I was late.

Nate had probably expected that, I mean, I usually was. Not because I felt it best to show up late and make a fashionable entrance to attract attention, I just had bad luck. This, however, was by far the worst. The worst that could have happened was people would look down at me a little and move on with their lives, but this time the worst case was me losing the greatest opportunity of my life.

I don't even think its an exaggeration for me to say I was moving at the speed of sound. I turned corners, crossed roads, and ignored the intense burning in my lungs from pure excursion. All the while trying my best to keep my incredibly overstuffed backpack from leaking items of varying importance, something I wouldn't have done had I known I would have been running at any point. Turning the last corner I just prayed that they hadn't left, but I was so relieved to see Nate's familiar face in the small group that still sat before the school. His hands fiddling with his black shirt in boredom.

"Yo Nate!" I called, walking over to them. Each face turning to face me, many of them angry, and a few even turning away shyly with a red tint on their checks. "I was worried I'd missed it."

"You'll wish you had," he replied as he pointed behind me. I had a strong hunch to what he was pointing at, but I looked to be sure. The sight actually scared me a little.

It was who he could tell at first sight to be the teacher.

The first thing I noticed was that she was shorter than me by an inch or so, but shared my athletic build. Her black hair tied into a ponytail as it hung down her back, her bangs leading me to her very narrow blue eyes that rested behind a pair of glasses. Even the aquamarine camisole she wore over a black shirt with sleeves that didn't even go all the way down the arm didn't help make her look like anything but a very upset teacher. Yep, she was mad.

"Miles Ryuzaki, correct?" She asked, her voice leveled to match her stoic expression.

"Uhm... I guess.

"You guess?"

"Well, I don't think I want to admit it with your eyes looking so angry." I admitted. Several students stifling a chuckle as Nate just put a palm to his forehead as he shook his head. Least his Chatot wasn't outside its ball, it wouldn't help my situation any for it to let out a curse in my voice.

"My eyes wouldn't be angry if it weren't for a certain student feeling privileged enough to show up a half hour late from the designated start time." I looked past her to all the students - Nate being the only familiar one among them - trying to see who I could read as agreeing with her. Which was many, but thankfully not all.

"Sorry," I replied sheepishly, "I overslept, but I thought for sure you'd have left."

"It was tempting." She admitted, her expression softening slightly. "Though I'm sure each student here has a dream, and each of them plan to use this trip to complete them, so I decided I shouldn't be the one to decide if you even get the chance."

She was overly serious, but I could see that her heart was in the right place, so as she moved to the front of the group to make any final checks I just smiled and set my bag down. "So, is she tough or what? You don't wanna get on the bad side of Mrs. Melinda McCarty." Nate asked as he walked up.

"I'm disturbed you know her whole name." Nate just shrugged.

"I know what I know. Which includes that she is a ball buster. Any thoughts?"

"Too early to really say. Could go either way honestly." I answered, sure to keep my voice low so she wouldn't hear us as she explained pointless information.

"It was rhetorical, she is." Nate explained pulling out his camera from his bag. "She is tough in more than just her personality, she can battle with the best of them from what I've heard. I plan to interview her for one of our videos."

I just looked at him, he shrugged and added, "it could happen.

"I wanna battle her! Not now of course, I mean she'd destroy me with just Treecko, but soon." It was now Nate's turn to just look at me disbelievingly. "It has more of a chance than your plan." That'll shut him up.

"You're kind of a dick man," Nate replied shaking his head. The camera still being unused in his hand

"You know you wanna curse." I teased.

"You know I won't though. I don't like it. Chatot does it enough for both of us anyway." Nate explained as he eyed me. "Your influence by the way."

"Fuck you." I laughed. "I'll do what I want too. Say what I feel like saying." It kind of lost its effect when it was whispered but it was all in jest anyway.

"Is there something funny?" Mrs. McCarty asked, Nate and I instantly taking on the appearance of a straight face as we both shook our heads. "Then I would appreciate getting your full undivided attention to what I have to say because I shall not repeat this."

Not like it was anything we hadn't heard before.

