Took forever to get this out, sorry for that. Rewrote it a few times because these early chapter are bugging me. I have later chapters fleshed out so much better, just getting there is becoming frustrating... But I guess that is why I am doing this and getting practice in. :P

using ' to indicate thoughts over speech, example: 'thoughts'

"Alright! Shall we do a 2-on-2 battle then?" Cassandra asked as she took her spot across from Adrian in the small clearing they had found.

"Sounds good to me!" Adrian replied with confidence.

"Good! I have more badges, so as the more experienced trainer, I will choose first. Let's go, Aipom!" The blonde girl tossed a pokeball into the air and out popped the small purple monkey that the boys had seen her training before.

"Alright! Then I choose you, Nidoran!" Adrian threw his own pokeball, releasing his poison pokemon.

"Aipom, this one looks tough, but we got this! Hit it with a swift!"

"Nidoran, counter with a poison sting!" Aipom jumped into the air and with a swipe of its tail launched a shower of white stars at its foe, however, they were met with a spray of purple needles. The attacks met midair, exploding and canceling each other out. "Now hit it with horn attack!"

As aipom was landing from its jump, nidoran charged it with a glowing white horn. The attack hit hard before aipom had a chance to evade it. Aipon was sent flying backwards into a nearby tree.

"Are you okay, Aipom?" The monkey slowly stood and nodded. "Alright, then let's get back in there with a fury swipes!" The long tail pokemon charged once more, but before it made contact another spray of purple needles was launched at it, taking it out of the battle. Cassandra recalled her injured pokemon and thanked it for a job well done.

"Your aipom is really quick, once it gets a bit more power behind its attacks it will be a force to be reckoned with." Adrian encouraged his opponent.

"Thanks! This time I think I will use a more experienced member of my team though." Cassandra withdrew a heavy ball this time. "I hope you're ready! Come on out, Phanpy!" She tossed out her pokeball and in a burst of red energy and sparkles emerged a tiny elephant pokemon.

"Is your phanpy alright?" Adrian asked with a hint of concern in its voice.

"Of course he is!" Cassandra chirped. "Why do you ask?"

"Well… He just looks a bit pale. My brother had a phanpy when I was little and it was a darker blue than that…"

"Oh, don't worry about that! My phanpy is just extra rare!" She winked at the boys as she explained. "You see, he is what is known as a shiny pokemon. It means that it has an unusual color. It is a very rare phenomenon."

"Alright, if it isn't sick then I have no problem beating it!" The confidence returned to Adrian's voice as he spoke. "Nidoran, start this off with a horn attack!" Nidoran's horn began to glow as it charged the new foe.

"Take down, now!" Phanpy began to charge as well. The two pokemon slammed into each other, neither wanting to give an inch. Eventually, nidoran was over powered and tossed back by the long nose pokemon. Both pokemon had taken damage, but nidoran definitely took more than phanpy.

"Quick, hit it with poison sting!"

"Counter with rollout!" Phanpy curled into a tight ball and began to roll towards its foe, who shot a spray of purple needles out of its mouth. The majority of the needles bounced off, the rollout negating most of the damage, but a few of the needles hit their mark, causing some damage and poisoning the ground-type. The attack hardly slowed phanpy's advance though, it sped forward and slammed into the poison pokemon. Nidoran bounced off the ground a few times and slid to a halt. Nidoran was unable to continue the battle.

"Nidoran, you did a great job. Take a long rest."

'Phanpy is a ground-type, so tentacool would have the advantage… but on land it can't move nearly as well as phanpy can… Cyndaquil doesn't have the type advantage but it would be able to dodge a lot easier…' Adrian thought to himself. Each of his remaining pokemon had huge pros and cons, and this choice would decide the battle.

"Alright." Adrian said, reaching for a pokeball on his belt. "Let's end this, Cyndaquil!" From the pokeball emerged the small fire mouse pokemon, who let out a loud cry and ignited its back.

"A fire-type, huh? Well, let's see what you have planned. Phanpy, take down!" The little elephant began to charge its opponent.

"Cyndaquil, use smokescreen!" Cyndaquil released a large cloud of dark smoke from its mouth. Phanpy charged through the cloud to where cyndaquil had been standing, but found nothing there. "Now, hit it with ember!" A barrage of small fireballs pelted phanpy from its left. The long nose pokemon shook off the damage from the ember, but then recoiled from a surge of poison that coursed through its body.

"Phanpy, we have to finish this now or it's all over. Rollout!" Phanpy curled into a ball once more and rocketed towards its foe.

"Cyndaquil, flame wheel!" Cyndaquil began to charge its foe, the flames on its back erupting into a raging inferno and surrounding its body. The two pokemon slammed into each other, both flying backwards towards their trainers. They both tried to slowly make their way to their feet, but only cyndaquil was able to stand. The damage that the poison had done to phanpy proved to be too much.

"Phanpy, return. You were wonderful." Cassandra smiled down at her pokeball after recalling her pokemon. She looked over at Adrian who had cyndaquil in his arms and was congratulating the fire pokemon on its victory.

"You did great, Cyndaquil! I'm so proud of you!" He held his starter in the air as it let out happy squeaks. Chance also congratulated the two on their victory.

"You did very well." Cassandra said as she approached the boys.

"Thanks! You did too! Your pokemon are really strong." Adrian smiled at the girl.

"Aipom still needs a lot of training, but that's okay. He is improving a lot. Battling somebody strong like you will do wonders for him." Cassandra picked up the egg and her backpack, including pichu who had found its way back inside, as she spoke. "Anyways, I believe I should hand this off to you. But remember, you only get to keep it if you prove your heart to me as a trainer." She held the egg out towards the blonde boy.

