Heyllo folks! Here we are, at the 10th and the longest chapter of 'The Very Best' so far. On this occasion, I'd like to thank everyone who has favorited and followed the story, and especially the few of you who review. I have a blast when I'm talking/arguing with you guys through PMs.
Now, for those of you who complained about last chapter's pick/treatment of Amy/Leaf and don't have your PMs open or are using guest accounts, I have this to say. Did you read the story I've written so far and seen Mark do dick moves in almost every chapter and think 'Nah, he won't do it again,' or what? The guy manipulated his mother into stealing things from her place of employment during her vulnerable state. He's not really a pillar of morality. Also, why would he tell his real reasons for picking Bulbasaur to anyone, not to mention a room which includes Professor Oak? Of course, he'd say something qazi-logical, but not his real motives. Just wanted to get that off my chest.
On to some admin things. My sister's birthday is tomorrow so I'll probably get drunk so don't expect a chapter until at least Monday.
Enjoy!
Goodbye Pallet, Hello World
'Hmm… Those ears remind me of the worst superhero in the whole of fiction, so I won't name her after one of his catch-and-release-man family members, but what about his frenemies?' Mark thought while he studied his Bulbasaur's expectant face for hints at a nickname.
The corners of his lips quirked up as he gave up the internal struggle and decided, 'I guess the name's right there in her evolutionary path, no need to fight the obvious. Now, how do I spin this one?'
He allowed his lips to form the smile they wanted as he exclaimed, "I got it!" making the Bulbasaur sit up straight with her full focus on his next words.
"There was once a beautiful lady who fought fiercely to protect her friends against anyone who would harm them. This lady had a special power where she could make plants listen to her every command, and could use her innate powders to either harm or influence others around her. Due to her actions, her enemies gave the woman, Pamela Isley, the vicious moniker of Poison Ivy. Instead of running from it, she decided to embrace the name as her real one and fought for her friends from that day on under the new title. Thus, in a hope that you fight for our friends and family as she did, I would like to name you Ivy. What do you say?" Mark asked when he finished his heavily edited retelling of the eco-terrorist's backstory.
He had to keep some truth in his story otherwise his new Bulbasaur wouldn't believe in it, but he learned how to avoid letting a Pokemon know he lied a long time ago using trial and error with Kraven.
Of course, a lot of shady people used the same trick to deceive Pokemon so he tried to curtail his using of the truth to lie as much as he could, at least when he talked to his own team.
Outside of his moral quandaries, Bulbasaur seemed rather pleased with her new name as she stood up on her hind legs and gave him a wet lick of appreciation with her raspy tongue.
Having gotten caught unaware, Mark could do nothing but laugh and pat the soft patch of skin behind Ivy's ears while he tried not to show how much her morning breath bothered him.
"It's great that you like it, Ivy. I debated on using the name because when you evolve into Venusaur I'd still be calling you that, even though your second evolution is Ivysaur. The name won't bother you when you evolve, will it?" Mark asked his almost purring Bulbasaur.
Ivy cracked her eyes open enough to give him a look and a shake of the head while saying, "Bulba," before going back to enjoying his scratches.
'Good, because if you refused to evolve I'd have to make up some kind of friendship is magic excuse to have Leaf trade her Charmander over for a useless Pokemon.' Mark thought while smiling down at Ivy. He feared that the breeder might have sent her over due to her refusal to evolve, and he wouldn't stand for any of his Pokemon crippling his team's potential prowess with that crap.
Half a minute later, Mark stopped spoiling his Bulbasaur and stood up to declare, "OK, let's go and get this process finished so we can start our journey. What do you say, Ivy?"
After an enthusiastic "Saur!" from his Pokemon, Mark finally turned his attention to the rest of the room and did his best to hide his satisfaction at the sight.
Oak, Amy, and Gary all stood around the central pedestal, but each seemed to live in their own world. The Professor shot glances at the green-haired girl while fighting off a slight frown, while Amy stared down at the flame-marked Pokeball with dissatisfaction. Gary, on the other hand, stood with his arms crossed and oozing satisfaction, while his young Squirtle did its best to copy its trainer's pose from his left side.
"Took you long enough," Amy muttered when Mark joined them around the pedestal. He shot her an apologetic smile as he gestured at the small quadrupedal creature following after him and said, "Sorry, had to come up with a nickname for my Bulbasaur. Her name's Ivy, by the way."
"That's a stupid name, I could have come up with a better one," Amy murmured to the side, but Mark still caught it. He didn't let it bother him because he saw Oak's suppressed twitch when he mentioned Ivy's gender and thought, 'Did they not check that before giving them to us?'
Before either of them could pursue that topic further, Gary asked, "Is that all, gramps? Me and Squirtle want to go get ready for our adoring fans."
A vein on Oak's temple twitched as the older man looked down at his grandson in disapproval. Mark knew the Professor asked a bunch of people around town to give Gary a celebrity's farewell to justify why he had cheerleaders with him, but the boy somehow found out and let it get to his head.
"No, Gary, I still have to show you how to use the PC in Pokemon Centers and then you can go," Oak said and turned around to walk over to the nearby computer without giving his grandson any other option but to follow.
For the next few minutes, the Professor taught them how to transfer Pokemon to and from him, and what would happen with the Pokemon they caught if they went over the six Pokemon limit mandated by the law.
Of course, they knew all of this from their studies, but this was the first time they got to do it in practice and Oak didn't want to leave them without the required knowledge.
"Hey, Professor, can we somehow designate specific Pokeballs as ones which would be sent automatically to you without having to fill up a spot in our roster?" Mark asked in the hope of not having to mix Pokemon he caught for making money with the ones he planned on training up.
Oak gave him a confused look for a moment before he remembered how Mark made his money and answered, "I'm afraid not, my boy. That would mean Silph Co. gave anyone access to their technology and a way to mess with it. I doubt that even I would have much luck with that without having to go through numerous checks and restrictions. However, maybe for a future Pokedex update…" the Professor trailed off and turned his head to stare at the piece of machinery where he updated their handheld Pokepedias before giving them out.
