DISCLAIMER - I DO NOT, AND MOST LIKELY NEVER WILL OWN POKEMON.
Chapter Two - Your telling me I have to eat what? Or how one survives on a trainer's diet.
Riley slept like a Snorlax that night. With Joy cuddled up on the bed, she dreamed of all the different Pokemon she'd meet, the battles she'd win, and the stories yet untold.
She awoke early the next morning, hastily showering and readying herself for the day. As she left her room, she took one last look in the mirror. Nice pair of blue jeans? Check. Long sleeve pink t-shirt? Check. White down vest? Check. New hiking boots? Check. And lastly, trainers belt equipped with five empty pokeballs, and a slot for her beloved Joy? Check. She threw her backpack over her shoulders, and made her way down the stairs. With a surprisingly brief farewell to her parents, she met Nick outside.
"Ready to go RJ?" he asked. "We are going to have Crixus teleport us to Little Root to meet with the Professor, and from there we'll be on our way."
Riley took Nicks hand, and then the hand of Crixus. With a brief flash, they were gone. In what felt like an instant, they stood at the front doors of the Professor's laboratory.
"Let's head in and find Professor Birch. From what I can remember, he can be a bit 'distracted' regardless of who's appointment he's supposed to be attending."
As they head into the lobby, and awaited the Professor, Riley noticed a young boy leaving with a shiny new pokeball in his hands. She knew that feeling, he must be the happiest person on planet earth right now.
"Hey, did you just get your starter from the professor?" Riley inquired, truly interested in the boy's story.
"Yeah, I did. That moron forgot I was supposed to be picking up my starter, and didn't have the Treecko I'd requested. All I got was this lame Torchic. I can't believe I waited an extra two weeks, just for him to screw this up." The boy was not filled with the happiness she'd been expecting, quite the opposite in fact.
"I'm sure he didn't intentionally mix up your request, he's a world renowned researcher and probably just lost track of time. By the way, I'm Riley, and today is my first day as a Pokemon trainer as well."
"Unless you are the Champion himself, I don't care who you are. My name is Declan, and I'll be the guy winning the league this year. Someone has to get rid of that lazy Champion, it may as well be me."
Nick couldn't help himself. "Son, I'm not sure what transpired before we got here, but I can tell you one thing. The Champion can be called a lot of things, but I don't think lazy is one of them."
"If he wasn't out partying and chasing women, maybe there'd be more oversight and mistakes like this wouldn't have been made. I'll call him lazy, and I'd call him lazy to his face. He doesn't scare me, and neither does that fat penguin." Declan had clearly hit his limit, and in his rage, completely missed the fact he was ten paces from the most powerful man in Hoenn.
"Well now that you've called him lazy, perhaps you'd also like to call him Sir, Champion, Your Eminence, or maybe just Nick... I prefer Nick." He reached out to shake the boys hand, with a grin that was barely holding in his laugh. "I've got business to attend to with the Professor, but if you'd do me the kindness of waiting a few minutes, I'd be happy to give you your first battle. I've brought a few newly hatched Pokemon with me I'm set to train. I can't think of a better way to give them a taste of battle than with the Champion Slayer Declan." Another smirk, sometimes he really could be the condescending jerk people thought he was.
Without a second thought, Declan accepted. As he walked outside to prepare, Nick and Riley met with the Professor. The appointment was pretty boring for the most part. They handed over the Seedot and Rattata, along with the story of how they were captured. As they were preparing to part ways, the Professor called out to Riley.
"Is there any chance you'd be willing to do me a favor? I've got a few pokemons here that aren't the regions starters, and I'd be happy knowing someone trusted by the Champion looked after them."
While she was initially compelled to accept his offer, she stopped and gave it a second thought.
"I think it'd be unfair for me to be given a second Pokemon, especially when I'll be with Nick for the first portion of my journey. But I would be willing to temporarily care for a Pokemon until my cousin, and travelling companion joins us. Would that be a suitable compromise?
