicker of the fire type's flames, until the trainer finally broke the silence:

"Alright...tell me: WHERE DO WE GO NEXT?"

"..."

The silence resumed, and Gastly mentally face-palmed, giving him a look as if to say: "That was your plan?"

Ponyta scoffed, and forcefully went back into the pokeball from her own will. Sighing, Ryan picked the ball back up and shoved it in his pocket. "Well, there goes my amazing idea. Screw it, let's just go...this way!" he proclaimed, pointing in any direction. His partner reluctantly followed, still processing his stupidity.


Meanwhile, somewhere in the Eastern side of sinnoh where night time had already arrived, a girl slammed against an alleyway wall, grimacing in pain as she held her arm, looking up at the man who had pushed her. A sadistic grin found it's way onto his face, as he tossed the pokeball of a stolen pokemon up and down in front of his victim. "P-please...", the girl begged "I didn't do anything towards Team Gala..galactic.." The thief's face contorted as his smile grew even wider, eventually turning into maniacal laughter which echoed throughout the whole alleyway. "Galactic? Who the fuck are they? Bahahahahaha!"

Shrieking in terror, the woman tried to escape, but he grabbed her by the arm and threw her back down again. He then walked to the end of the alley, and double checked to make sure that nobody was suspicious, before returning to the terrified girl. Tears now began falling from her eyes, causing him to laugh once again, and giving him a horrific idea. He tightened his grip on the ball, and swung his arm towards the wall, smashing it into 3 separate pieces. A shard stuck into his wrist, but he didn't even seem to care. The female's eyes widened and a shrill scream disappeared into the night, unheard by everyone.


Ryan had been walking for a few hours now, and it was late in the afternoon. The heat was sweltering, and they didn't seem to be getting any closer to the next town. Now he was seriously regretting not accepting Rowan's offer of supplies. He turned to his pokemon partner on his right, and gave him a tired and painful expression. "Well ol' buddy...if it continues like this, we're probably gonna end up...dead."

Gastly's eyes widened in horror, before Ryan let out an obnoxious laugh. "I was joking!" At first his pokemon began scowling at him, to which the trainer responded: "Oh shit, whaddaya gonna do, lick me to death?" and cracked up again. The ghost sniggered at his comment, and they both continued merrily down the road.

As they were walking however, a shadow in the shape of a person appeared in front of them, arms folded, and a cocky smirk on it's face. It was a young boy, roughly about 12 years of age. But before Ryan could move out of sight, their eyes had already met. Don't tell me...this kid's gonna...

"I challenge you to a battle, loser!"

...yyyyup.

With an annoyed expression on one face and a confident one on the other, two trainers pulled out pokeballs and threw them onto the ground. No questions asked, no further communication. Looks like people nowerdays don't know how to greet someone. On one side a Ponyta stood, who neighed and held her head high. Opposite her – a Bidoof.

"Oh hell no." muttered the teenager while gaping in confusion at the basic pokemon in front of it.

"HAH!" shouted the younger child from a few meters away. "You can't stop staring at my awesome pokemon, right? I caught Bidoof when I was ten, and we make an amazing combo team!"

"Oh...that's wonderful..."

"Get ready for a pummelling! Bidoof, use tackle attack!"

Said Bidoof ran towards Ponyta aimlessly at an incredibly slow speed, allowing the pony to sidestep to the right, without any effort whatsoever. The normal type went crashing (well, if you can call stopping in your tracks after pretty much walking "crashing", then yeah) into a bush at the side of the road. It came out plodding along with a few berries in it's mouth. It makes you wonder if he went towards there on purpose...

Slightly unsure if they were even in a battle, Ponyta gave a puzzled look to her trainer, who just shrugged and gave her a command: "Use Tackle yourself, I guess." And the fire type obeyed, running towards Bidoof and striking it from the front, sending it skidding a few yards away. The tackle must have been hard, because the impact could actually be heard pretty clearly, and it also scraped some skin, spilling a single drop of blood. Ryan suddenly twitched. He began gazing at where Bidoof lay, as it slowly but surely got back up. It had healed up using an oran berry, but it barley made a difference. That wasn't the important part though. He continued to stare at it, almost in fascination. What is this feeling... he thought while covering his stomach with his hand.

"Alright, Bidoof! Way to go! I knew you wouldn't let that loser beat you!" exclaimed the boy once more, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his pokemon was on it's last legs. "Now get up, and-"

"Ponyta." Ryan murmured, loud enough for them both to hear, cutting the boy short. "Use tackle again."