After everyone stood in awkward silence for a few seconds, Gary broke it with, "Gramps, are we done now?"
Oak shook his head and blinked down at them like he didn't expect to find them there, before he got a hold of himself and said, "Apologies, children, got a little sidetracked there," he cleared his throat and continued, "Khm, congratulations of becoming Pokemon Trainers. I hope you have an excellent adventure out there and come back home with many new wondrous stories and friends. Please do contact me if you need any urgent assistance. Now, you're free to go. Goodbye and good luck."
With a shout of, "Yes! Let's go, Squirtle," Gary sprinted out of the lab with his Pokemon trying to catch up to him.
Everyone else watched the sight until the turtle left the room and then exchanged amused looks. However, once Amy saw Ivy's sitting form behind Mark, her face lost her smile and she stomped off out of the lab.
Mark went to follow but found a large hand holding his shoulder. When he looked over at the older man, he heard Oak's serious voice ask, "I believe I don't have to tell you not to advertise Ivy's gender before you have a sufficiently strong team to defend you both from nefarious people?"
Returning the Professor's look, the boy shook his head and answered, "No need, I know what having a female starter with me means."
Seeing the understanding in the boy's eyes, Oak let go of his shoulder and gave him a nod of acceptance and understanding.
After replying in kind, Mark turned to his starter and said, "I'm gonna run for a while so I have to return you, Ivy." and returned the Pokemon in her ball before he started sprinting after Amy.
He managed to catch up to her in front of the lab, but still in its perimeter. Several people had already gathered in front of the main gate with banners declaring their faith in Gary, but he ignored them in favor of grabbing Amy's hand and turning her around to face him.
Her stony glare gave him pause, and her growled "What do you want?" didn't help much, but he pushed through and answered, "I wanted to give you a few tips on handling a Charmander, and wish you luck on your journey."
A sneer formed on her face as she questioned, "Oh? Going to regale me with one of your wonderful Charmander tales? Not having second thoughts, are you?"
Mark felt he let her vent enough and pasted a frown on his face before he said, "You never asked me what Pokemon I wanted as my starter."
Amy looked confused with the non sequitur and confirmed it by asking, "What?"
Giving her a shrug, Mark elaborated, "You never asked what I wanted. Instead, you assumed that because I liked them I'd do the emotional decision and pick a Charmander instead of a logical one. Unlike you, I don't have the option of just treating this journey as a part of my life I'll get through before focusing on other things. I aim to be the best, me liking a Pokemon doesn't matter when I'm presented with an option of choosing between what I want and what I need."
Amy looked murderous for a moment but, after staring at his unflinching eyes, she blinked first and deflated on the spot. With a slumped posture she whined while looking down at the ground, "I know, and I'm sorry I'm acting like this, it's just that I don't think I'll be a good trainer for a Charmander."
Lifting her eyes back up, she continued, "You know I don't like fire. How am I supposed to train a Fire-type?"
'Of course, I know, I've been feeding you Fire-type horror stories for years now. It'd be weird if you did like them,' Mark thought, but on the outside, he answered with, "It's not that hard. Just be firm with it and establish your rules early on. Charmander are great when they're young, but don't allow it to evolve until you have its complete obedience. Charmeleon try to push at every boundary if given enough rope, and Charizard will attack you if they see you as beneath them."
Amy gulped once he finished his advice and said, "I see…" before asking, "Are you sure you don't want to come with me? Taking the bus to Viridian and traveling with a group of new trainers to Pewter isn't so bad, and you have more time to challenge the Gyms and do tasks that way."
Mark immediately waved his hand in dismissal of her question as he replied, "Nah, I want to do this the traditional way. I'll have no one claim that I took shortcuts on my way to the top of the Indigo League."
He dropped his feigned arrogance at her eye-roll and continued with more seriousness, "But, if you need something, anything, feel free to call me. You have my Pokegear number so use it. No need to fear bothering the Professor with something small when I'm here expecting to be bothered."
Amy tried and failed, to suppress the smile forming on her face as she said, "Thanks, Mark," then she looked over her shoulder at the gathering crowd and continued, "I should get going, I still have to say goodbye to my parents and get to the bus. I'll see you later."
Mark surprised her with a quick hug, and whispered, "See you later, Leaf," before letting the red-faced girl go.
After giving a shaky nod and a wave, Amy hurried away from him and through the crowd.
With a satisfied smile, Mark followed after her and set out to his own home.
Mark entered his house and found his family waiting for him in the kitchen.
Seeing their excited looks, he chuckled and released his Bulbasaur out of her Pokeball while saying, "Everyone, this is Ivy, Ivy this is my family. They're now your family too."
To his surprise, Marianne reached the Pokemon first with a loud squeal and started petting her all over. Ivy gave him an uncertain look in the beginning but soon gave herself over to the girl's enthusiastic ministrations.
Soon, everyone else gathered around and congratulated him on his first official Pokemon. Well, every human did, Michael's Persian didn't move a muscle from where he slept, and his Wartortle pretended not to care while giving the young Bulbasaur the side-eye.
Mark left Ivy to get better acquainted with his family, while he went to the back garden and pushed his way through the berry trees to reach Kraven's nest. After a few tugs on the conveniently placed string of webbing, Kraven cried out a "Free!" to notify whoever dared to wake him of their impending death. Ignoring the threats, Mark continued pulling on the string until the groggy Butterfree managed to drag himself out of his bed.
When he saw his trainer, Kraven's murderous face perked up and he soon landed on a low branch in front of Mark.
Gliding a hand through the Pokemon's downy hairs, Mark said, "Good morning buddy. You ready to go?"
Kraven nodded his head vigorously several times, and with a "Free!" he jumped up into the sky and started urging Mark to get a move on.