The Professor agreed, and gathered a pokeball from his desk. With one last pause, he handed over the sphere to the young woman standing in front of him.
"That's the last offspring of my prized pokemon. She's to the point where she'll no longer have children, and I would love to see her legacy passed on." Pain, guilt, sadness, and maybe a little bit of hope all swirled in his chest, knowing the gift he'd passed on could never be truly appreciated. "He's a Mareep, born just a few weeks ago. He's had only the basic training, and will need to be properly looked after. Please don't release him until he's with his forever trainer. The heartbreak of meeting your presumed trainer, only to have that ripped away is especially difficult for a newborn pokemon.
That last bit really hurt Riley, reopening the wound she acquired yesterday. She made a vow the pokemon would not leave the ball until it was passed to Heidi, and she intended on keeping that promise.
With the last of their pleasantries exchanged, they departed the laboratory to meet with Declan.
"I see you decided to stay, there may be some hope for you yet Declan. I'll allow you to choose which Pokemon I use. Not by breed or type, but by selecting a pokemon from my belt. Make your choice."
Declan leaned in, and chose the second ball on his belt. With the decision made, Nick raised his pokeball and released his pokemon. As the flash of light dissipated, what took form shocked the young trainer. An odd metal bullet shaped Pokemon stood there, awaiting it's orders.
"This is a Beldum, he is a steel type, which gives you a very clear type advantage. Be careful though, regardless of your thoughts of me, I've earned my title."
Declan released his Torchic, and prepared for battle. Nick offered the new trainer the first move, and Declan didn't hesitate.
"Use ember now!" he barked at the small chick pokemon. With a quick flurry, a few small flaming projectiles shot towards the steel pokemon. As soon as they were about to make impact, the Beldum began to glow a dull blue. With no command issued, it still defended itself. As the fire washed over it, the Beldum showed no sign of harm.
"Ember again, and don't let up until there's only a silver puddle left!" The Torchic did as directed, unleashing a small barrage of flame towards the steel pokemon. Again, right before impact, the blue glow began, and again, the Beldum was unharmed.
As the torrent subsided, the Beldum began to shutter, and in a flash, collided with the orange bird.
It was a one hit knockout, and again without a single command.
"That's cheating, you didn't even battle! You just let your Beldum do whatever it wanted. This is bull crap, I'm not going to stick around for this." And with that, Declan recalled the battered Torchic and left.
"That boy sure has a bad attitude, but he did have a point. You promised him a battle with the Champion, and never uttered a word. That doesn't seem to be very fair." Riley was torn, the kid deserve to be taught a lesson, but he also deserved an honest battle.
"Beldum is a psychic type Pokemon, and is an offspring of one of my oldest friends. You remember Chroma, by Metagross, right? This is her son. Being a psychic, he and I can communicate telepathically, meaning without uttering a word, he did exactly as I commanded. There was nothing underhanded about what I did, and if Declan had stopped to consider what was happening, he'd have known he was outclassed, and saved his pokemon an assured loss."
Riley considered the potential for battling without giving away her strategies, along with what it would take to compete with someone with the same capability. A daunting task, and a project for another day. Right now, she was far more interested in making her way from Little Root onto Route 101, and beginning her journey.
Two things became very apparent very quickly as they made their way through Route 101. First, thank God she chose to wear hiking boots. She couldn't imagine hiking daily in a pair of sneakers. Secondly, and more importantly, she discovered her first lesson in Pokemon battling first hand.
A few hours into their trek, Riley and Joy were walking through some tall grass, and came across a Zigzagoon. Known to be a durable, yet unspectacular pokemon, she decided it was time.
"Joy, use tackle!" The small blue seal rolled quickly towards the raccoon pokemon. With a surprisingly violent collision, the pokemon shot back to her trainer. The Zigzagoon looked startled, but had more than enough fight left in it. It quickly shot sand into the eyes of the seal, and retreated to a safe distance. "Tackle again Joy!" and again the seal shot towards her target. Unfortunately, she missed, badly. As she rolled past the Zigzagoon, it made its move. With a quick tackle, the seal was knocked into a tree, rendering it unable to continue.