Unable to react quickly enough, Bidoof was once again knocked off it's feet, and rolled to the side, this time even further than the first hit. The left corner of the older youth's mouth rose slightly, and he issued another attack: "Tackle it again, and keep running after you hit it." he ordered while raising his voice ever so slightly. Once again, Bidoof was helpless. But, as it's limp movement was coming to a stand still, Ponyta caught up to the almost lifeless body and became the clear winner, but apparently it was not over. "Finish it off with a stomp!" he harshly spat, although Ponyta agreed anyway, and pulled up one of it's front hooves. The foot met with the grass however, as Bidoof disappeared into a red light, returned to it's ball by the boy, who now had a frightened face.

"Hey! What's your problem, mister? You already won!" The boy desperately shouted, causing his opponent to snap back to reality, with a rather shocked expression. "uh...yeah..sorry man." The two stood there silently, creating an awkward atmosphere for both of them. The taller one broke the silence.

"Well that was a quick battle. A pointless one, too."

"Shut up."

"Anyways – now that I've won, you could probably tell me where the first gym is." Completely forgetting the events of what just happened, the kid went back to his usual self, smirking and folding his arms once again:

"Hehe, I guess even though you seem to be capable of beating an amazing pokemon master like me, you still need my help, mister. Hahaha!" Ryan sweat-dropped and sighed before continuing.

"Right...so where am I going?"

"Oreburgh city! Here's a spare map for you" he replied, handing him a dirty, worn-out leaflet.

"Ah, cheers. This should come in handy...wait a minute. There's no words on this piece of crap!"

"Why do you think it's my spare?"

"Tch. Useless. Meh, whatever." He began scanning the page for the nearest symbol which represented a city. Gastly floated next to his head, in order to get a look at the map himself.

"Aha!" he burst out while pointing at the next settlement. "This must be Oreburgh. If we keep on walking straight ahead this way, we should get there in like half an hour."

He turned around to thank the boy, but he had already ran off. "Oh well. C'mon man, let's go."


Half an hour did indeed pass, and they finally arrived at a city. It was night-time, and they were surrounded by tall buildings, neon lights, and cars driving around everywhere, along with pedestrians literally filling the pavement. (A/N: I don't say side-walk because I'm limey and whatnot.) Ryan and Gastly started celebrating at the entrance to the city, the former going down to his knees and worshiping the place in front of him. "Oh my God...food...an actual bed...a gym...I can sit down for once! Oreburgh city, fuck yeah!"

Unfortunately though, they turned to their right and noticed a rather large, and from Ryan's viewpoint, mocking, sign hanging off a street light:

Welcome to Jubilife City!

Enjoy your stay!

The two looked at each other, excitement dying out.

"...are you freaking kidding me?"


The two sat in a café, one slowly eating a small meal, with a cup of coffee to his left, watching the rain pour down on heavily on the streets of Jubilife. Of course, he was gonna leave without paying the bill. Well, what else could he do? He was broke. The café was relatively quiet, as there were only a few customers in there, pretty much doing the same thing what he was. Damn. We still aren't there yet? I knew I shouldn't have gone on this stupid errand. My legs'll probably give way before we get there, because I certainly can't afford a motel for the night. He sat there in silence for a few minutes, staring at his plate. Slowly, he stood up and quietly slipped out.

Ryan shoved his hands in his pocket, and walked in the rain. His mood had changed. Gastly tried to get his attention to find out what was wrong, but failed to and could only watch as his trainer wandered around in the pouring rain, void of emotion. After about 10 minutes of doing absolutely nothing, he stopped walking and simply stood there, in the middle of the city square, looking around. "...what am I doing."

He remained still, passers-by having to walk around him. He simply stared in one direction, watching everything move by. What exactly was going on here? In no more than 12 hours, he had woken up, been kicked out of a store, gotten a "job" with entails him travelling across the entire country, been attacked by swarms of weak pokemon, battled an annoying child, almost collapsed from hunger, walked more than he had in the past week only to find out that he was only half way there until he could rest, and now he just couldn't do anything. He was tired and alone. "Just what the hell am I doing? I can't survive out here. I can't travel around like this. This whole thing has been a waste of time. Fuck it."

All of a sudden, he turned around and began storming off towards the exit where route 202 was. He didn't bother navigating through the crowd, and knocked shoulders with anyone who didn't move out of the way. The rain was heavier than ever, and it was starting to soak through his beanie hat. Just as he was about to go through the gate, a voice came from his side.

"Where do you think you're going?" Thinking it was just some random drunk stranger, Ryan continued to walk along the route. "Don't you have a job to do?"

He turned around. This stranger was starting to annoy him. "I'm going home. What's it to you?" He turned around and noticed that the stranger was a male no older than him, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. He had brown shaggy hair about the same length as his, and was wearing a beige coloured jacket with a thin white vest underneath it, and baggy jeans and shoes, similar to those which Ryan wore. He looked about 5'9 or 5'10 in height, and had a fairly muscular build. His most noticeable feature was the fake gold necklace.

"Well, Twinleaf town isn't in the direction of where someone would go when told to explore the world."

"...how exactly do you know why I'm here?"

