10.19.2014

Thanks for no fans! Haha. I liked Chapter 1 better, so I figure there is going to be some changes to this Chapter sometime soon. It feels like its not detailed enough. Anyway the next chapter should appear between 10.20 and 10.27. Hopefully I will spend a little more time on it.

Chapter 2

My heart was pounding as the professor led us from the chairs to a table where three red and white spheres were sitting. If I looked closely at one of them, I noticed a glow coming off of it. One had a red glow, one a blue, one a green. This must be one of the starter trios – one water type, one fire type, one grass type. Usually if a Trainer gets his first Pokemon from a lab, it's this type of trio. But in Kanto, it's Eevee or Pikachu.

"These are the starters. Don and Chris, you may pick one." He trotted over to the table, which was so white and clean it practically glowed. He laid his hand on the red glowing ball. "This is a Cyndaquil." He explained. "Computer, open file 'Cyndaquil-Info'.

The computer suddenly whirred and a document projected on a wall. There was a picture of what looked like a blue and white porcupine with red quills. It told that the Cyndaquil was a fire type, evolved into Quilava and then Typhlosion, and was 0.5 meters tall and 7.9 kilograms. It further stated: "It is timid, and always curls itself up in a ball. If attacked, it flares up its back for protection."

"Wow, how do you know all that?" Don asked.

"Decades of study from scientists all over the world show a lot!" Elm answered, adjusting the collar of his lab coat.

He then proceeded to the other starters – Chikorita and Totodile. One of these was going to be mine, but I didn't know which one to choose…I liked Chikorita, but a TV show that I watch a lot, League Trainer, said that Chikorita was weak and didn't have a great moveset. Cyndaquil turned me off for some reason, but Totodile seemed like a good choice. It had good moves, few weaknesses, and it looked kind of cool. In the end, my choice was the blue crocodile.

Meanwhile, I could tell that Don thought of it as a hard decision as well. He was scratching his prominent chin and looking around nervously as the computer showed the info.

"Well, I've kept you waiting far too long. You can pick your Pokemon. Don, you first." Professor Elm finished.

Don bounded forward and picked out the sphere with the red aura-Cyndaquil, a good choice. It wasn't my choice either. This was good. Also, that meant my Totodile would have an advantage over him.

"Ah, a good decision." Professor Elm's eyes gleamed. "Now what will you pick, Chris?"

I hesitated. I would finally get my partner now. But what if I made the wrong resolution? Ah screw it. I thought. If I choose a bad Pokemon, it doesn't matter. Remember the guy who beat a team of level 100 dragons with Rattatas?

I walked up to the pallid table, and my arm shot out to pick the water Pokemon.

"Mmmyes, another good choice." Professor Elm immediately responded. "Your journey has officially started!"

There was an awkward silence.

Then, Professor Elm uneasily broke it. "Well, I have some work to do…"

His dismissive air gave us the signal to leave. As I walked out of the doorway, I looked back – and the professor's face darkened with emotion, but I didn't know which one.

The exit opened for us automatically. Once we were out the door, Don let out a huge burst of excitement.

"Wow, what are we gonna do now? Are we gonna go to route 29? I can't wait for my first battle. Hey Chris, want to battle? Wait nevermind, you have a type advantage against me. I should have gotten the Chikorita. My Pokedex says my Pokemon will learn Ember in one level! Ooh I wonder if it can learn Hyper Beam. Probably not. I'm gonna catch a Rattata!"

Mom led the way in stony silence (her artificial cheerfulness had faded). She hadn't said a word since I entered the lab, and apparently she wasn't going to end the streak here.

"What are you going to do first?" I asked Don.

"Go to Route 29 and beat my first Pokemon. Hey you should come with me, we can kill our first Pokemon togetherrrr!"

I flinched at the word kill. What did he mean by that? He might just have said that by accident, meaning faint, but I didn't know…after all, I had never seen the ending of a battle on TV…

"Uh, ok." I agreed. It was probably just an accident when he said kill. Don't be ridiculous! I told myself.

Finally the forest ended and our eyes were greeted by the sights of an active little village.