Her first battle, her first lost. And to a Zigzagoon! What kind of epic trainer loses to a Zigzagoon? As she replayed the brief encounter over in her mind, pure embarrassment swept over her.
"Do you know what went wrong RJ?" Nick asked. "It was something so obvious, I wanted you to experience it yourself."
"I have no idea, that tackle attack worked great the first time, and then to miss so badly the second time, poor Joy never saw it coming.."
"Sometimes shit happens. That's an important life lesson, but more importantly, you didn't use your pokedex to scan that pokemon. If you had, I suspect it'd have told you that the Zigzagoon you attempted to battle was far older than you thought. It's legs were longer than normal, his colors were lightening, it looked like he was preparing to evolve."
Riley understood exactly what was being said, and couldn't believe she forgot something so basic as to scan her foe. She wouldn't make that mistake again, she was sure of it.
"I think we've had enough excitement for one day, we've made good progress, you got your first battle out of the way, and there's a nice clearing in those trees for us to camp out under tonight."
As Riley finished putting up her tent, she noticed Nick was nowhere in sight. A brief moment of fear took over, and she began to panic. She'd never spent a night in the wilderness alone, and that realization was setting in quickly. The sun was setting, and the shadows seemed to be playing tricks on her eyes. She swore she could see something dashing between the shadows, but she couldn't identify what it was.
With a blinding red flash, Joy appeared by her trainers side. This time, Riley wouldn't be caught off guard. She had her Pokemon at the ready, and her pokedex in hand. After minutes of watching in the shadows, she finally got a glimpse of her tormentor. Immediately she pointed the pokedex in it's direction.
"Sandile. The dark and ground type pokemon. This Pokemon is typically found in the desert though reports of Sandile being found in dark forests have been confirmed."
Riley readied herself, she wouldn't fall victim to being unprepared.
"Joy, wait until it's close enough, and then use water gun!" Joy braced herself, waiting for her opportunity. When the Sandile continued approaching, a pressurized stream of water struck it head on. "Don't let up, hit it again" Riley exclaimed. Another blast of water, and the small crocodile faltered. This was her chance, she primed her pokeball and prepared to throw. "Joy, tackle" she ordered. As the seal collided with the Sandile, she released her pokeball. Her aim was true, and it was enveloped into the red light. Shake, "could this be it?" Shake, "please please stay." Shake, "come on!" Click. She'd done it, unattended, unassisted, she'd captured her first REAL Pokemon of her own. She quickly hurried over to the now motionless ball, and picked it up. As she slowly walked back to the campsite, she heard clapping.
"Congratulations RJ! That was perfect! I didn't even see what you were battling, but it doesn't matter, that battle couldn't have gone better!" Nick was proud, she'd taken her lesson from earlier and learned from it.
Riley pointed her pokeball, and released her new companion. The black and tan crocodile took form, and stared at it's captor.
"That was a great battle, I'm a Pokemon trainer and you are my first captured pokemon. I'm hoping to become a strong trainer, and in return, offer to do my best to make you the strongest you can be. Are you interested?" The sandile didn't move for what felt like an eternity. Finally, it cracked a toothy grin and shook its head eagerly. "You'll need a name, I can't just call you Sandile.. what do you think about Kek? It means the God of Darkness. I think that fits you and perfectly." Sandile didn't seem to mind, and with that her team had doubled in size. Joy, the epitome of happiness, and Kek, the God of Darkness. She couldn't be happier.
As Nick and Riley sat around the fire, endlessly reliving her heroic capturing of the creature of the dark, Riley noticed two skewers in the flames.
"You made dinner? I didn't know you could cook" she joked.
"Well, out in the wild, you cook or you go hungry. Anyone can burn some meat and make it another day, and that's what we are doing."
Riley waited for the meat to finish cooking, and when the time came, right before her first bite, she made the mistake. She asked what it was.
