Shades Of Grey

Chapter 2: Bird Set Free

I love being a pokemon trainer.

Freedom has never been something I've had, because of my overprotective parents, but now that I'm on my journey with my snivy, Ren, things are looking up. After saying goodbye to my family, I set off on Route One, feeling like a bird set free. I was ready for whatever came my way.

Unless that whatever was Alicia.

Now here I am, fifteen minutes into my journey, slightly pissed, with an annoying know-it-all professor's daughter by my side. Now that's a party.

My silver lining is Ren. Despite the language barrier, we seemed to have clicked. He communicates through grunts and hand gestures and, of course, his species name. His understanding of human language astounds me, as I'm 15 years old and still don't know what people are talking about half the time, but Ren seems to understand immediately.

We walk for about an hour, the only sounds being our footsteps, the wilderness, and the occasional grunt from Ren, until Alicia half-whispers, "I know you hate me." I turn to her and stop walking. "What?" I asked, shocked at her forwardness. She sighs and looks down. "You're not very subtle about it. I know I'm annoying, but I'm not trying to-" I interrupt her, "I don't hate you." She looks up and starts to get angier. "Then how do you explain the groan you gave when I decided to come with you? Or the glare you gave me at the lab? Or the name you called me when you were talking to Calvin?" She started to break down on the last sentence, her voice cracking and tears welling in her eyes.

I sighed. Honestly, I forgot all about the conversation I had with Calvin about a week ago.

I was on the bus with my friend Calvin. We were talking about our journey and how excited we were, when he mentioned Alicia. I groaned and may or may not have said, "I hate her, she's such a stuck up little bitch."

Apparently, word gets around fast.

"Alicia, I-" She turns away. "No," she huffs. "Save it." She continues walking, picking up her pace, which I wish she would've done a few miles back. I call after her, "Alicia, wait!" but she continues. Suddenly, she stops. I take my chance. "Listen, Ali-" "Calvin." I freeze. "What?"

She turns to me and frowns. "Calvin," she repeats. Suddenly, my dumb ass realizes what she means: "We left Calvin in Nuvema Town."

This is apparently hilarious to Alicia. She starts laughing, giggles at first, but soon it escalates into a full-blown roar of laughter. It's this that wakes Ren up from his nap on my shoulder. It's also what sends a whole flock of pidove scattered across the sky. Well, not a whole flock. One pidove, angry instead of startled, hurls itself at Alicia. Instincts kick in, and I tackle her to the ground, just narrowly avoiding the dive-bomb. Alicia, dried tears on her face, stands up bravely and summons Tepig from his pokeball.

This catches Pidove's attention. The bird pokemon once again swoops towards us, but this time at Tepig. Right when he's about to make impact, Alicia calls out, "Ember, let's go!" Tepig huffs and tiny fireballs pelt Pidove, who loses enough momentum to only nudge the fire-type pokemon. Pidove takes back to the air, hovering only slightly below ten feet in the air, burn marks apparent. "Good job, Alicia!" I call, "You burnt it!" She turns to me and smiles reluctantly before commanding Tepig further. "Alright Tepig, Ember, and then Tackle!" Tepig shoots the small flames again, knocking Pidove out of the sky before tackling it, hurting it severely. The flying-type manages to get up shakily and flap its wings for a Gust attack before collapsing from its burns. Alicia gasps excitedly before throwing a pokeball at the fainted pidove. The ball sucked the bird pokemon in and clicked.

1,

2,

3 times. The pokeball dinged and Alicia picked it up proudly before whipping out her pokedex and scanning the capsule. "Pidove, the Tiny Pigeon pokemon. Pidove, while very loyal and trustworthy, have limited mental aptitudes. This makes them very capable pokemon for beginning trainers. This specimen is female with the ability Big Pecks and the moves Tackle, Growl, and Gust."

As I retrieve two potions out of my bag, one for Tepig, and one for Pidove, I ask Alicia, "What's Big Pecks?" She looks up from logging in her new pokemon and thinks for a second. "I think it means Pidove's defense can't be lowered by attacks." I nod and hand her the potions. She first sprays Tepig, and then releases Pidove from her pokeball. Alicia sprays Pidove, awakening her from her unconsciousness, but failing to remove the burn. Pidove coos and looks down at her burnt breasts. Alicia sighs and apologizes, "Sorry, Pidove. I don't have any burn heals, so that might have to wait until the Pokemon Center." The pidove coos again, almost indifferent, but I chime in anyways. "Oh well, we're not that far away from Accumula Town. A half hour at most." This cheers Alicia up, and Ren as well, who had been awakened from his nap by Alicia's earlier breakdown. Speaking of,

"Alicia are… we good now?" I ask uncertainly. She looks at me and that sad expression from earlier is back. "I… I don't know, Grayson." I sigh, "Alicia, I don't hate you. Do you get on my nerves sometimes? Yes. Am I a little salty that you've always had an advantage over me? Also yes? But I don't hate you because, as crazy as this sounds, you're a good person, and you've got a good heart, and whatever path you chose to take on this journey, it's gonna be a damn fine one, you hear?"

Alicia smiles and blushes slightly. "I guess you're right." I grin. "Of course I am."

We walk for almost a half an hour, exchanging casual conversation, until we see Accumula Town. I look at her, grin, and sprint. Ren, surprised, follows me just as swiftly, making me question whether or not he learned Quick Attack. As soon as we reach the Town Limits, I turn and see Alicia and Tepig jogging to us. As they catch up, we all make our way into Accumula Town, and head straight to the Pokemon Center. Accumula is a very nice place, with lots of stone and a very relaxed feel. There's a bridge above us, connecting two raised stone slabs with houses lined on top of them.

Alicia and I both return our starters and hand our pokeballs over to the Nurse Joy at the counter. We only wait for about two minutes before she calls us to the front. "Grayson, your snivy is in very good condition! If you train it right, it might be able to match even the toughest pokemon out there!" I blush and thank her for her evaluation. "And Alicia, your tepig shows some very promising potential as a physical attacker! Be sure to utilize that! And your pidove is very smart for its kind, so it'd be very wise of you to see to what extent you can train it to! " Alicia grins and replies, "Thank you Nurse Joy!" The nurse smiles and says, "Any time!" We collect our pokeballs and walk towards the door. We're only outside for ten seconds before an explosion occurs and the screaming begins.

AN: Sorry for the cliffhanger! Anyways, sorry for the delay, but I've been a little busy. Also, the next chapter is when things start to get really interesting and the villainous team is introduced. Also, thanks to the two of you that reviewed lmao I took them into consideration while writing this. Until next time!

QOTD: Fav song right now?

AOTD: No One by Alicia Keys