"Not before you eat something and meat our new partner," the boy yelled back and turned to make his way back to the house.
When he reached it, Kraven already waited on the porch while lightly jumping up and down in excitement.
Mark laughed at his oldest friend's behavior and called out, "Ivy, come get some breakfast!"
A stifled yelp, and a cry of, "Bulbasaur!" answered his call as his young Pokemon came barreling through the house in search of him and food, 'Probably food,' he concluded.
When she reached them, Mark pointed to his Butterfree and said, "Ivy, this is Kraven. He's gonna travel with us, keep us safe, and teach you a few things," turning to Kraven, he added, "Buddy, this is Ivy, she's our new partner. As the older one, I expect you to look out for her."
He let the two Pokemon sniff and Pokespeak to each other while he went to prepare their breakfast and some water.
Soon enough, he ransacked the remains of the Bug-Flying and Grass-Poison Pokemon food he left in the small storehouse Tom added once Mark started experimenting with the stuff and no one wanted to see or smell any of it.
While the two Pokemon gorged themselves, Mark went back into the house and up to his room to get ready. This time, no one locked the door, and in a couple of minutes, he had his Pokegear around his wrist, the Bag on his back, and the Berry Pouch on his left hip.
As a last touch, he attached Ivy's Pokeball to the specialized trainer belt he bought in Viridian. It had six small indentations on the front right side where a trainer could attach his or her shrunken Pokeballs with a strong magnet which wouldn't let go unless they held down on the Pokeball's main button for longer than a second. Of course, Silph Co. made it.
Mark tested it out with Kraven's ball and, short of someone ripping his belt off, didn't see how someone could steal the ball from him.
He walked over to the mirror attached to a closet door and checked if everything looked right.
'I'll probably have to put on a long-sleeve shirt and a light jacket when it starts raining later today, but right now I'm fine like this,' he thought as he studied his light-blue t-shirt and dark-grey hiking pants.
'The Berry Pouch really does look ridiculous. Should I wear my sunglasses? Nah, the sun's still not harsh enough for that, and I should enjoy my head-wear free life while I still can,' he concluded and gave the mirror a nod.
Tightening the straps of his Bag – which he still couldn't believe how much he packed in with how little it weighed – he walked out of his room and went back downstairs.
After saying, "I'll be right back," to his nervous family, he went to the back garden and told his satiated Pokemon, "OK, guys. It's time to go. Kraven, go wait in front. Ivy, I'll return you to your Pokeball until we leave town."
With that, he watched Kraven fly off while he returned Ivy and walked back into his home.
Inside, his entire family stood on their feet and waited for him to address them.
Seeing them waiting, he straightened his back and declared, "I'm going now. When I find a place to camp I'll call you and check in."
His family didn't need long goodbyes, nor did he want one. They all knew what would happen today and had made their peace with it long ago.
Tom moved in first and gave him a short hug with a few backslaps and a, "Go get them," thrown in there for good luck.
Michael followed after their father and copied his gesture while saying, "Do what I couldn't,"
Mark felt a little miffed that he didn't reach his brother's chin, but he still nodded solemnly before a smirk appeared on his face as he replied with, "I will, but you better send me the rest of my money by the time I reach Pewter or I'll stop making food for your Pokemon."
This got a hiss from the Persian, and even Michael's Wartortle looked rebellious, prompting their trainer to return the solemn nod and promise, "Consider it done," while everyone else laughed.
Marianne followed after her oldest brother, and just stood there clinging to Mark for a while. He let the hug linger before he leaned down to her ear and whispered, "Remember what I said earlier?" When he felt her nod, he added, "You don't have to follow after us, be your own person."
This prompted the blond girl to look up at him with wide eyes for a long moment and finally gave him a small nod.
Mark knew she had the grades to participate in her own journey next year, but he knew his sister didn't feel the joy of training Pokemon he did or had the need to prove herself to others Michael had. It didn't happen often since everyone considered it a rite of passage, but children could decline to go on their journeys and focus on their education.
When Marianne distanced herself, a silently weeping Sarah embraced him into her bosom and held him there until he had to push her away to get air.
He thought she tried to tell him to eat properly and wash his clothes often, but he couldn't be sure with all the sobbing and hiccupping. Finally, Tom had to drag her away before she made an even more embarrassing scene.
Upon Tom's return, Mark told the remainder of his family, "I'll see you later. Be good," and left for the door without looking back.
After stopping by the local Mart and almost emptying them of their weekly supply of Pokeballs, Mark walked out of Pallet Town with a cheerful whistle on his lips and a skip in his step.
For the first time since he regained his memories, he felt a huge burden lifted off his shoulders.
'No more pretending to be what everyone wanted to see, no more parental rules to stifle me, no more responsibilities other to myself and my team! I can finally breathe the air of a free man!' he exulted to himself and pressed the button of Ivy's Pokeball.
A second later, it enlarged and came off his belt. With a sound of a Pokeball opening, Ivy appeared in front of him and, after looking around for a moment, focused her happy gaze on her new trainer.
"Alright, Ivy, we're on the road! You and I are going to do a little testing while Kraven does some scouting for us, you up for that?" he asked and received and excited, "Bulbasaur!" and a nod in response.
"Great!" Mark slapped his hands and turned to Kraven to order, "You know what to look for, buddy. Come get us once you spot her."
The Butterfree gave a serious nod and flew off to accomplish his mission without further delay as he always did when receiving direct orders he knew Mark considered important.
Returning his focus to Ivy, Mark extended his right hand to the side and asked, "Can you give me your most powerful Tackle straight into my palm here?"
Ivy gave him a skeptical look, but when he reaffirmed his desire with a nod, she scrunched her small back legs in a prepared position and launched herself at her target like a giant toad.
She hit the hand a little off-target with the side of her forehead, but Mark still felt the sting of when she collided with it, and a small flash of white energy extended from her and into his hand.
