Start of the Journey

"Right! I choose…Tsutarja!" Pokabu opened an eye as Mijumaru fell back, shocked.

"Tsutarja? Why? Weren't you gonna pick Pokabu?" Paul asked her as she bent down and looked at him.

"That's the thing; my journey has been always the same. When I started with Charmander, I started my obsession with Fire types…" she looked at Tsutarja in the eye and patted his head.

"But maybe I want to be a little crazy this time." She smiled; Paul gave her an unnoticeable smile back. But Jade noticed.

"Nice choice Jade. Here's Tsutarja's Poke ball and 5 more" Araragi handed over the things, as Jade accepted them

"Thank you again Professor Araragi." Araragi then raised a finger

"Almost forgot, here Jade" Araragi handed her a Pokedex as Jade's eyes sparkled

"A Pokedex!" Jade examined the gadget and placed it in her bag

"Thank you so much Professor Araragi! Now if you don't mind, me and Paul will be leaving now!" Jade grabbed Paul's wrist and dragged him out of the lab as quickly as possible.

"Uh, where are we going?" Paul asked, trying to keep up with Jade.

"To start our journey! Duh!" she said happily to him. She continued running and arguing happily with her guardian. When she didn't notice she bumped someone by accident.

Luckily, for Jade at least, Paul broke her fall.

"Omigod! Paul! Are you alright?" she quickly stood up and pulled his arm.

"Ow…my spleen…" he groaned in pain.

"What spleen?" Jade teased, Paul gave a small glare.

"Haha, very funny…" he stood up, holding his stomach for support.

"Anyways, I'm so sorry I bumped into you. My name's Jade, what's yours?" Jade said pleasantly to the older teen.

"No, it's alright I guess. I'm the clumsy one…always bumping into people lately…" she rubbed the back of her head, grinning.

"Yeah! I know right! One time, when I was in Hoenn, I kept bumping into-"

"Ugh…" Paul moaned loudly from behind, clearly not wanting Jade to waste both of their times.

"Oh, I'm SOOO sorry Paul." She stuck her tongue out to him.

"Oh, so you're name's Paul, I've heard of you in the Sinnoh League!" the teen says in surprise.

"Whatever…" he crossed his arms, clearly not wanting to remember him not winning the competition.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name…" Jade said, interrupting Paul's Glare Fest.

"Oh, my apologies Jade, my name's Belle. So nice to meet you." They shook hands and Jade noticed a Pokeball in her bag.

"Uhm, Belle?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you a Pokemon Trainer?" Jade asked with fires of determination in her eyes. This caught Paul's attention and Belle smiled.

"Why yes, I suppose you want to battle, am I right?"

"Can we?" Pika was just sitting on top of Jade's head the whole time, napping. But hearing the word 'Battle', he quickly woke up.

"Of course! Paul, be the referee?" Paul nodded unwillingly.

"Pika pika pi!" Pika requested to Jade, she patted his head and grabbed a Pokeball.

"Not now Pika….I wanna start with…" she threw the Pokeball in the air and a Grass Snake jumped out gracefully.

"Tsutarja!" the Pokemon screamed in joy, Belle laughed.

"Good luck Jade…Go Pokabu!" the Fire Pig let out an energetic cry and went on a battle stance.

"Oh man, a Fire type!" Jade being a Fire Type specialist, gritted her teeth at the sight of a disadvantage. But on the other Hand, both Pokemon were just having their first battle.

"Let's now begin the battle between Jade and Belle!" Paul yelled.

"Pokabu! Go and use Ember attack!" The Pokemon jumped in the air and shot a series of small flames from its small mouth.

"Tsutarja! Dodge it now!" Tsutarja jumped out in time, spinning as it did.

"Now use Vine Whip to hold it down!" Quickly and surely, Tsutarja brought out vines and successfully held down Pokabu!"

"No!"

"Yes! Now Grass Mixer!" Tsutarja surrounded itself in a tornado of leaves and launches it to the trapped Pokemon.

After a series of sharp leaves attacking the poor Fire Pig, it lay there helplessly, bruises everywhere.

"Great! First battle and I already won." Jade gloated happily to herself.

"Tsuta!" Tsutarja placed his hands on his waist and stood up proudly.

"It's not over…" Paul said, enough for Jade to hear.

"What?"

"Tackle and Ember!" Belle shouted unexpectedly. The Pokemon ran up quickly to the unsuspecting grass snake and forcefully slammed it's body unto his.

"No!"

And to top it off, a direct and powerful hit of Ember.

"Tsutarja is unable to battle! Pokabu and Belle wins." Paul said simply, closing his eyes, sighing, and shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Haven't you learned anything before, Jade?" he asks, Jade doesn't respond as she only picks up the fainted Pokemon in her arms and turns to face him with a smile.

"Hey, we learn the most when we fail." She giggles and walks up to Belle.

"That was amazing Jade; sorry I had to surprise you like that."

"Why say sorry? It's a fair battle isn't it?" she held up a hand to her and they shook them with a smirk.

"Goodbye! I'll see you again next time!" Belle waved away, heading back to Kanoko Town.

"Goodbye!" Jade waved back, and continued walking with Paul at her side.

"Jade…" Paul started, blushing in embarrassment.

"Hm? Yeah?" she turned to him.

"…Thanks for teaching me a lesson…" he gave a quick and almost sincere smile to her, which made her freeze. Then he started walking ahead of her, well more like running.

"Hey…" she asked silently, speechless a bit.

"What does that suppose to mean?" she yelled at him, completely and utterly confused at the scene back there, and started to run to catch up to him.

"This is gonna be the Start of our journey…"