As I trudged through Viridian Forest, I tried to stay quiet to avoid any wild Pokemon that may have been up and about. The feeling of dread in my stomach faded as I got farther and farther away from the manor. I had gotten out, finally - though unfortunately, this was only the beginning. I was still anxious and tense, alert in case I was discovered by either a Team Rocket member. I… I was more worried than excited to be honest. It didn't really feel like the start of some grand adventure - I was just concerned with the moment and its immediate consequences, and I would deal with the rest as it came up.
First thing first - the plan. It was a Saturday night, and since I had Sunday off, at latest I had until Monday morning to get the hell out of Viridian and its surrounding routes and cities, as they would be the first areas mother would check once she found out I wasn't in the manor. The time frame could move either way though, as she could check the manor thoroughly first, or she could realize I was missing tomorrow morning. I doubted it, as she never really bothered talking to me on Sunday to begin with, but one of the grunts, Edward, Thomas, or Haru could find out and alert her if they wanted to talk to me about something.
At one point, I considered sneaking off to Johto for my adventure, as less people would know of me and it would be farther from mother's influence. However, it was another region, and entry had to be preapproved at specific checkpoints, which were strictly regulated. I didn't have a passport on me (I looked for one in the manor, but to no avail), so I'd have to sneak in, and if it was found out that I had entered the region illegally, I would be barred from league participation there and in my home region for up to ten years, which really, really wasn't worth it. Kanto's internal laws were rather lax in comparison. Photo ID was only needed to be shown before the conference itself, and hopefully by then mother would be more lenient once I proved myself (hopefully, but I wasn't holding my breath), or at the very least I could apply for my own ID through the police department if necessary.
The game plan at this point was to go over to the route between Viridian City and the league gates to pick up a Pokemon - Mankey, Nidoran Male and Female, and Spearow were all found there, and they were all decent Pokemon to start out with. After that, I would book it through Diglett's Tunnel, doing some sparse training along the way, and try to pick up a Diglett if possible. The first gym I'd be going for was the one in Vermillion, as it was still an electric type gym from the books I'd read in the library. Really, putting an electric gym next to where ground types are commonly found is just asking for a vicious defeat, I swear…
Unfortunately for me though, league cycles started at the beginning of April every year in Kanto, and since I was starting in August, I would be four months behind everyone else. Most people with birthdays around mine would just wait until the next league cycle to start, but… I wanted to spite mother, so that was out. I'd have a lot of catching up to do, and the latest I'd heard of a trainer starting and making it to the league competition was three months (and that was in Johto too), so it would be difficult, at the very least. But it did seem doable, so I'd simply have to go above and beyond.
After an hour or so of wandering through the wilderness, I finally made it to Viridian City. It was late, almost midnight, and the cool summer night breeze surrounded me as I made my way out of the cover of the trees. Soft lamplight fell down onto the streets, and the quiet buzz of electricity running through them compounded with the small houses on the streets made me relax a little as I was finally back in civilization. It was a nice, quiet night as I skirted around the city outskirts over to Route 22, only passing two people along the way who both kept to the opposite side of the street before skirting off into the shadows cast by the quaint buildings.
I gulped as I approached the city limits again, a small wooden sign marking the way forward as the path to the Indigo League. I was finally here - I put three of Miya's pokeballs into my jacket's right pocket for easy access, and cautiously crept forward, eyes scanning the grassy plains and brick road ahead for signs of any wild Pokemon.
Suddenly, I saw a flash of purple rush by around twenty feet ahead of me and I chucked a pokeball at it with expert precision. The creature was engulfed in red light, and I was never more thankful to Edward and Thomas for forcing me to learn how to throw and aim properly (though in their case itt was knives instead of pokeballs). I lunged forward to close the gap between me and the creature in case it broke out - I knew it probably was going to as I hadn't weakened it at all, but I still held out some hope.
It did break out though, just as my fingers grazed the pokeball. Shit, I thought as I leaped back, I was too eager, I need to wait for the click next time. The Nidoran Male - I wasn't sure if it was male or female up to that point - shook itself off, sending a barrage of poison spines off it's back in my direction. I dived behind a nearby boulder for cover. If it wasn't for training with Edward and Thomas, I probably would've been hit by them - their training really seemed to be useful today, huh?