"We are the first to do this type of long distance field trip, so as such we will be walking a lot," a collective sigh interrupting her, "now we won't just jump right into it, you have to build up to it like every trainer so for today we shall walk for maybe two to three hours. Though the purpose of this speech is for me to tell you how vital it is you listen to me. I have experienced a lot in my travels, so much so, that I can guarantee nothing that occurs will differ from my own experiences. The world of Pokemon is dangerous at times, so I ask that what I tell you to do gets done. I don't tolerate sass and I ask for the same respect I give each of you. That is all, please take a moment to get to know the students around you before we depart."

"Let's ask for an interview," Nate stated as he nudged me, the camera open and ready to record as we made our way towards the teacher.

"It's gonna fail."

"Shut up." Nate answered simply as we reached her. "Hello, Mrs. McCarty, I was, kinda wondering, if uh, you wouldn't mind, you know, being interviewed?" Nate asked, struggling to form the words once her gaze fell on him. I would have laughed, but considering who it was, it was completely understandable.

"You should talk with more confidence Nathaniel," she replied, "you are more likely to garner answers you desire when you do."

"Which way does your answer fall?" I asked, trying to be as respectful as I could.

"My answer falls on -"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" The chanting wasn't very loud, since it only seemed to come from maybe five students, but it was still there. It was unmistakable, the circle that formed around the two who were supposedly fighting made it impossible at first glance to tell who were in its center.

"You gonna stop them?" I asked the teacher, giving her a quizzical look after noticing that she hadn't moved an inch despite the clear evidence of a fight.

"I would do nothing but delay it, so unless I feel I need to stop it, I'll let them just settle it. We are going to be together for a long time, so its best you all get your issues out now." She explained as she adjusted her glasses. I could admire that about her at least.

"Well, if it won't be stopped before I can get a shot of it. I think it's best for me to record it." Nate explained as he withdrew his pokeball, releasing Chatot in a blinding flash of white light. The teacher and I just watching as the multicolored bird was offered the camera, taking it in its beak before flying towards the collection of students that Nate pointed out to it. "Now let's see what's going on."

"Curiosity killed the meowth." I followed behind him, my own curiosity getting the better of me. I managed to make a gap for me to watch the fight through, surprised to see that both of them were at least six feet. I suddenly felt small, but at least I wasn't as lanky as the guy on the right was. Swiftly dodging a punch from a man built athletically like me, his blond hair short but spiked, his blue eyes narrowed like Mrs. McCarty's were.

"You stepped on my shoes!" The lanky one just looked clueless about the declaration, muttering under his breath as he shook his head. "What are you saying?"

"Oj herre gud." He answered simply. His voice indicating that it was not a sarcastic remark or even a comeback. "Oh my god, in my native tongue." He elaborated upon seeing his opponent's confusion.

"Fuck your god, he doesn't exist! Arceus is proven!"

Great, a materialistic idealist. Fun.

"You fight me over religion?" Was he serious? He didn't know why he was fighting?

"No, I'm fighting you cause you ruined my J's!" He exclaimed, pointing to his shoes to illustrate his point, the white of the shoe now covered with a big shoe print. "A hundred dollars down the fucking drain."

"Fucking, fucking." Chatot cried in a voice identical to the upset man in the circle, I could tell it was careful not to drop the camera as it did, as well as seeing it carefully keep the camera trained on the action happening below it.

"Imma beat you until you admit you did it, then have you replace them!"

"I believe you both should battle it out. Everything can be settled on more peaceful terms that way." Mrs. McCarty chimed in. The two seemed to like the idea, nodded their heads before withdrawing their pokeballs. The circle of student's suddenly replaced with a rectangle that gave them plenty of room to battle.

"If I win then you buy me a new pair of shoes of my choosing." He explained, throwing his pokeball to the ground, releasing a chimchar in a flash of bright white light. The flame on its rear burning strong as it and it's trainer each looked at their lanky opponent with determined eyes. An opponent whose own blue eyes appeared completely indifferent to the stakes imposed on the battle, running a hand through his black hair, which fell to the base of his neck. The parts of which that hung just above his eyes seemed to sway to the right, as if it was done to keep it from his eyes. Nothing was stated for what would happen if the other guy won, but I don't think he cared.