With his improved strength and durability in this world, he doubted a not even ten kilo Bulbasaur could do him any harm with a full-on body tackle without that energy Pokemon used for all of their moves. Especially not when he suffered through Kraven's suicide Tackles all the time and survived them.
Mark shook his hand out with a lot of exaggeration as he exclaimed, "Ouch! That was a nice hit. When we set up camp tonight we'll find you a sturdy tree to bang against for a while to get that move even stronger and I'll have Kraven teach you his patented Spider-Tackle."
Ivy looked confused at that last bit but still seemed pleased at her success. A lot of the things he read about raising young Pokemon coincided weirdly with raising young children mixed with teaching pets to do tricks from his old life. If other people saw him talking like this he would want to bury himself in concrete, but he had no problems doing it in front of his Pokemon.
"OK, let's try a Growl now. Let me have it!" Mark said and this time Ivy didn't hesitate, she bared her tiny teeth at him and let out a cute, "Bulba!" sound that reverberated strangely to his ears and created slight distortions in the air.
The distortions neared him at a decent speed, but not anything he couldn't dodge if he really wanted to. Letting them hit him, Mark felt a now familiar pressure in the back of his mind which would force him to pull his punches and kicks back at the last moment if he tried to attack something.
With an effort of will, he broke the compulsion and spoke to his expectant Pokemon, "You had me there for a second, but I can't be held at bay with just that."
When he finished speaking he surprised the Bulbasaur by picking her up and throwing her in the air while shouting, "You'll have to do better than that if you want to keep me away from playing with you like this!"
After suffering Michael's Persian using Growl on him so much, not to mention the numerous Pokemon around Pallet, Mark found a way of breaking the compulsion without much effort when used by a weak Pokemon. Kraven, on the other hand, no matter how weak the opponent would have his attack lowered for a certain amount of time, depending on the strength of the Pokemon. Oak said it had something to do with how the move reacted with a Pokemon's energy and Mark had no reason to doubt the Professor.
They continued the fun for a full minute until Mark felt Ivy couldn't breathe anymore from laughing too much. And he feared an accidental projectile vomiting incident so soon after breakfast.
It took them some time to catch their breath, but when they did, Mark went on more seriously, "You had a pretty good reaction time for using the Growl, now all we need to do is increase its spread speed and range. We'll work on it as we move."
Ivy sobered up too and nodded her head in acceptance.
Seeing his instructions listened to, Mark moved on and extended his right hand in front of himself like he was trying to protect himself from an oncoming charging dog and explained, "Now, let's try your Vine Whip's strength. Grab my arm and try to pull me forward."
Ivy responded with an affirmative, "Saur," and extended two dark-green tendril-like vines from the side of the bulb on her back. She had no problems with latching onto Mark's hand and tugging with all she had.
The boy felt pleasantly surprised by the speed and accuracy of the vines so he decided to give Ivy a small victory and took a half-step forward while he said, "Uf, that surprised me. Nice work on the vines, girl. I'll need to brace myself better next time. We'll continue this exercise on the road."
Ivy seemed pleased as she pulled her vines back into her bulb and preened a little at the praise.
Mark hid the grin that threatened to form on his face by looking over his shoulder to where Kraven went. When he got a hold of his expression, he turned back and asked, "Can you make a Leech Seed?"
An expression of concentration appeared on Ivy's face as she furrowed her brow and focused on her inner energy.
A soft white light started to shine at the top of the Bulbasaur's bulb, but soon enough it stopped and Ivy gave a defeated, "Saur," while shaking her head.
Mark squatted down to rub her behind her dark ear and comforted her with, "Don't worry about it. You almost had it. A little more practice on the road and when we camp tonight and I'm sure you'll figure it out."
This seemed to do its intended purpose as Ivy regained her spirits in short order and looked ready to keep going.
Mark stood up and gave her a questioning look as he asked, "You know any more moves by any chance?"
To his slight surprise, Ivy happily nodded her head and distanced herself away from him while pointing the tip of her bulb in the opposite direction from where he stood.
After a second of growling to gather her energy, a splash of dark-purple liquid shot out of Ivy's bulb to a spot in the grass over a meter in front of her.
Mark stared at the smoking and smelly spot for a long moment, before he turned his gaze to a slightly winded Ivy and asked in a quiet voice, "Was that Toxic?"
When she gave him a happy, "Bulbasaur!" and a nod in response, Mark raised his hands in the air and shouted, "YES! Stall strats are back, baby!"
The outburst surprised Ivy for a second as she flinched, but soon she joined him in raising her vines in the air and celebrated with him.
For some reason, when Mark researched famous battle strategies in this world, almost no one used Toxic as a viable move. Once he dug deeper into the mystery, he found out that unlike the games, here almost all Pokemon couldn't learn Toxic from a TM. Only a few of them did from either leveling up or breeding. And from his research into the Bulbasaur species, they learned it from breeding with only a couple of Kantonian Pokemon evolutionary lines.
'If I include the fact that she came from a Grass-Poison breeder, there's only one possible suspect,' Mark thought when he calmed down enough to think clearly.
He turned his gaze back to his still unsure but thrilled Pokemon and asked, "Hey, Ivy, is your father a Vileplume?"
The Bulbasaur looked surprised by both the question and its accuracy as she answered with a confirming nod and positive-sounding, "Saur."
Mark felt his excitement rise as he continued his questioning with, "Any chance you know Petal Dance?"
To his surprise, Ivy responded by lowering her head down in an almost practiced movement and replied with a sad, "Bulbasaur."
'Did someone order a Bulbasaur who knew both Toxic and Petal Dance and she was one of the byproducts of the breeding experiments?' the idea popped into Mark's head once he saw his new partner bracing for something harsh. 'Well, their loss and my gain,' he concluded and squatted down in front of Ivy.