"I considered lying to you, but that wouldn't help you in the future when you are out on your own. You are eating Taillow. Hunting and eating wild Pokemon is a way of life, and whether you like it or not, it's a necessary part of your journey."
Riley had never eaten wild Pokemon before. The meats consumed in their home were all domestically raised. Ducklet, Miltank, Tepig, all expressly raised for the purpose of consumption. Somehow, that never bothered her. But looking at these poor birds, she had a hard time coming to terms with her new reality.
"You want me to eat what? That pokemon had a family, and a flock. Now they'll never know what happened to them!" She couldn't believe it, a pokemons life was cut short so she could have a meal. It couldn't be that hard to pack food for the routes, or forage for food, could it?
"Nick, why didn't we just pack food to cook on the road? And why can't we just search for berries on the path?" She was grasping for an alternative.. but none were coming.
"Well, as you can see, I don't travel with a typical bag. I've got some potions, revives and my ID. That's it. Hell, I didn't even bring a tent or sleeping bag. I come here to get away from life. And since you let me come along, I figured the best way to at least make sure you could survive if you needed to was to experience this first hand. It couldn't have worked out better, with us needing to see the Professor, we had an opportunity to test this out on the easiest route, in good climate, and it'd only be one night before we reach our next town." He was happy with his reasoning, and more importantly, he was happy it was the truth. "Also, you know Heidi will need to be taught, and I most likely won't be here to do so. That's your responsibility."
As the last statement settled in Riley's thoughts, she knew he was right. Begrudgingly, she gave in to her hunger, and took a small bite of the bird. It was not much different than the Ducklett she'd had at home, and to her dismay, she found herself enjoying it. After eating a small portion, and sharing the remainder with Kek, she decided to call it a night.
"Thank you Uncle Nick, I looked forward to this day my entire life, and overall, it was everything I could ask for." She gave him a quick hug, and made her way to her tent.
As Nick sat by the fire, reimagining the events of the day, he felt content for the first time in years. Not only was he happy to be out in the wild, reliving his days as an everyday trainer, but he was sharing it with the one person who loved him unconditionally. Unfortunately for Nick, time left to his thoughts led him to some deep thinking.
"Why would I even want to continue being Champion? All I do is work my butt off to appease the politicians and league board. When I'm not doing that, it's personal appearances at events I have no interest in, or responding to emergencies God only knows where. During my limited free time, I'm out all hours of the night chasing women and partying far too hard. Maybe this isn't the path I was meant to take.."
Nick shook the thoughts from his head, it didn't matter now, he was currently happy and that's all he could ask for. He looked to Crixus, and with a nod, was gently lulled into a deep sleep.
The next morning started with an excellent surprise. Nick had prepared breakfast, and there were no innocent pokemon harmed in it's making. He'd gathered berries from the nearby forest, and with Crixus' help, made a quick detour for some cereal. As they sat enjoying their breakfast, Riley felt a sharp pain, no that wasn't the right term, a sharp SOMETHING in her brain. She dropped her bowl, Joy and Kek quickly consumed the spilled remnants of her breakfast.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING?" It was clear that Riley was uncomfortable, but Nick didn't react. As she looked to her idol for help, he was smiling.
"Be calm Riley, concentrate on hearing my voice." She looked, but Nick wasn't talking. She made an effort to concentrate on his voice. "What you are experiencing is the link that Crixus and I have. This is how a psychic Pokemon can communicate, or translate for another being. He's a conduit, my thoughts are relayed directly to him, and instantly he's projecting them to you."
"OK, this is freaky." As she focused on his voice, a squeal overtook her senses.
"Why's the human so scared?" Came the faceless voice. It was light, it was energetic, it was Joy.
When the realization dawned on Riley, the discomfort in her mind evaporated. Her new best friend was talking to her, and she could understand! This was the greatest thing she'd ever experienced, and based on the past two days alone, that was saying something.
Nick walked away to let Joy and Riley communicate. After a half hour, he rejoined his group. There was one problem they needed to address, and it might as well be now.
