Three weeks after the events of "Birth" the day before the journey begins
Training had gone off without a hitch at first; I had been able to train with Blade so we could develop a sort of rhythm. The goal was for me to understand how he battled and for him to understand how I commanded the battle. At first we had trouble working together as a team but as I soon found out, my ability to understand pokemon made training almost fly by. We had been testing our skills against Rose and Ashlyn at least three times a week. Although they continued to beat us almost every time we fought them, Blade and I didn't give up. Every time we lost, we would go over the battle with each other then the next day we would be out training against the wild pokemon in the area. The only move I knew Blade could do was tackle so I was stuck with that one move for now at least. I'll admit, I made our battles boring and repetitive but there wasn't anything I could do. Anyway, after almost losing to Rose and Ashlyn a dozen times we finally beat them. It might've been because Blade had become stronger and faster than Rose but I think it was because we learned how they fought. They would attack, retreat and then dodge with a counter attack. It had taken me a little bit to consider learning my opponents fighting style but after that first victory I realized it would be an invaluable technique. It had been just around three weeks since we had started training and the day before Professor Oak had announced that we were both ready to leave Arora town to start our pokemon journeys. Then, that same night, Professor Bark had told us to meet with him the next morning. So that's where we are now. Unfortunately I had gotten up late.
The next day
"Chris! Wake up Chris! We leave today, get up already!" I heard Blades voice echo in my mind as I felt him jumping on me. I opened my eyes and he leaped off of me and sprinted out of my donated room as quiet as a ninja sneaking in the night. He had finally become his emerald green self, after about a week his color had fully come in and he resembled the mother who had given me his egg. I sat up and changed into my traveling clothes. A simple black shirt with blue jeans and black sneakers. I had also packed a few extra pairs of clothes along with some swimwear and other essentials in my duffel bag. I checked my trainer's bag quickly before heading down. Five poke balls, three great balls, two ultra-balls, four dusk balls, and steam ball. The steam ball was one that Bark had customized to catch fire type pokemon, he told me it would come in handy since the first gym was a bug type gym. I checked the other pouches and confirmed the ten potions, two of each of antidotes, burn heal, awakening, ice heal, paralyze heal, and full heal then three ethers and a variety of mail to keep in touch with Oak when he was off in Kanto. I hurried downstairs, clipping my duffel bag to my trainer's bag so it wouldn't flop around. When I got down it was clear that everyone had been waiting for me.
"Well, glad you decided to join us Chris. But while you were out sleeping Ashlyn has already received her gift and has been waiting for you for almost an hour." Bark said, clearly irritated and making it sound like she was angry with me. I looked to Ashlyn and she just smiled and nodded towards Bark and I understood that he was the angry one. "Ahh, well, you needed your rest I guess but you could've let me…us, know you would've been late. Here, put this on." He commanded, handing me what looked like a little red Bluetooth with an eye piece. I hooked it onto my ear and after a quick debriefing from Bark I turned it on and the eye piece flipped out over my eye and lit up with the word 'Pokédex' on screen. "This is the latest model of Pokédex, it'll give up all the information on any pokemon it scan and will store that information so you can view It anytime. It'll give you the pokemon's type, level, move set, and a brief description of it. Go ahead, scan Blade and Rose. I focused the eye piece over Rose and it brought up all her information, labeling her as an 'Ally'.
Bulbasaur(Rose): Poison/Grass, Lvl 8, (Tackle, Leech Seed, Growl); "There is a plant seed on its back right from the day this Pokémon is born. The seed slowly grows larger."
"Why does it label Rose as an Ally?" I asked Bark after reading her information.
"Ah, I programmed each of your pokédex to recognize each other's caught pokemon." Bark explained, I nodded then scanned Blade.
Scyther(Blade): Bug/Flying, Lvl 8, (Leer, U-Turn, Quick Attack, Focus Energy); "With ninja-like agility and speed, it can create the illusion that there is more than one of itself."
"What's U-Turn?" I asked Blade, hoping he'd know since he technically did know it. I also noticed that he knew Quick Attack and not Tackle as I had originally thought.
"I'm not sure, I don't remember learning it but I have a vague memory of how to execute it." Blade explained, although that answer wasn't really helpful.
"Must be an egg move, sometimes when a pokemon hatches from an egg it'll know some of the moves it's parents knew. But it's a rare occurrence." Ashlyn told me, being way more helpful. I thanked her for the answer and Bark for the pokédex.
"Well, you two better get a move on. Oh Ashlyn, before I forget, show Chris your new pokemon." Bark told Ashlyn, I looked to her expectantly. Had she already caught a pokemon? Had I really been asleep that long?
"I'll show him on the way out." She told him and we were on our way. Blade and Rose remained outside their poke ball's as we walked, they always do unless they've fainted. Ashlyn pulled out a pokeball and tossed it, releasing her new pokemon. We stopped as the pokemon appeared in front of us. I switched on my pokedex and quickly scanned the pokemon.
Pidgey(Flutters): Normal/Flying, Lvl 6, (Tackle, Sand Attack); "It has an extremely sharp sense of direction. It can unerringly return home to its nest, however far it may be removed from its familiar surroundings."
Flutters looked to us quickly and noticed Blade immediately. It got into its battle stance, spreading its feet out so it would be more balanced. It bent slightly forward, ready to pounce onto Blade at Ashlyn's command.