Shit shit shit, I really didn't think this through. Should I run and cut my losses or still try to catch it? I pondered, my brain running a mile a minute. I cautiously peered out from behind the rock, and the purple-spined creature tilted its head and chirped at me. I stilled, and it slowly approached me and began nipping at my backpack. I then realized I had food in there from when I packed earlier.
I'm such a stupid fucking idiot, I could've just offered one food from the beginning, but no, I had to waste a flipping pokeball and almost get impaled, I thought. The darn thing doesn't even look that hostile - is it a good battler? Probably not, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose. Nidoking are really tough…
Cautiously, I turned and unzipped my pack, bringing out a small bag of potato chips.
"Hey buddy, sorry about startling you earlier. Want to start again? I'll give you some of these if you want," I began. The Nidoran nodded eagerly, and I popped open the bag and poured some into my hand, holding it out for the Nidoran to eat from. It sniffed the chips for a second before carefully wiggling one into its mouth, careful not to prick me with its spikes. The Nidoran decided it liked the chips and made a happy trilling noise before guzzling more down, still careful not to hurt me. As it ate, I decided it was safe to talk at (or to? I wasn't quite sure - in the anime it seemed that Pokemon could understand human language, but they were still creatures, not humans, and I hadn't really had much experience with Pokemon before considering how mother tried to keep them away).
"I'm looking for a partner you see - I want to challenge the Indigo League this season with a group of capable Pokemon, which is why I'm out here. I don't have a partner yet unfortunately. I'm sorry I went about it the wrong way - I read that Pokemon will defer to trainers if they lose a battle with one of their Pokemon or if they want to join them, is that right?" I asked. The Nidoran nodded. "I… I just want a partner, ya know? Would… would you like to join me on my adventure?" I cringed as the last few words left my mouth. That was hardly a convincing argument - I'd admitted I'd been in the wrong, which mother said never to do as it shows weakness, and then the request came out of nowhere. The Nidoran had an easy out too, no real reason or incentive to join me, yet… it nodded, letting out a quiet purr as it rubbed its head against my hand, purposefully in the same direction as its spines so they wouldn't injured me. I was shocked, wondering why it would want to leave its home with a petulant child who bothered it in the middle of the night only to offer potato chips in reconciliation (it was probably the potato chips - it must have a taste for junk food, right?). Either way, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and I smiled softly at it.
"Thanks Nidoran, you don't know how much this means to me," I said, voice wavering as I pulled out another pokeball. I grinned back at me, trilling and pushing the button on the pokeball, letting itself in with a beam on red light. The ball shook back and forth only once before clicking. I was about to let out a victory shout (what? I was still a kid…) when an amused grunt came from behind me, much louder than Nidoran's noises had been. I stilled, knuckles turning white as I gripped the pokeball, and silently glanced over to the source of the sound. It was a Nidoqueen, standing on the other side of the boulder. It's pale blue body towered over me, and I was scared - no, terrified - that it would attack, as wild Nidoqueen (or any fully evolved Pokemon, really) could be exceedingly dangerous to unaware or unprepared trainers, and here was one less than two feet from me looking in my direction. It's eyes seemed to be laughing at me expression and it grinned before walking away. I grabbed my bag off the ground before pocketing Nidoran's pokeball and bolting it back into the city.
...Well, I suppose winging it works in both dimensions. I'm still amazed I made it out of there alive, to be honest, and only later would it occur to me to ask myself in more depth why Nidoqueen didn't attack and why Nidoran was so alright with just leaving without a second thought. Although, I suppose that is a story for another time.
I only stopped running, slowing to a jog instead, once I could see the pokemart's blue roof of in the distance. Approaching the Viridian trainer's district, I let out a sigh of relief. That was a really, really close call. I pulled Nidoran's pokeball out of my pocket and fiddled with it, smiling. This… this could work now. I'd made it out, I had a Pokemon - everything was looking up compared to a few hours ago, discounting the near death experience. I tried focusing on making a list in my head of what to buy at the pokemart, as I knew I'd simply dwell on it if I didn't try to distract myself. It was a bad habit of mine, dwelling on the negative, which was probably why I was such a pain to deal with in middle school first time around.
I straightened my spine as I made my way to the door. No need to worry, just look like I belong here and it'll be in and out, real quick. I stepped in, the doorbell ringing softly as I did, and the middle-aged man at the counter looked over to me.