It begged the question: why would someone so indifferent care about keeping his hair out of his eyes? I know it seemed like a simple question to have answered, but if you saw how uncaring he was in a fight, you too would start to question if it really was that simple. Maybe I was just reading into it too much, but something seemed off.

He dropped his pokeball, and suddenly every question I had was answered.

A nosepass was formed from the blinding white light, and as it bounced back up to his waiting hand, I could see a sudden change in his eyes. He no longer seemed uncaring about what the outcome was, but sure that it would be in his favor. Even as the two opposing pokemon got into their stances, it was clear he'd changed. "Nosepass, we won't fall."

"We'll see about that! Chimchar flamewheel!" The command left his mouth and within seconds we watched the fire build in the primates throat, the pokemon jumping in the air and flipping, cloaking its body in flames as it hit the ground and traveled like a rocket towards Nosepass. The pokemon not showing a single sign of worry towards the attack nearing it.

"Discharge, twenty percent. Anfall." Nosepass shot a small bolt of electricity at Chimchar, but it's trainer only smirked and called for it to dodge, which was all it needed for the attack to miss, Chimchar just swerving around the attack. "Thirty percent, ground three paces. Anfall." The bolt of electricity fired this time was visibly stronger, though still weak in comparison to a fully charged Discharge. Chimchar's trainer called it to dodge, fully aware of what he was planning, but the command wouldn't have been soon enough since Chimchar's speed had picked up. The electric attack striking the ground a second before Chimchar ran over it, the force of the rocks being sent into the air managed to send Chimchar into the air, the attack halted.

The electric attack having hit the ground right as Chimchar passed over it was ingenious to me. I mean, the flames coating its body would have shielded it partially from a direct attack, but using the explosion of rocks at its feet to indirectly damage it ended up dealing more in the long run.

"Scratch!" Chimchar opened its eyes upon hearing the command, its spirit returning to it. Spinning itself to land gracefully on the ground before its trainer.

"Sandstorm. Anfall." Chimchar tried to rush Nosepass upon it touching the dirt, but a wall of dirt and sand impacted Chimchar long before it even reached its target. I put a hand up to shield my eyes from the sand being flung about the field, and through the struggle could only manage to see the silhouette of Nosepass and its trainer, whose silhouette showed that he was relaxed in his stance, his eyes safe from the sand. I could even hear Chatot struggling in the sand to catch the battle on camera, Nate yelling for it to fly higher up and get the view from a safer distance.

"Flamewheel again!" Chimchar couldn't do it though, it was clear to see through narrowed eyes. Chimchar was struggling just to stay standing as it struggled to avoid being pushed back by the sand. Any flames it managed to build in its throat was just extinguished by the sand.

"Rock Slide. Anfall." There was no urgency in his voice, he knew he had it won already. Nosepass became outlined in white as rocks from the ground underneath Chimchar's feet shot up, damaging it as well as making it lose what little brace against the pounding sand it had.

"Chimchar!"

"I'll apologize for accidentally having stepped on your shoe, even though I am not sure if it was actually my doing, but when you entered this battle you were already set to have lost. Discharge, full power. Anfall!" Nosepass glowed once again, this time, however, it was outlined in blue as sparks traveled across its body, the largest bolt yet hitting Chimchar, riddling its body with electricity before it had even hit the ground from the Rock Slide, causing it to fall limply to the ground. Defeated, the sandstorm quickly ended as Nosepass was returned, all the loose sand in the air dropping to the ground much like Chimchar had.

"We... were completely outclassed." He admitted, a bit of sadness in his voice as he dropped to his knees, returning his pokemon to its ball with a pencil thin beam of red light. "I'm sorry Chimchar, I was too reckless again. We'll get better though."

"You were good. Just not good enough." Nosepass' trainer explained as he walked over to him. "I'm Ander." He offered out his hand.

"Scott," Chimchar's trainer replied, accepting the hand to help him to his feet. "I'm not gonna lie I thought I could take you."

Ander just shrugged in reply. Guess his change was only during battles. I even voiced that assumption to Nate who was in awe of the battle still.

"People do tend to feel more relaxed in battle." Nate explained.

"Relaxed? He just went to war, and won might I add."

"By a lot." He agreed.

