You would think, in a world full of Pokemon, that it would be easy to find a Pokemon. Well in one sense, you would be correct. Obviously, everywhere you look you can find a Pokemon. But to find not just a Pokemon, but the Pokemon — now that is quite a bit harder.

First, you have to find the Pokemon you want. By that, I mean you need to figure out what type of Pokemon, both in literal typing and in personality. Say, for instance, you want a water type. That doesn't really narrow it down all that much, depending on the type. But if you wanted a water type and a playful Pokemon, that would narrow it down far more.

Secondly, you have to find the Pokemon you want. Yes, I am aware that this is the same as the first step, but that was theoretical. Now you have to actually go out and find it. Which, depending on your starting point and said Pokemon's habitats, could be either extremely easy or terribly difficult. On top of that, once you find the Pokemon, you have to find one whose personality matches what you want. Because while, yes, Jigglypuff as a species appear to be quite cute to most people, you could get one that is very much not cute in personality (a certain singing and drawing Jigglypuff from the anime comes to mind). Of course, this all really comes down to personal preference.

Thirdly, and arguably most importantly, you have to find the Pokemon that wants you. Because, as easy and seamless as it is in the games, there are so many factors other than HP and status conditions that go into whether you can catch a Pokemon. Most of which rely on its willingness. As such, if a Pokemon is not willing to come with you, then more often than not, you will not be catching that Pokemon.

I had a rough idea of all of these steps beforehand, but when I made my declaration to Dawn that I was going to start trying to find a Pokemon, she went into full lecture mode about the 'proper' way to catch Pokemon. This was accompanied by a side rant about how there were still plenty of people who ignored some of this and simply caught what they wanted, however they could. While it was heavily frowned upon in the community, there was technically nothing illegal about it.

After continuing to talk for a while, Dawn returned to her room, wishing me luck in my hunt, and a good night. I bid her good night as well, somewhat laughing to myself. Little does she know, I thought, I already have a pretty good idea of what Pokemon I want to get.

Sometimes, being a huge Pokenerd and theorizing about what team you would want helps out a lot.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.

"Alright everyone. For today's class, we will be holding test battles."

The announcement from the teacher the following day was an unexpected surprise. While the previous few days we had gone over the theory of many type match-ups and move categories, the teacher decided that it would be best to study these things up close in a real battle setting. I couldn't have agreed more, considering I knew the theory of it all inside and out, backwards and frontwards, with my hands tied behind my back and blindfolded.

Needless to say I was happy to be able to finally see some battles in person.

"Each student will be using their own Pokemon for these battles."

Well, there goes my excitement.

Off to my side, I could see Jonas smirking at me knowingly. That was probably why he'd been examining me from afar the past few days — he was trying to see if I had a Pokemon. Clearly he was going to hold this over my head for a while.

The teacher dismissed us for a moment to prepare, during which time I approached him to ask a question.

"Excuse me, Mr. Korantz?" I said. He looked up from his desk and gave me a warm smile.

"Yes, Nathan? Is there something I could help you with?"

"Yes, sir. I, um, I don't actually have a Pokemon of my own… yet. So what should I do for the battle?"

If he was surprised by my admission, he didn't show it. "So, you don't have a Pokemon, huh?" The teacher brought a hand to his chin in thought. "Well, there are actually some Pokemon that the school can lend you for this battle if that is the case. Please wait here while I get a few of them." He stood up and walked out of the room as I let out a breath of relief. At least I wouldn't be completely out of luck when it came to the battle.

After a moment of waiting, the teacher came back holding a tray of 6 Pokeballs. Each one was accompanied by a slip of paper next to it. "These," Mr. Korantz said, "are the Pokemon I will allow you to pick from. On the paper you will see the species and moves of the Pokemon in the ball next to it."

"Thank you, sir," I said, picking up one of the slips of paper.

"Please have your choice and meet the rest of the class outside in five minutes," he said before leaving the room.

I opened up the note I was holding and read what was written. "Geodude, huh?" I said to myself. "Long term, maybe, but this is just a rental so probably a no."

I continued for the next four notes, revealing my choices to be the Geodude, Feebas, Grubbin, Skwovet, and Mareep. None of these really piqued my interest, so at this point my top pick was likely to be the Mareep.

"Ok, last one. Please be something really good," I said, willing it into existence. I opened the slip and was surprised by what I found. "Oh, this is interesting. What moves does it know?" Scanning the small list of moves, a devious smirk found its way onto my face. "Oh, yes. This will do wonderfully."

.o0o.o0o.o0o.

I tried to school a nervous look onto my face. I didn't want to look confident, because I figure he'd rather kick me while I'm down.

"Hey you, Nathan! I'm challenging you for this battle!"