"Well, Chris, I'm going back to the house. Call me with your phone if you stay somewhere else for the night, okay?" Surprisingly, Mom spoke.

"Alright!" I told her.

Now! I could finally, finally start battling!

Don and I sprinted west as fast as we could, until we came to a sign.

"'Route 29'" I read the sign. "'Beware of Fearow.' Fearow! That's a fully evolved Pokemon! Aw man, if we combined our Pokemon and fought it, one of us could catch it!"

We continued walking all the way until we saw a patch of grass. It was tall and I could hear shuffling noises from inside.

"Hmm…." Don looked at the grass suspiciously. "We should go in it together…to be safe."

Don took a step in the grass. Suddenly there was a loud squeak, like it came from some sort of animal. A strange purple rat burst out of the quivering blades and headed straight for Don.

"WAAAAAAAA!" He screamed and bolted away from the Rattata. But I, however, remembered myself. I took out my Poke Ball and pressed the button. Suddenly blue light flooded from the opening ball, and the light formed into a Totodile (trust me, it's hard to explain)!

I finally got to see it up close. It stood on two legs, which were cyan like the rest of its body. It had stubby little toes and a tan V on it's chest. Not to mention the fearsome looking spikes on it's back, out of place on such a young, innocent Pokemon.

Suddenly my Pokedex made a ringing sound. I took it out of my left pocket, where I kept it. The screen on it showed the scene via camera around me, but the Totodile had a little information box hovering above its head that read "Level 5, Male, HP: 20/20, EXP: 125/216. Moves: Pound, Leer." A little to the right was the Rattata that was chasing Don in circles – "Level 2, Female, HP: 13/13."

Oh Arceus! I had totally forgotten about Don! Crap!

"A little help heeeeeeeeere?!" Don was wailing.

"Sorry! Totodile…..use Pound on that Rattata!" I yelled over the fray.

The Totodile locked eyes with mine, sending a shiver down my spine. That was a weird look. Then he obeyed.

He tumbled over to the Rattata ungracefully, and jumped onto the Rattata, pounding her with his stubby fists. Don ran safely to the side to watch, but the Rattata was not in good shape. Totodile was continuously punching the rat, and though it occasionally got in a scratch or two, the Totodile was overpowering it.

This wasn't right. It felt so…unclean to pound this Rattata that was WAY weaker than Totodile till it fainted from exhaustion.

Finally it's HP hit zero on my Pokedex.

"Thank goodne…" My voice trailed off, because Totodile was still pounding the Rattata while it was fainted. "Stop!"

"But that's the only way to gain…experience…!" Don huffed. "Killing it!"

There was no mistake hearing him this time. He was serious. "W-What?" I stuttered in disbelief.

"Yeh." Don said.

The Totodile raised his fist to hit the unconscious Rattata, and I rushed in to stop him. But I was too late. As I skidded to a halt by the Totodile, he landed a bonecrushing punch on the rat, and I noticed her chest….stopped heaving up and down.

"Critical hit!" My Pokedex said in an electronic voice. "The Rattata has been neutralized. Totodile gained 15 experience!" The full realization of what had just happened swept over me. Right now I felt like throwing the stupid thing to the ground and crushing it with my bare hands.

"You killed it! You killed it!" I yelled at my Pokemon, not knowing nor caring if he could hear me or not. All he did was look at me, and sort of…grin.

"Auugh!" I exclaimed out loud. This was not how I thought battling was like.

"Dude, what's wrong with you? This is normal battling." Don (the monster!) had watched through this with amusement. Amusement!

"Nothing about this is normal!" I yelled at him. Tears were running down my cheeks. How could anyone do this? Let alone every day.

"Uh, yeah…it is."

"How could you even think of this as routine? Killing an innocent life just to train a Pokemon? You fiend! I'm never, ever, going to do this again!"

"Eh, you'll get used to it."

I had no reply to this. All I could do was turn away. "Don't talk to me, ever again!"

"Wow." He sneered. What a difference to the excited kid I had seen, what, 10 minutes ago. "You…are…an…idiot."

With that I returned my pocket monster to its pokeball and headed back to New Bark, by spirits hurt, and disappointed in the world.