She flinched at his initial touch, but when he just continued to scratch behind her ear and didn't say anything she dared to look up at his face. Seeing no anger there, she finally relaxed into his touch and enjoyed the quiet moment.
Unlike the games, breeding for moves could fail in this world. Sometimes that meant the resulting Pokemon not learning anything desirable, and sometimes it learned only a fraction of what the breeder intended. Either way, Mark didn't care because he now had a Bulbasaur who knew Toxic and had the lineage of two strong Pokemon since he doubted that someone who paid for specific egg moves wanted trash genes.
"Don't worry about Petal Dance, you'll learn it one day when you become a big strong Venusaur," Mark said once he felt Ivy relax her last taught muscle.
She studied him through squinted eyes for a moment to see if he really didn't mind, and once she convinced herself of that she nodded her head and let go of her past worries.
Seeing that he settled the issue, Mark straightened himself up and said, "Well then, let's get on our way. We have a lot of ground to cover today so we better get started," he extended his arm in a guard position and added, "Use Vine Whip on my arm and try to pull me to the side every dozen seconds as we walk. And tell me when you get tired so I can return you to your Pokeball to get some rest."
Ivy gave him an affirmative response and they started their trek.
Along the way, he would start moving his arm when she used her attack to see how she adjusted to sudden changes, but she adapted remarkably quickly and got better and better at predicting where his arm would move to when she tried to grab it.
When she failed, Ivy sent Growls at Mark's smirking face, but he ignored them and kept up the routine.
Twenty minutes later, Kraven came back with the excited air of a job-well-done which his partner could recognize from a mile away.
"You found her," Mark stated instead of asked, and when Kraven gave a quick nod, he ordered, "Well then, lead on."
He turned to Ivy and noticed her slight labored breathing so he said, "I'll return you now, Ivy. Rest up because you might have to fight your first battle soon."
He cherished the surprised look she shot him before her Pokeball sucked her in and started walking quicker to get to his target before anything unexpected happened.
Three hours later, Mark stood on a small hill overlooking a bend in the dirt road leading to Viridian and the small lake that sat next to it.
On the bank of the lake, an orange-haired girl in a yellow tank top and blue daisy dukes with red suspenders sat holding a fishing rod in her hand.
'Let's hope I don't butterfly effect this one too much,' Mark thought and started heading down towards the girl with a friendly smile on his face. He gave Kraven the signal to stay high and scout for incoming threats because he didn't think he'd need him in this fight and didn't want to appear as anything else than what he presented himself as.
Half-way there, the girl noticed him and started reeling in her rod while giving him curious glances.
When he neared enough that he didn't have to shout, Mark greeted her, "Hello! My name's Mark and I just became a trainer today. Do you perhaps have any Pokemon that want to battle my starter?"
The girl looked up at him with surprise in her azure-colored eyes and mumbled, "Right, today is that day, isn't it?" then her expression changed to one of challenge and she exclaimed, "My name's Misty and I don't mind beating you, just don't come crying to me later!"
Mark's smile turned a little crooked as he thought, 'Right, she was a bitch at the beginning of the show,' but he didn't let that bother him as he replied, "No, problem. How about a nice friendly wager of 100P for the winner?"
This time Misty tilted her head to the side in confusion as she asked, "Isn't this your first battle? Why would you want to lose money so soon?"
Mark gave her an uncaring shrug and answered, "I want the full experience. What's the point of battling if you're not risking anything?"
Misty looked like she wanted to argue the point, but the challenging smirk Mark shot her went straight through the logic centers in her brain and landed in the competitive side as her face turned serious and she climbed up the bank to stand a distance away from him.
"You ready?" she asked him when she found a good position to which he replied with, "Sure, just let me tell my Bulbasaur it's having its first battle. Don't want the little fella startled."
Misty gave him a nod of understanding and picked one of her own Pokeballs to get ready for the battle. She didn't seem to care about his type advantage, nor his rare Pokemon.
Mark released Ivy in front of himself, and the small creature greeted him with a happy, "Bulbasaur," while looking around to see where they ended up. She recalled her trainer saying she might have a battle so she felt curious.
The blond boy squatted down so he could whisper his instructions to Ivy and so Misty wouldn't overhear him, "We're going to have our first battle now, Ivy," he let the Bulbasaur say her excited piece before he continued with, "Remember our training on the road?" when he got an enthusiastic nod, he finished, "All right, here's what I want you to do…"
A minute later, when he felt that Ivy understood his instructions, Mark stood up and turned to Misty to announce, "We're ready."
The girl had her arms crossed and muttered, "Finally," with a roll of her eyes before she gave him a nod and without preamble threw her Pokeball while shouting, "Go, Staryu!"
'Stupid throwers, they see the Pros do it on TV and think they can imitate them' Mark thought when he saw her Pokeball stay laying in the grass after the Staryu appeared in a flash of light. It did look cooler to throw the ball, however, unlike the anime, they didn't return to you automatically. If someone wanted that, they'd have to pay a decent sum of money to Silph Co. for one of their special gloves which recalled registered Pokeballs back to it. He considered it a waste of cash so he didn't get one.
"Show them what you've got, Ivy!" Mark said with a decent dose of enthusiasm. Most of it was even real due in part to his first battle with Ivy, and in part to Misty sending out her Staryu instead of her Starmie. Of course, he'd hoped for her Goldeen so he could stomp the fish into the ground, but he could deal with this.
In her exuberance for the fight, Ivy didn't even wait for the official announcement of its start; instead, she immediately shot her Vine Whip towards the standing Staryu and wrapped the star-shaped gold-brown Pokemon up around its central golden part and jewel.
Misty let out an offended, "Hey!" but when she saw the surprise on Mark's face, she turned to her Pokemon and ordered, "Hit it with a Water Gun, Staryu!"
By that point, Ivy had dragged the surprisingly obedient and unmoving Pokemon into her striking distance and started preparing her attack.