Hook, line, and sinker.

"Oh, uh, sure ok," I responded, forcefully timid. "I'm just using a rental Pokemon from the school, so I don't know how well I'll do."

He snorted as he walked closer to me. "Oh, please. As if you would be a challenge anyways. I just want to make sure you know your place." By now he was right in front of me and punctuated his next words with an aggressive poke to my chest. "Beneath. Me."

Tired of the facade already, I let a smirk pass onto my face. "Yeah, we'll see about that, Jonas. We'll see."

Mr. Korantz had the two of us follow him over towards the battlefield we'd be using. "Now boys, remember the purpose of this exercise. We're supposed to be studying in a real time battle. Winning or losing isn't what's important here."

I nodded in understanding, but heard Jonas scoff at the idea. I knew that technically winning and losing wasn't important, but I'd be damned if I let this little brat beat me here. Dawn would never let me hear the end of it if I missed this opportunity.

"Alright boys, a coin flip has decided that Jonas will be given the first attack. Please let out your Pokemon."

"Flash, show them where they belong!" Materializing on the field across from me was a small red an black cat. "Mrr, Mreow!"

"What do you think? My brother got me this Litten when he visited the Alola region last year! He was the best of his siblings, there's no way he'll lose to you."

"Boy, someone likes to talk too much," I whispered under my breath.

"Alright, here's my Pokemon!" I said as I threw the ball onto the field. Once my Pokemon had materialized, there was a stunned silence from everyone present. After a moment, Jonas began laughing hilariously.

"That?! That's the Pokemon you think will take down Flash? HAH, what a joke!" he gloated.

"Dun? Sparce, Dun Dun." My Dunsparce said dully. The teacher seemed to have a knowing smile on his face. I nodded shortly to him, sending a silent thanks for including this as a pick. Turning back to Jonas, I shot back "I don't 'think' anything, Jonas."

That only served to piss him off. "Let's get this started already," he said.

"Are you ready, Nathan?" Mr. Korantz asked. I nodded an affirmative and he raised his arms, dropping them as he said "Battle begin!"

"Liiiiii!" the Fire Cat Pokemon roared at Dunsparce, causing it to cower back in fear slightly.

"Shit, seriously? He has his hidden ability? What the hell?" I cursed quietly to myself.

"End this before it even starts, Flash. Use Ember!"

"Liii, Ten!" The fire type shot the small balls of flame towards Dunsparce, hitting it in the face before it could even react.

"Hah, look! It's so slow and dumb it can't even do anything when it gets hit. This'll be a piece of cake! Go in with Fury Swipes and don't let up until it's done for."

Flash ran in quickly, true to his name, extending his claws for the attack. A smirk crawled onto my face. This was exactly what I was waiting for. Not yet… A little closer… "Now, Dunsparce, Glare!"

With my last word, Jonas's face went from one of confidence, to realization. "Wait, Flash, look out!" Unfortunately for him, Flash was going too fast and had just lunged for Dunsparce, making it unable to make any sort of correction as the red beam emitted from Dunsparce's eyes hit its mark, paralyzing the Litten.

"Now Dunsparce, Headbutt repeatedly!"

With Flash having crumpled mid attack, he landed right near the Dunsparce. With its speed hindered, it was unable to escape as the Land Snake Pokemon drew its head back and smashed it on the feline. "Duuun Sparce! Sparce! Sparce!"

"Flash, what are you doing? Get out of there!" Jonas yelled impatiently.

"Really, Jonas? You can't tell what's going on?" He looked at me furiously, but said nothing, so I continued. "Dunsparce's ability is Serene Grace, which makes it more likely for moves to inflict their additional effect. Headbutt's additional effect? Flinching. And with your Pokemon paralyzed, even if it doesn't flinch, its movement will be hindered and can be caught somewhat easily if it escapes."

Jonas could only watch as Dunsparce hit its head on Flash once more. "Maybe you shouldn't look down on people and Pokemon so much," I said.

"No," he said "No, I refuse to lose this. I REFUSE!"

"LIIIIIT!" With a scream to match his owner, Flash was enveloped in a bright blue light. His legs grew longer and thicker, while his head grew an extra tuft of fur between his ears. A small flickering ball appeared under his chin, and the glow faded revealing a Torracat standing strongly over my rental Pokemon.

"You've got to be shitting me," I sighed. "He would get this bullshit plot armor comeback."

Flash's newly muscular legs glowed red as he pounced on Dunsparce, kicking him twice and knocking him back a fair distance. My rental partner was looking to be on his last sliver of energy.

"Yes Flash! Use Double Kick again and wrap this up!"

"Toorrrrr!" Jumping towards Dunsparce, his legs glowed red again.

