Aquacorde Town was as far as she had ever been, so Route 2 was completely new. After crossing the great river that divided the route and the town, Spencer jumped off her shoulder and decided to stand guard a few steps in front of Everest. Almost instantly, they came a cross a patch of tall grass which stretched for at least 100 yards in every direction, no doubt there were plenty of Pokemon within it.
"I think we should get through this patch of grass, then find a campsite." Everest suggested as they began to wade through the grass, the human was careful of where she stepped, ensuring she didn't step on a bug type. Suddenly, a familiar hissing noise came from her left, and she looked over to see Spencer hissing at a Scatterbug.
Their first battle! She was so excited, but swallowed back her shout of excitement. Instead, she had to think of a good strategy.
"Use pursuit." She pointed towards the bug-type, but then realized that was a wasted motion. One, Spencer already knew who to attack, there was one target. Second, Spencer wasn't even looking at her.
Nonetheless, Spencer's paws grew dark, and she jumped forward, straight towards Scatterbug. It hissed in response, and shot a string of sticky web at Spencer. Upon impact, the Scatterbug was knocked unconscious, but the dark-type was covered in white String-shot.
"Yes! Nice one!" She cheered, and picked up the messy Zorua. It whined pitifully, and the human had to laugh as she tried to get the sticky off of her partner. Out of the corner of her eye, Scatterbug got up and crawled away, not bothering with the trainer. Instead, she waded through the grass, careful to be quiet so to avoid any other wandering Pokémon. Any pokémon, no matter how small could be a real danger to her and her pokemon. Finally making it out, she sat below a tree, dusk approaching.
Setting her bag beside her, she placed Spencer on her lap, and got a brush from her bag. The brush she had bought awhile ago for whatever Pokemon she eventually caught, and now it would come in handy.
"This will pull on your fur a bit, so stay still." She mumbled, carefully dividing up the sections of fur that hadn't been hit. Spencer whined, but did as told. "You did so well, that was awesome. One hit!" She exclaimed happily, praising her new friend. Spencer whined in response, but this one wasn't as sad. Continuing brushing through the soft fur, she began to dribble water over her as well, which Spencer was not happy about. Ignoring the small hisses, she finally pulled the last of the string shot off of Spencer, and flung it to the side, discarded and forgotten.
"Look, you're all pretty now." Spencer grumbled, not sure if she should be annoyed or happy at the turn of events just decided to settle down besides her trainer. "Well, I'm going to set up camp. We really made good time today."
-ES-
The next morning, the sun woke both up by shinning directly in their faces. Spencer hid her eyes by covering them with her ears, but it was hopeless, meanwhile, Everest sighed as she sat up. The sunrise was beautiful, oranges and pinks stretched across the sky, flocks of Fletchling were silhouettes against the amazing color mix. Nearby, a small Weedle sat beside the burning embers of the campfire as it warmed itself. Wearily keeping the poison type in view at all times, she began to get the campsite packed up.
She could hear the calls of the wild pokemon just beyond the bushes, reminding the pair that danger always waited them. No matter how brightly the sun shinned down on them, there were monsters lurking in the darkness, longing for a bite of a weaker being. As is nature, survival of the fittest.
Another reason she had to get stronger, she refused to stand aside and let herself be trampled by other trainers or even wild pokémon. Stay still too long, you get lazy, weak. Open yourself up for defeat or even death. It wasn't uncommon for trainers to disappear as they traveled through forests or particularly long routes. Conferences brought out the strongest and the most narcissistic assholes out there, which guaranteed for deaths. Everest refused to be one of the many to overestimate her ability and loose a friend.
Therefor, they had much to do before the Conference. So many ideas raced through her head, all the things she wanted to do, all the ways she and Spencer - and whoever else joined them- were going to rise to the top. Last night, she had poured over every single dark-type move. Yeah, of course Spencer couldn't learn all of them, but until she discovered what moves Zorua could learn, this was the best way. Plus, she wanted to teach her other moves as well, she just wasn't sure if it was possible.
"Okay, Spencer, I had a great idea." Everest announced, dramatically flaring her hair as she swept it out from behind her. The dark-type looked up at her in curiosity, eager to grow stronger too. "Let's boost your speed, make you untouchable." She proposed, and as if it was planned, a Pidgey flew past them, chasing a Fletchling that was much faster. "See! The world of pokémon is giving us inspiration. I'll race you to that tree and back." Challenge in her eyes, Everest took off, with Spencer hot on her heels. Little did either of them know, this was the first of many races that would lead to their team to be known as the fastest in all of Kalos.
-ES-
Later that day, after an hour of racing, Everest finally decided that she was much outclassed by Spencer. But that wouldn't stop their races anyways. Now, with the sun beating down on them, and three battles under their belts, they felt good. Great even. The Scatterbug from the previous night, plus a Fletchling and another Scatterbug were all defeated. Admittedly, the flying-type was much more difficult that expected, seeing as it had the air advantage and was wicked fast. They barely managed to beat it, only with the helps of Fake Tears did they win. But, now there was even more motivation to get stronger, as well as Spencer may finally admit that potions helped. After rounding the next corner, they saw a boy through the trees. He was taking slow steps through the tall grass, looking around for something. With Spencer perched on her shoulder, and the egg in a protective hug, she passed through the trees and right into the boy's view.
"Aha! So another falls into my trap! I challenge you to a battle!" He shouted, probably a couple years younger than Everest, his red cap on backwards and his blonde, shaggy hair hanging in his face.
"Challenge accepted! My name's Everest by the way." She introduced and set the egg by her feet. She was nervous to fight in her first official battle, but she trusted Spencer.
"Austin, the champ! Come on out Zigzagoon!" He laughed happily, and his pokemon was revealed. He nodded towards the pokemon perched on her shoulder. "Fighting with that one?" Austin asked curiously, in truth he had never seen that type before.
"Yes, I choose you Spencer!" The pokemon jumped off her shoulder and onto the grass. "And, let's confuse them." She grinned, and as directed, the Zorua's image changed into a Zigzagoon.
"Woah. How'd you do that?" He asked, frozen in shock. So, the girls took their chance to make their move.
"Use pursuit!" The Zorua took off, hitting right on her target. The Zigzagoon cried out in surprise, meanwhile the illusion pokemon retreated to wait for the next move.
"Zigzagoon, growl." Austin pointed, still visibly shaken. Austin's Zigzagoon followed orders, and the intimidating growl rang out over the field, even from such a small creature Everest shivered as the fangs glinted in the light.
"Don't let yourself be outdone Spencer, scratch."With great speed, Zorua took off and dove for the other pokemon. Slashing right across the striped pokemon's face, it collapsed to the ground, whining pitifully. Austin rose his hand, recalling the injured pokémon.
"Return. Nice, that is some neat trick you got there." Austin smiled and offered a hand to the girl. Everest smiled and shook his hand.
"Thank you, it's actually her ability." Everest explained, and Zorua went back to normal. It licked Austin's leg in greeting before going back to her trainer's arms. "Thank you for the battle, I haven't ever battled a trainer before." Her admittance earned her a shocked face.
"Really? I couldn't tell! Good luck on your journey." He smiled before waving, he was headed out. "Don't go into the woods unprepared!" Everest nodded to him in thanks before facing the unknown, the dark trees welcomed them.