"Mrs. McCarty was right. I mean, they're friends now practically." I explained as me and Nate watched Scott talking to Ander, who would occasionally add a nod or shake his head. "Interesting people are fucking everywhere."

"Fucking, fucking." I didn't need to look next to me to see that Chatot had landed on Nate's shoulder, its job done. Nate not even turning to look at the bird, only holding his hand out for the camera to be dropped into it so he could turn it off.

"I believe we've had enough time to get to know everyone. If you haven't, then I suggest you do it as we walk." The teacher cut in. I took a look around me, aware that for a while at least, it would be the last time I saw the familiar surroundings that I grew up in.

"And on the left we have Miles having a touching moment of clarity as he realizes he's really leaving home." Nate's voice killed the moment I was having, even if what he was saying was basically right. I only put my hand up to block the camera's view as he pointed it at me, the two of us beginning to walk after the teacher who led us all beyond the school into the city.

None of us may have known what we were going to do beyond then, but we all knew we would have to ready for anything. Even as we walked through every familiar sight we all shared, we realized we wouldn't be able to tell what could have happened beyond each turn. I couldn't help but contemplate the possibilities, both good and bad as we walked. On the one hand, fame and fortune. On the other, worst case would be death. It really wasn't a lie for me to have said anything was possible.

Ignoring the burning pain in my legs for the moment, I found it hard to believe that in what seemed hours of walking, we'd only covered about twenty minutes worth of what a car would have. Sitting on a rock as everyone stopped to catch their breath from all the walking, I decided to calculate something.

"What are you doing?" Nate asked as he practically collapsed next to me, his black shirt drenched with sweat.

"Trying to figure out how long it would take us to get to the state line at the rate we're going." I answered, trying to do the math using my fingers. Even if it was plainly obvious I had no clue what I was doing.

"You've finally made it to where the city starts to fade and the natural landscape shines through and you focus on how long it takes? Enjoy your surroundings! Live for now!"

"I do that more than you." I pointed out. "I just wanna know how long it will be before I finally get to new area."

"Look man," Nate began as he stood up, "follow me." I did, curious to what the point he was trying to make was, but even more curious as I watched him sway from side to side in exhaustion if he would even make the trip himself. We walked for about five minutes, the gray sky finally making its way to full darkness before Nate turned to me with a smile on his face.

"Are you gonna rape me?" I joked.

"Take a look." Nate answered, rolling his eyes as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

I did, and I must admit I was amazed. I didn't even realize we were so far out from the city already, or that we were on a hill that you could see the city from. The amount of time it took us to get there though had what really made the city look stunning. The lights of the city were amazing, almost captivating. The cover of night was always a boost for the view of cities, especially from a distance, but never in my wildest dreams had I expected the very city I hated to look so welcoming and serene. I was about to admit that to Nate when a flock of zubat flew by, eager to escape into the night. Following their movement as best I could with my eyes not yet adjusted to the darkness. The trail they made had me look up and notice the stars. No longer caring where the zubat had gone, I just stared at all the dots I could see glowing in the sky. It truly was beautiful.

"You see, even the old area's can surprise you. I'll tell you what my dad told me. 'Don't get caught up in your destination to the point that you don't enjoy the journey'. Blah blah blah. You get the point."

"Yeah, even if you ruined the mood."

For once, I had to admit he was right, and for a moment we stood in silence, looking at the city as Nate recorded the view for a moment.

Somethings would never change.


And the first official chapter is out. I really don't know what I did to make the dialogue so natural last time since it was pointed out more than once, but I really hope it happened again. Managed to only introduce two characters made by others. Scott being one of my own design to stir up a little trouble now and again or even do something unexpected later? lol Anyway I hope this chapter was good for everyone. Even though we aren't officially on the road yet. I didn't really give any indepth descriptions of the area, but I did it on purpose. You can decide for yourself what is there, because none of it really affects the story.

Don't worry though, as we go, I will be sure to be better at describing the area. I do have some spots left for anyone interested. I do feel I have my quota on shy characters though.

I hope the battle was good too. I knew what I wanted to have happen, but I just struggled to write it out. It sucks, but it happens. Hopefully it was only a temporary block though and as we advance it won't be recurring. Anyway, I've rambled enough. Later.