"Dunsparce, roll to the side to dodge, quick!" I called out.

Attempting to follow my instructions, it made to roll, but the fire type managed to get there before it could and unleashed its attack, kicking Dunsparce straight into the ground. A small crater formed and the Torracat walked away smugly. Laying in the center of the crater was a swirly-eyed unconscious Dunsparce.

"Dunsparce is unable to battle. Torracat wins!" Mr. Korantz announced. The class clapped at our battle, and I found myself breathing heavily. What had felt like an hour long epic episode of a battle, was really just a two minute bout that ended in just a few moves.

And I loved every second of it.

Though, that feeling was slightly diminished when, after recalling both of our Pokemon, Jonas walked up to me and opened his mouth. "Like I said, as if that thing could have possibly defeated my Flash!" he said before he walked away proudly. When he was out of earshot, I voiced my frustrations somewhat.

"Dude seriously? You won out of luck. You nearly lost and yet have that much pride. That's just so… blegh!" I said to no one in particular.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," I heard a voice say, accompanied by a giggle. I turned and saw a familiar blue haired girl laughing as she walked towards me.

"Dawn?" I said with a little disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

Dawn was accompanied by Mr. Korantz who had walked over to talk to me after the battle had finished.

"I had some work to do in the area. I heard a battle going on and wanted to check it out, but I wasn't expecting you to be participating!"

"Yeah, that was part of today's battle class if you couldn't already tell," I responded. "Though, I lost which kinda sucks."

Dawn elbowed my side and gave me a somewhat scolding look. "Don't get down on yourself, that was a great battle — which you should have won, I might add."

"She's quite right Nathan," Mr. Korantz added in. "In fact, that was one of the best battle strategies I have seen in this course."

I looked at him in surprise. "Really? That's somewhat hard to believe."

Mr. Korantz chuckled lightly at my shock. "Yes, really. Most students at this school are beginner trainers, with little to no battle experience. This is especially in this course for late starters. Many are unable to remain calm, focus, or adapt. The battles are, if I'm being honest, fairly tame. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing for beginners. But Jonas clearly wasn't a true beginner. Even so, you managed to back him into a corner extremely early and easily. That level of planning, knowledge, and adaptability is something that is only really seen at gym levels and higher. I;m surprised you were able to do all of this, especially with a rental Pokemon. Quite the feat."

I blushed slightly at the praise. "Thank you sir. That means a lot."

"Oh, sure, listen to him, but when I say it, it means nothing," Dawn complains. I hit her lightly in the shoulder and laughed.

"Shush, you know I appreciate it," I said in response. "Anyways, we should get back to class now, the other students probably want to have their battles. I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yup!" Dawn said with a smile and a wave. "See ya later!"

Once she had left, Mr. Korantz and I headed back over to the rest of the students. As the next pair started their battle, I could see what he meant. I suppose I was so used to the battles in the anime, where even the simple, basic trainer battles were fairly intense. That just wasn't the case, and like he said, that's not a bad thing.

I spaced out and thought back on my battle, and how exciting and enjoyable it was. Even just this simple test battle in school that barely lasted two minutes was such a thrill. I knew that I had to get stronger so I could enjoy that feeling more often.

Hello! An update! What a surprise!

School has officially started for me, so I will again reiterate that I am going to be super inconsistent with updates, but I do intend for this to continue.

Anyways, the first full battle makes its appearance! What did you guys think? I felt somewhat uncomfortable writing it, just because I don't think I write action well (which kinda sucks considering this is a Pokemon fanfic, but oh well) Feedback is very very very appreciated so I know what to keep doing and what to change.

Now to respond to some stuff from reviews:

1. I get that some people disagree with the whole "telling everyone his origin" right at the beginning, and that some people prefer to save it for the climax. And I have seen that in numerous fanfics of the same sort where they do that, and it works really well. But I wanted to do something that I haven't seen, or at least have seen very sparsely. This fic isn't meant to be a super serious thing, I intended for it to be a bit more lighthearted and technically I have plans way beyond this fic, but that's just my ideal path which I don't know if I'll even get there. But yeah, I am happy with the way I have written this so far, and I hope you all have enjoyed a slight change of pace.

2. Yeah, MC still has no Pokemon. Oops. Coming soon, promise!

3. Someone referred to an earlier chapter where Looker scanned him and interpreted it as Nathan having both Ultra radiation and normal radiation. I would just like to clarify that is incorrect. The MC is not radioactive. My bad for not clarifying that in the chapter itself.

So there you have it! Hope you all have a wonderful [insert period of time until next update here]! If you liked, be sure to favorite. If you want more, be sure to follow. And if you want to critique or comment, please review!

-TD2297