Mark found the feat of dragging a Pokemon five times your own weight up to you still a little unbelievable when she couldn't drag him away, but put it up to Pokemon energy interaction shenanigans and focused back on the fight. He'd seen Kraven Tackle Pokemon thrice his size and weight away out of fun so he stopped caring about the laws of physics in this world a long time ago.
The Staryu finally moved when given an order and shot out a thick stream of water from its top appendage.
Mark had warned Ivy this would probably happen, so she closed her eyes, clamped down in the Staryu with her vines, and took it like a champ while still focusing on her own move.
When the stream of water stopped, it revealed a drenched but still hanging in there Bulbasaur with a fierce expression on her face. Giving the Staryu a snarl, Ivy shot out her prepared Toxic from the top of her bulb and straight into the opposing Pokemon's jeweled center.
Misty looked horrified by the surprise attack as she yelled out, "Staryu, get away from that!"
Ivy didn't mind releasing the heavily Poisoned Pokemon as she followed her last instructions and backed away from it while letting out Growls with every step back.
The Staryu followed its orders again and jumped back to stand close to its trainer when it felt the vines release it.
However, Misty either didn't notice the waves moving through the air towards her Pokemon or didn't care as she pinched her nose and shrieked, "What's that smell?!" before focusing her gaze on her smug-looking opponent and asked, "What did your Bulbasaur do?"
Mark feigned surprise as he replied, "Oh, you don't know the move Toxic?"
When the girl shook her head, he continued with, "It's a quite rare and special move that only a few Pokemon species can learn. In this case, my Bulbasaur only knows it because it came from a breeding house. I'd say I got pretty lucky with that, don't you think?"
Misty had murder in her eyes when she growled, "What does it do?"
Mark allowed the smile he fought throughout his rambling to show on his face as he explained, "Oh, it's quite unique. Once hit by it, a Pokemon will be badly Poisoned, and the longer it stays that way the more damage the Poison will do to the poor bastard."
With that last sentence he glanced at the girl's Staryu, making her follow his gaze, and both of them watched its appendages start to go limp with every second that passed.
Mark hoped that her care for her Pokemon would make the girl forfeit the fight then and there. Instead, Misty got an enraged look on her face as she screamed, "You tricked me! Staryu use Swift!"
A slight grimace passed his face, but Mark didn't falter and ordered his untrained Pokemon, "Brace for it." He didn't have any other move than that, all the dodging and evasion training he planned to do with Ivy still hadn't happened. Especially against a move that you needed to either counter or put an obstacle in front of.
Ivy tried her best as the stream of golden stars ejected by the Staryu's jewel struck her, but she couldn't hold out for the entire thing and got bowled over a few times in the grass. Despite that, she rose back to her feet with some difficulty and showed her teeth to the opposing Pokemon while her bulb started emitting a soft green glow.
Misty didn't let up as she pointed at the defiant Bulbasaur and commanded, "Finish it with Tackle, Staryu!"
The star-shaped Pokemon obeyed and launched itself in a spinning Tackle headed straight towards its opponent.
A smirk appeared on Mark's face as he said, "Slap it away," and watched Ivy's vines flash forward, surrounded by green energy, to stop the spinning Staryu in the middle of its attack and slam it down into the ground. Those repeated Growls lowered its attack so much that a slap from a weaker and less experienced Pokemon overpowered its own move, not to mention the effect Grass-type energy in Overgrow had on Water-type Pokemon.
Mark considered giving another order to finish the Staryu off but soon saw that he didn't need to bother since it stopped its struggling and lay still while a light purple gas drifted from it.
Either not seeing it, or not wanting to, Misty screamed at her Pokemon to get up a couple of times more before she sighed in defeat, rushed to where her Pokeball lay, and returned Staryu to its ball, leaving a puddle of purple liquid eating away at the grass there.
Once she conceded, Mark rushed out to the field and picked up Ivy to throw her into the air while shouting, "We did it! Our first battle and we won! You were great!"
Their celebration lasted all the way up to when Misty stomped over to them while holding a note of 100P in her hand and growled, "Here, take it. I need to go to the Pokemon Center so hurry up."
Mark lowered the tired but proud Bulbasaur down to the ground and stuck his hand into his Berry Pouch while saying, "No need, I'll take care of your Pokemon, It would be a poor showing on my part if I just came to beat up your Staryu and then left while taking your money."
He fished out an Oran Berry and gave it to Ivy while ordering, "Here, eat this. It will help recover your energy." She took it without any suspicion and soon looked pleased with her rapidly recovering stores.
Misty still stared daggers at him and spat out, "You said the Poison gets worse the longer it stays on. I don't have time for herbal medicine."
Mark stood up and waved an unconcerned hand in dismissal before he pointed towards the still smoking spot where the girl withdrew her Pokemon and explained, "Your Staryu has the Natural Cure ability," when he saw incomprehension in her eyes, he rolled his own and continued, "It cures itself of any status condition once you withdraw it. That's why the ground is poisoned where it fainted. In the wild, it means that a Pokemon with Natural Cure will recover from such ailments a lot faster than anyone else, but when you include a Pokeball and its property of turning Pokemon into energy, you get instant status condition removal."
Misty stared at him like he just grew a second head, but he ignored her and pulled out another Berry from his Pouch and presented it to the girl while saying, "This is a Sitrus Berry, it restores a lot of your Pokemon's energy. Feed it to your Staryu and it will recover in no time."
Still giving him a strange look, Misty accepted the Berry and sent out her fainted Pokemon. She turned it around and gave it a few coaxing words and nudges to wake it up before Mark got treated to the sight of a Staryu's back opening out in a split to reveal its disturbing circular mouth which it used to devour the Sitrus Berry in short order.
Now staring in wonder, Misty watched her Staryu recover from its lethargic state to its energetic one within the minute of eating the Berry. It stood on its lower appendages and gave out its trainer its strange, "Hiya!" sound to reassure her it felt fine.