"Pokemon trainer?" he asked. I held up Nidoran's pokeball and nodded, to afraid to speak yet in case my voice decided to betray me. He squinted through his spectacles before nodding. It was interesting, actually, as in that for whatever reason occupied pokeballs simply felt fuller and more energetic than their empty counterparts. Even if they looked similar, they weren't, and by holding it one was able to feel their Pokemon's energy at their fingertips, humming inside the capsule. According to the grunts, each Pokemon felt uniquely different too, and most trainers were able to easily distinguish between them in order to call out the right partner in the heat of battle. Pokemart clerks actually had special glasses or devices able to read if a pokeball had a Pokemon in it, and if so it could determine if its holder either captured it themself or obtained it in a legal manner (trade or ID transfer, though admittedly Team Rocket was able to easily fake ID transfer once brought back to special machines at a base).
I made my way in and quickly shuffled over to the trainer supplies aisle. Thank goodness (or evilness?) they were labeled similarly to WalMart, or else I'd never be able to figure out where the stuff I needed was. As it was, I already had to stop myself from staring to prevent any more attention on my person than necessary.
I grabbed a belt that could clip pokeballs onto it - a necessity for any trainer, as reaching into me bag for pokeballs would be a pain and I could drop supplies if not careful - along with a map. I then swung by the food and care aisle and grabbed Pokemon food for Nidoran and the potential Diglett. I would've been more careful about that it the food was sorted by species, but it was by type and had expiration dates in the far future, so worst-case scenario Nidoran could eat it once evolved into Nidoking if I didn't catch a Diglett. Finally, I grabbed some potions, antidotes, and paralyze heals from the same aisle (I didn't want any potential catches fainting from Nidoran's Poison Point - and yes, I checked, and abilities exist here - and paralysis could be a bitch). I made then my way to the counter and placed my purchases on top of it. The man simply raised an eyebrow before scanning the items, cutting the tags off, handing them back to me, and reading off the total.
"How will you be paying today, miss?" he asked. Carefully, I pulled out the necklace Miya had gotten me for my birthday years ago from my bag, and his eyes grew wide. He clicked the appraisal button on the side of his glasses (those were a feature the devices had too, which was a way to quickly and easily determine the authenticity of any common item or material that a trainer may try to pawn off), and his eyebrows went even further up his head, if that was even possible.
"That's… that's genuine sapphire and silver. Are you sure you want to pay with this?" he asked, and I nodded. I hated to part with it so early, but… it'd be easier this way. I was never more thankful that pokemarts doubled as pawn shops with standardized rates, as I could be sure that I wouldn't be taken advantage of too badly, even if I didn't really have a good grasp of smaller quantities of money (mother's tutors always had me working on larger scales, and I hadn't really been to too many stores in this life to ascertain what something like this would cost). He shrugged.
"Well, if you're sure… sign here." I did, as it was standard for larger pokemart transactions. Thankfully, my handwriting in this life was rather sloppy with the new writing system, so he wasn't able to really read what my name actually was, but he had what he needed all the same. He gave me the receipt and several thousand in cash back. I stuffed everything except the map and belt back into my bag and nodded to him before exiting the store. Once outside, I put the belt on and clipped Nidoran's pokeball on it first before filling three more of the slots with the remaining pokeballs for easy access. I opened the map, humming to myself in thought.
"So," I muttered, "if Diglett's Cave is this way…"
AN: I'm really sorry I went MIA for a bit there. Some stuff came up, and, well... I'll try not to do it again or at least let you all know first. During this time, I also realized that a once a week upload schedule just isn't doable for me, and with how the story is going so far, chapter length is going to have to increase to accommodate what I want to do with the next chunk of it (minor spoilers I guess, but I want to make chapterly or bi-chapterly mini stories like the episodic tales the anime tells, as it works well for the Pokemon journey format). So, as a result, I'm going to try to update this story every two weeks on Saturday. Admittedly, I may miss mark again once in a while, but will update once a month at absolute minimum. Thanks again for reading, and have a great week!
Edit: Oof, I can't count apparently. Just did an extra check on the chapter to make sure grammar was right and whatnot (I'm really paranoid about stuff like that sometimes haha) and I noticed in the second to last paragraph I had four pokeballs instead of three. She started with five, one broke and one caught Nidoran, so there should be three. Sorry 'bout that!