"What do I do Ashlyn?" the little bird asked, staring at her out of the corner of its eye.
"Nothing, Flutters, Blade and Chris are friends. They're traveling with us." Ashlyn explained and Flutters relaxed and approached Blade bravely. All of the feathers on the tiny birds back were a deep and dark brown while the feathers on its stomach were more whitish and its beak and talons were a pinkish skin color. Flutters looked up at Blade, marveling at how big the bug type was. He flapped his little wings and flew up and onto Blades back and worked its way up to his shoulder. He settled down there and was then just staring at us.
"This is a big bug…" Flutters commented and Ashlyn and I chuckled a little. The bird looked at me questioningly. "What are you laughing at big ears?" he said, clearly trying to insult me. I stopped laughing and looked over to Ashlyn, feigning insult, just as Flutters looked away, losing interest in me.
"Are my ears really that big?" I asked her and out of the corner of my eye I saw Flutters jump and fall off of Blade and onto the ground. He stumbled to his feet, staring at me in disbelief as he began to realize I could understand him.
"Not really, I'd say they're normal sized." Ashlyn told me, smiling, understanding why I did that. We had a short laugh before Flutters found his voice.
"You can understand me…..your like her?" he asked slowly. I nodded and he shook his head, composed himself then flew back to Blade's shoulder. We headed towards the Arorian woods, which was where I had awoken that fateful day. I knew for a fat that there were some dangerous pokemon here at night so I insisted that we get through before nightfall. Ashlyn understood why, she knew that that night had left me traumatized and that I had despised these woods ever since. We were going by some tall grass when a young boy called out.
"Hey, wait up!" he called out. Ashlyn and I turned to face him. "Our eyes meet, and you can't turn down a battle." The kid said, clearly a bug catcher, and sent out a little pink bug pokemon my pokedex identified as Wurmple. Ashlyn called on Flutters and me, Blade, and Rose watched the battle.
"Sand Attack and follow up with Tackle!" Ashlyn shouted and Flutters obeyed. He flapped his wings rapidly, sending up a cloud of dust that blinded the Wurmple. Flutters landed and ran full speed into the dust cloud and came out the other side of it Tackling the Wurmple into the ground.
"Wurmple, use String Shot!" the bug catcher shouted. The Wurmple got up and shot a web of string at Flutters.
"Sand Attack, quickly!" Ashlyn commanded. Flutters obeyed, yet again sending up a cloud of dust but aside from the dust the force of Flutters flapping his wings stopped the Wurmple's String Shot dead in the air. "Tackle!" Ashlyn shouted, Flutters obeyed and with a final push the Wurmple was knocked out. Since that was the bug catchers only pokemon he cautiously approached Ashlyn and handed her the prize money than ran back from where he had come from. After that Ashlyn and I had made an agreement, she would fight the trainers and I would fight the wild pokemon we ran into. The occational Wurmple or Caterpie was encountered and even a baby Weedle but Blade was more than a match for all of them. Ashlyn took on a few more trainers and soon Flutters had learned Gust which made fighting the local bug catchers laughably easy for her. Within an hour we had made it through the forest and according to my pokedex Flutters had grown seven levels, Rose had grown three and Blade had grown four. While Flutters had learned Gust, Blade learned Pursuit which replaced Leer and Rose had learned Vine Whip. We checked into a pokemon center that night in Barclain City, the home of the first gym, and had our pokemon healed. We booked a room at a hotel a few blocks from the gym and settled down for the day.
"So Ashlyn, you gonna take on the gym tomorrow?" I asked as I helped her clean out Flutters feathers of all the dirt from the forest.
"Nah, gonna train a bit more. Gym's are tough, I wanna be ready for this one." She told me, pulling out some dirt from Flutters wing. We kept going till we were done before she spoke again. "What about you?" she asked.
"Nope, Blade doesn't know any flying moves yet so I'm gonna try to get a Fire type." I told her, laying back and almost dozing off.
"Good idea, bug type pokemon are weak to fire types and flying types." Ashlyn commented.
"Like me!" Flutters pointed out happily. I chuckled then went off to the bathroom and changed into my night clothes. I can back and Ashlyn was already in bed, fast asleep with Rose and Flutters curled around her. Blade was lying in a corner, watching me as I walked out.
"Going to bed?" he asked.
"Yeah, I am. Why, what's up?" I asked him, he shifted uncomfortably.
"Do you want to mate with Ashlyn?" he asked me, the question alone stunned me to silence. He just came right out there with it.
"What are you talking about Blade?" I questioned, recovering from the shock.
"You said you love Ashlyn, remember? Does love mean you want to mate with her?" he asked me out of pure curiosity.
"No, it means that, well…that I love her Blade." I told him, whispering now incase Ashlyn was still awake. "I really care about her, I want her to be happy, I don't really know how to describe bud. I don't think I've ever been in love before. It's new to me, I'm not really sure what to do." I told him, sitting down on the edge of my own bed.
"Oh, ok…I think I love Rose then." Blade announced, and I was taken aback.
"Do you now?" I asked him, laying down, ready to fall asleep for years on end.
"Uh-hu, good night Chris." Blade said then shut his eyes.
"Night Blade." I told my partner, then I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep, welcoming the dreams that would invade my mind.