Turning her gaze back to Mark, the girl begrudgingly admitted, "You were right, thanks for healing Staryu," a second later she extended her hand which still clutched the 100P note, and added, "Here's your prize."
Mark looked at the money and shook his head as he said, "How about instead of the cash, you give me some information?"
When he saw Misty's confused look, Mark gestured towards her Staryu and explained, "I liked the way your Staryu listened to you and fought. If I didn't use a few tricks, we wouldn't have won. Can you tell me where you caught it? I might get one myself."
The girl looked delighted at the idea of either him catching a Water Pokemon or saving her money, so she began to babble, "It is great, isn't it? I just love Water Pokemon; I want to become a Master of Water Pokemon myself. They're just so cute and strong, who wouldn't want to have some? I'm from Cerulean you know? The Water Pokemon capital of Kanto! There, we have an inlet from the ocean which goes deep into the land and ends at a scary cave where strong Psychic Pokemon live. Usually, people aren't allowed to go there, but my family's a little special so we can get permission to look for Water Pokemon in the waters around the cave," she stopped her stream of consciousness there and shot a guilty look at Mark before she added, "You shouldn't really go there since it's dangerous and forbidden, but I got my Staryu in the inlet so you can look in it. My sisters wouldn't let me get close to the cave though."
Mark gave her his best smile as he promised, "No worries, I'm not someone who doesn't follow the rules. Thank you very much for the information. I hope I'll get the chance to see this inlet once I reach the beautiful city of Cerulean."
Misty looked mollified and pleased by his praise and seemed like she wanted to continue their conversation, however, Mark jumped in before she could start and said, "I should leave you to your fishing now. There's still a long way I want to cover by tonight if I want the others from my town to not get too far ahead of me."
Giving him an understanding nod, the ginger girl thanked him once more before they exchanged their goodbyes and he left down the dirt road with Ivy while thinking 'Well, I planned to visit the area around the cave anyway, might as well get a swim in while I'm there.'
A few minutes later, Kraven came down from the sky and joined them.
"Did you see anyone?" Mark asked his partner and received a shake of the head and a negative, "Free," in response, making the boy furrow his brows in slight concern.
'I stopped hunting the bird species around Pallet and Viridian after that Beedrill migration incident and they repopulated the area well enough, and Oak hasn't been bitching about something eating through the wires in his lab for a few days so he should have Pikachu, I just hope I haven't set too many butterflies into motion to screw canon right from the start. The world needs that moron for a little bit still,' Mark thought as he looked up at the sunny sky of midday.
After staring at the slowly gathering clouds in the distance, he gave a philosophical shrug and continued on his previously decided path which would lead him past Viridian. He didn't have anything he needed from there and would make better time by avoiding it completely. Not to mention the fact that he didn't want to get involved in Viridian's main Pokemon Center being blown up. This world's laws didn't run on anime logic so Ash would have to stay in Viridian City for several days until they cleared up everything and made sure he didn't get fined for the destruction caused by his Pikachu.
As the wind picked up and the clouds made the day darker, Mark put on some warmer clothes and returned Ivy to her Pokeball when she got too tired from their walking training. The joy from her first victory carried her a lot longer than their morning session, but she finally gave up when the weather turned.
Pulling the hood of his jacket over his head to stop the increasingly frequent raindrops, Mark followed Kraven's scouted out path towards an elevated wooden shelter made by humans for situations just like these.
Once they reached it, he released Ivy out and readied some food and water for his hardworking Pokemon while he stood at the edge of the shelter with a sandwich and stared out into the rain-drenched forest.
Suddenly, a large flash illuminated the entire area, followed quickly by a loud "KRA-BOOOOM!" which made the three of them flinch back out of reflex.
Crouching down to reassure Ivy who hid behind his legs, Mark glanced into the dark sky with a smirk and thought, 'I hope that's you, Ash and Pikachu. Otherwise, I'll have to do some crazy things in your stead.'
Soon enough, his Bulbasaur regained her courage and the three of them spent the next few minutes watching the rain stop and the clouds start to clear out.
Seeing the first rays of sunlight get past the clouds, Mark turned his back to the sight and walked inside of the shelter to clean up the mess his Pokemon made while eating and change his clothes into drier ones.
He didn't get far before his Pokemon started making excited noises at both the outside scene and him.
Without turning around, he waved a hand over his shoulder and declared, "I don't need to see it," while on the inside he thought 'I'm not gonna steal a glimpse of what's clearly meant for the other two. If the Legendary turkey wants to show itself to me it will on my own merit.'
"Sure, Mom, goodnight," with that Mark hung up on his family and finished his evening check-in with them.
He looked up and saw Kraven hovering around Ivy while she did pull-ups using her vines on a tall branch and lifting her body weight up and down under the Butterfree's watchful eye.
With a smile, he left them to it and moved over to his tent to grab his Bag and drag it back to his camp chair in front of a decently powered camping lantern which could hold a charge for a week. He didn't really need a fire with his packed supplies and the tolerable temperature so he didn't make one.
After the rain stopped, the small group traveled for another couple of hours before Kraven found them a nice place where they could camp out for the night.
Once they had everything set up, Mark gave his Pokemon directions for training and called his family. The call went on a lot longer than he thought it would and it had already started to get dark when he finished it. 'I'll have to limit them to no longer than five minutes if I want to get anything done,' he thought with a sigh.
Opening up the front pocket of the Bag, Mark stuck his hand in and pulled out a thin strip that contained eight images on it. He set the loopy backpack to the side and called out, "That's enough for today! Ivy come over here, Kraven check the perimeter one last time," and picked up his Bulbasaur's Pokeball.
By the time the tired Pokemon joined him, Mark managed to scratch the leaf sticker from her Pokeball off with his fingernail.
Ivy gave him a strange look and he responded with a smile and, "Great job today, girl. I can't say how proud I am to see you come along so much in a single day."