"Don't worry. I will show you that I raise my pokemon with love and respect." Adrian smiled as he took the little yellow and black egg. "I promise."

"So, are you going to tell us what is in here yet?" Chance asked as he inspected the egg.

"Nope! Half the fun is waiting and seeing what comes out!" Cassandra replied cheerfully.

"I guess..." The redhead said with a hint of disappointment.

"Come on, there is no point pushing for information. We will find out soon enough." Adrian smiled.

The boys and their new traveling companion began their walk once more. While they traveled they got to know each other a bit more. They spoke about their pasts, their current goals, their families, the pokemon they had, and many more topics during the next few hours. The boys learned that Cassandra actually had about twenty different pokemon, but only about half of them were ones she used to battle. Her collection had slowly been building for years due to the amount of eggs people left at the daycare with her family. In fact, the only pokemon she had actually captured was her phanpy.

The small group eventually decided to stop for the evening and set up camp. While Adrian made dinner, Cassandra took the time to work with her aipom and pichu a bit more. Chance used his hoothoot and snivy to help train the two younger pokemon, as well as themselves, by allowing Cassandra's pokemon to launch countless swift and thundershock attacks at the two, while Chance's pokemon practiced dodging the attacks.

Soon the meal had been prepared and the group sat to eat, making light conversation as they did so.

"So, Cassandra, you said you have a lot of pokemon, right?" Adrian asked. "Which was your first?"

"Well, that would be my marill." The blonde girl replied happily. "My parents gave her to me back when she was still an egg. She hatched into a cute little azurill back when I was about nine years old. What about you guys? Cyndaquil and snivy are your firsts?"

"No. Actually, my nidoran was my first. One of my brothers caught him for me when I was seven." Adrian smiled as he remembered the day he and his pokemon first met.

"What about you, red?" Cassandra questioned teasingly.

"Um… No, actually. Snivy wasn't my first."

"Really? I thought you said she was your starter when we met." Adrian asked, confused.

"Well, yeah. She was the pokemon Professor Juniper gave me to start my journey, but I had another pokemon before her. I just decided not to bring it with me."

"Why not? If you don't mind me asking." Cassandra leaned forward a bit as she asked.

"Well, it was given to me when I was born. We were really close for years, but then a few years ago it evolved. Once it evolved it liked to battle a little too much… It became too hard to control. It stopped listening to me and just wanted to fight all the time… So a friend is helping take care of it until I become a better trainer… A trainer that can take care of his pokemon." Chance stood and began to walk away slowly as he spoke. The last words were spoken over his shoulder. Adrian saw a glimpse of pain in his eyes as he turned away and began to walk into the forest, followed closely by snivy.

"Well, that got gloomy fast…" Cassandra spoke with a bit of a sigh.

"Yeah… I'm gonna go talk to him. Watch the fire?" Cassandra nodded in response to the request. Adrian walked away in search of his friend.

After several minutes of walking he still had not come across his companion. Adrian began to grow concerned before he heard a light chuckle from above him.

"You know you've walked under me three times now." Adrian quickly looked up, a bit startled by the sudden noise.

"Were you just planning to sit up there and watch me walk in circles?" The blonde asked sarcastically as he spotted his friend sitting on a branch above him.

"I could have, but I just told you where I was, didn't I?" The redhead responded with a laugh. "Snivy, wanna help him up, please?" The grass snake pokemon sent two small vines down that wrapped tightly around the blonde's was, helping raise him up to the branch as he climbed. Adrian sat next to his friend on the low branch.

"Are you going to be okay? Your mood dropped pretty suddenly…"

"I'll be fine… Just bad memories. I failed my friend." The redhead looked up to the distant stars as he spoke. "It just sucks knowing how bad I messed up…"

"You know," Adrian reach up and gave his friend's shoulder a squeeze. "We all make mistakes, and we learn from them. It's what we do. But you were a kid. How is a kid supposed to handle a pokemon that wants to fight nonstop?"

"I know… But if I had been a better trainer I could have helped it. The son of a champion… Failed with his very first pokemon. I should be better than that…" Chance pulled snivy into an embrace as he spoke.

"So you'll become a better trainer. You will work hard and learn how to handle a more experienced and wild pokemon like that. You will go back and be the trainer you need to be. You'll be the trainer you think you have to be just because you're the son of a champion…"

"What do you mean?" The redhead asked his friend.

"Well, you keep putting yourself on a damn pedestal. How are you supposed to learn if you think you have to be perfect at all times?" Adrian jumped down from the branch. "If you keep believing you are supposed to just know rather than taking the time to learn then you will never get to where you need to be." He looked up to his friend above. "Just be your damn self. Don't be your mother's shadow. Live for you. Learn for you. Become who you are destined to be. Not who your mom is." He turned and walked away.

Adrian quickly got back to their small camp and crawled into his sleeping bag. He didn't speak a word to the girl who was waiting for him. He just faced away from the fire and closed his eyes. Soon after Chance arrived back at the camp and did the same, pulling his snivy close to his chest as he curled up in sleeping bag next to Adrian's.

"Well fine then." Cassandra said with a huff. "Guess we are all just going to be emotional and go to bed then." She dowsed the fire and laid down dramatically in her bag across the fire from the boys, her pichu held tightly in her arms. Silence fell over the group, save the gentle crackling of the final embers slowly dying.

A small whisper broke the silence, just loud enough for Adrian to barely hear. "Thank you." The blonde rolled over to look at the source of the whisper, but the redhead had already turned to face away from him. Nevertheless, a small smile crossed his face as he turned to allow sleep to overtake him.