"Pardon me, but I was eavesdropping. You see, I'm professor Rowan's son – David Rowan. I'm starting a journey parallel to yours, except I don't intend on storing information. I'm going to become the Champion of the Sinnoh Region."

"Whoopy-fucking-doo, bro. You must be so damn happy with yourself." He threw him the pokedex. "Here you are. Go catch some pokemon and have a blast, kid."

"Oh? You mean you're not going to do it yourself?"

"Why would I? I'm too lazy for this shit."

"What about the money?"

"Screw that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a fire to go die in." And with that, he turned on his heel, and headed back towards sandgem town. David stared at his back for a while, no longer leaning on the wall, but standing directly opposite him at the gate.

"Are you really that miserable?"

Ryan stopped once again for the fourth time in a short while. He didn't turn around, nor did he answer him.

"Believe it or not, I too live in Twinleaf town. You probably haven't noticed me because you isolate yourself from the rest of the village. What, do you think you're too good for the rest of us? Ever since I was born there, I've been one of the only children. When I heard that someone my age had moved in, I was so happy because I thought I had finally found someone to talk to. What I didn't expect is a depressing emo who has no intention of socializing with anyone or anything except that creepy thing that follows you around."

"G-gas?" Gastly whimpered at the backhanded comment. David took a step forward.

"I've watched you for the year that you've been here. You do absolutely nothing. I have no idea how you're even still alive. According to you, you have no aspirations whatsoever. But you don't look content. Every time I see you, you have sad and pitiful expression on your face. Almost as if you're...longing for something."

He took a few more steps closer until they were within the regular talking distance. Ryan turned around and looked down at him, waiting for him to carry on speaking.

"Some of the nosy old hags have gossiped all about you, Ryan. I don't know the full details of your past, but I know one thing – we're very alike in the fact that we have never experienced the joy of a comrade. Not a pokemon, but an actual human to spend time with. To grow up with."

"So what do you want from me?"

"All I want is for you to reconsider your decision to bail and take the easy way out, and continue your journey with me along side you...as your...friend." He began smiling.

Silence surrounded the dark atmosphere, and all that could be heard for what seemed like minutes was the rain rattling the ground below them. Ryan proceeded with his favourite option, and broke the silence:

"...dude, are you fucking gay?"

"…..."

"…..."

"...E-excuse me? No no no, you've got the wrong idea here! Were you even listening?"

"Jesus Christ, now you're blushing aswell! Now I've seen everything..." The taller of the two began speed-walking back to sandgem, hoping that this annoying creepy guy wouldn't follow. All while Gastly was in hysterics, laughing hard. Of course however, nothing ever goes his way. David ran in front of him, and put his arms out, stopping him in his tracks. "Waaaaiiitt waitwaitwaitwait...it came out wrong, ok? I uh...just need someone to travel with. It's always safer with more people and pokemon around, and what with all of these criminals showing up recently, better safe than sorry, am I right?"

"Sorry man, but I've already made up my mind. And I'm a slow walker, you'd probably get annoyed with how lackadaisical I am. Whatever that means...seriously, what does it mean? Someone called me it once."

The other teen sighed and shook his head, before attempting to convince him once more. "Look, one of the main reasons why you lacked resolve back there was because you knew you were screwed, right? You didn't have enough money to find some place to sleep, and someone like you wouldn't be able to walk 2 routes in one day. Plus, you wouldn't have been able to make it back to Sandgem until tomorrow because of the conditions. You knew this, and pretty much gave up on life. Nobody is waiting for you back in that so-called "home". But here's the thing: I have money. Being a lead professor of a region grants you with a lot of payment, and of course being the son of someone famous like that, I can easily get as much money as I want from him. So, if you, someone who looks pretty damn tough comes with me, I'll make sure we both get a place to stay and a decent meal every day. Deal?"

Ryan thought it over, but then admitted defeat. "Fine. Let's head back to Jubilife then, I feel like my legs are gonna drop off..."

"One condition though."

"Oh God..."

"I'm the leader, ok? You're my travelling companion, and you're helping me become the champion. Ok?"

"Sure sure, whatever. We going or what?"


Ta-da! I updated. Are you proud of me? probably not. I'm REALLY dissapointed with myself so far because of how this fic has turned out. MAINLY because I rushed it yet again. Why am I changing scenes so damn fast? Because I have no idea where I'm going with this. Sorta. Well, no. I already have the general plot written down, but in between the main points of the storyline, I'm kinda lost for what to put. And, like just a few of the other authors on this site, I find battles boring to write, and boring to read. There are only a few battles which I enjoy reading, and those are mainly the gym battles. I mean, it's just...these stupid random trainer battles..they're not story whatsoever. Ah, forgive my melancholy. FUCK I'M RAMBLING AGAIN.

BYE. REVIEW IF YOU WANT. JEEZ.

...and now I feel awkward. Please don't judge me :(