He had forgotten how fast young Pokemon learned things, not to mention ones with good breeding. Ivy had already started showing signs of finishing the Leech Seed move and had a much firmer grip with her Vine Whip even before this latest training session with Kraven. Mark could only guess what the harsh Butterfree put her through while his family distracted him.
Seeing the pleased look on the young Bulbasaur, Mark brought up the strip with stickers on it and asked, "You know what these are?"
Ivy studied it with a look of concentration for a long moment and, while she could recognize the first image in the lineup and found the fifth one familiar, she couldn't figure it out so with a dejected, "Saur," she shook her head.
Mark chuckled at her reaction and, without preamble, took off the first sticker from the strip and stuck the Venusaur image on the top of Ivy's ball, before he said, "I ordered these stickers to mark the Pokeballs of the Pokemon who I plan to make Champions of Kanto. What do you think of the lineup?"
Ivy didn't really know what a Champion was, but she understood it meant becoming very very strong so she felt excited about it and looked at the images of her possible future friends with a lot more vigor than before. They all seemed fierce in their own way, so she gave her trainer a satisfied nod and a determined, "Bulbasaur-Saur!" in return.
Mark responded with a toothy smile and stored the strip back in his Bag, before he returned his attention to the now Venusaur-marked ball and explained to his attentive audience, "I placed this Venusaur sticker here so we both know what we're working towards. However, I don't want you to rush to evolve or evolve at all until you learn all the moves you can as a Bulbasaur. OK?"
Ivy's head tilted to the side as she looked at her trainer with uncomprehending eyes. To Pokemon, evolving meant getting stronger, and pushing off evolution meant a greater chance to get hurt or die, or even losing the opportunity to evolve. The request her trainer gave just didn't make sense on a very personal level to her as a Pokemon.
Mark saw the lack of understanding in Ivy's posture, but he kept his reassuring smile pasted on and elaborated, "This way you will learn most of your evolutionary moves sooner so we'll have a lot more time for new moves, move mastery, and general strength and technique training," still seeing some uncertainty in the Bulbasaur, he resorted to his last option and asked, "Can you trust me with this? I know it's a lot to ask, but I really do think this is best for the both of us."
Ivy studied him for a long moment with a furrowed brow, before she came to a conclusion and gave him a sharp nod together with a confirming, "Saur!"
Mark praised her maturity and scratched her behind the ear while they waited for Kraven to return.
During his studies with Oak, he mentioned how he kept the Butterfree from evolving to teach it Bug Bite and the Professor went into a long lecture how it could be harmful for a Pokemon to keep it from evolving for long, but that some trainers did do it as a strategy to quickly train their partners up.
After he had to suffer through that, Mark did some research on various training methods when related to evolution and found out that Oak both had a point and didn't.
Withholding evolution could harm a Pokemon if done for long enough, but for young Pokemon with good potential it had practically no side effects past a slight discomfort while they held the evolutionary energies back. They learned their moves much faster than ordinary wild Pokemon so they managed to evolve without wasting any of their future potential.
This, in turn, gave the trainer a lot more time to train up other things instead of focusing on teaching them new moves when they already had a set they felt comfortable with and didn't want to change. Older evolved Pokemon had a lot of problems with that so Mark decided to avoid the issue entirely and have all his new Pokemon learn their moves first and then evolve.
When he returned, Kraven brought the clouds with him and it started drizzling once again.
Mark quickly packed everything but his tent and lantern in his Bag and retreated into the tent with his Pokemon.
The two-person sturdy piece of fabric had enough room for the three of them without making their stay uncomfortable.
With a "Good night you two, sleep tight because we're starting training up early tomorrow," Mark turned the lantern off and snuggled into his sleeping bag.
Ivy curled up next to his stomach and he felt Kraven's steady presence next to his feet and the entrance.
Like Mark said to his brother, from now he'd have early nights and mornings after long days and he couldn't wait for more.
Soooo, what do you think?
I threw in a lot more thoughts in this chapter to show people (in case they forgot) how Mark sees the world. Also, don't come at me for the Batman remark. The guy has billions and could reform his city from within with little effort, instead, he dresses up like a bat and breaks the legs of desperate people. Not to mention his no killing mass murderers retarded rule.
For those of you who don't like what he's doing with Amy/Leaf, just look at things from his perspective. What does he know for sure from the anime? That the other two kids who got starters from Oak flamed out from the story like his brother and were never mentioned again. At least he has a plan for Amy/Leaf after she gets done with her journey.
Both Mark and I felt the sweet release of FREEDOM once he stepped foot out of Pallet.
How do you like my explanation for how he got a female Bulbasaur and the way breeding works here? And what about Toxic? I really liked the idea from Sword and Shield where they removed the option of teaching the move to practically everyone so I ran with it. I'll mix the movesets from different generations so even if a Pokemon doesn't know a move in the current one, it might learn it in the story.
What do you think about his battle with Misty and how I showed different abilities? And how many schemes do you think he might use the information he gained from her in? I mean, she was just fishing there waiting to be exploited so he went for it.
Any thoughts on his refusal to look at Ho-Oh? Naturally, there are a lot more than what I wrote here. You guys sometimes forget that Mark's a guy who carries a notebook full of conspiracy theories so he won't even think all of his reasons sometimes just in case.
Are you happy with his choice of eight main Pokemon he wants to have and do you think you know which ones they'll be? Of course, all our best plans rarely go the way we want them to, but who knows? Maybe his will!
The evolution thing is something I found reasonable and fun to make things more interesting for the story. Like Mark said at the beginning of the chapter, he won't allow any of his Pokemon not to evolve, but he will hold them back until they learn their level up moves so he could train them better.
I decided to end the chapter with the end of the day. There was another fun scene I planned to include, but that would add another couple of thousands of words so I decided to leave it for next time.
Cya!