"Joy, I'm glad the two of you were able to get to know each better. Did you notice something was missing?" He didn't wait for her reply, she was clearly distracted. "Kek wasn't apart of our conversation, do you find this odd? The reason for that is he's a dark type pokemon. It takes a deep bond between a psychic and dark type pokemon before the telepathy can take place. A dark type Pokemon is typically sneaky, mischievous and untrusting. The bond between a psychic and dark type is solely based on the dark type allowing a psychic into its mind, and that is not something to take lightly." He paused, making sure the information was reaching its target. "Now, Crixus is clearly more powerful than your little Kek. He COULD try and force it, but that would create a mistrust between he and YOU. That I can't allow. So your challenge is to build a relationship with Kek, so he trusts you. If he trusts you, he may listen if you ask him to allow this."
Riley knew Nick's statements were true. She'd heard of some loonies up in the mountains that had multiple dark type Pokemon, specifically to stop the government from reading their thoughts. They were crazy, but the system in place was effective, even if the threat was most likely non-existent.
"Nick, if Kek and I trained it hard enough, could he stop other psychics from reading my thoughts?" She knew there most likely wouldn't be a need, but it never hurts to be prepared.
"Absolutely. I'm glad that was your next step in this thought process, and exactly why I want you to bond with your Sandile. Like I said, dark types can be sneaky, but they are FIERCELY loyal to their pack. He's accepted you as his Alpha, which means he has faith in you. Nurture that, and he will be the strongest ally you have. But enough of the deep thoughts of a crazy uncle, what do you say we get this journey started again?" He smiled, he knew that'd be all the motivation she needed.
She quickly pulled down her tent, and with Joy's "help" quickly packed all of her belongings back in her backpack.
After a few hours, and a handful of battles for Joy, Riley decided to see what Kek can do, and the perfect practice dummy was standing right next to her.
"Nick, I challenge you to a battle. I'd like to see what Kek can do, but I don't want you to use your Beldum. Kek has an obvious type advantage, and it would be fair for me to know my opponent ahead of time."
Nick smiled, he'd been waiting for this since he wiped the floor with Declan. He held up three pokeballs, "Choose one."
Riley indicated the middle pokeball, and with a flash, Kek's first opponent appeared.
Riley pointed her pokedex at the small rock monster "Aron, rock and ground type pokemon. Aron are known for using their heads to destroy boulders." Riley readied herself, and Kek was ready to battle.
Nick offered the first move to Riley, and she took advantage. "Mud-slap, now!" With alarming speed and accuracy, a wave of mud hit the rock type.
Nick smiled, "Aron, headbutt" as the Pokemon lunged, he faltered.
"Mud-slap, one more time!" and again, the dark croc fired mud directly into the Aron's eyes. The Aron stumbled, but regained his form. "Iron head" came from the stoic Champion. With a flash of silver, the Aron hurled itself at the crocodile, and this time, he found his mark. The Sandile was down, but now quite out. Riley had one last trick up her sleeve, she'd been saving it just in case. "BITE!" she screamed, and the croc chomped and latched onto the rock quadruped. The Aron flinched, and then collapsed. Kek had defeated his first foe, and more importantly, Riley had won her first trainer battle.
"OH MY GOSH! You did it Kek! That was amazing!" The new trainer absolutely gushed over her dark knight in scaly armor. "I couldn't be more proud of you, I'm going to return you to your ball for a well deserved rest, you've earned it."
"Wow. Great job RJ. I wasn't expecting you to use bite. I underestimated the strength of your Pokemon, and for that I earned my defeat." Nick was radiating with pride. He returned his Aron, and walked to the victor. "As is tradition, the winner is to receive money from the losing trainer. Unfortunately, I do not carry cash on me, so I'd like you to take this instead." He reached in his pocket, and pulled out a stone. "It's a sun stone. It's incredibly rare, and more importantly, is needed to evolve certain pokemon. I won't spoil the surprise as to which ones, but I will say this, every Pokemon that needs the sun stone is a formidable opponent.." He'd been planning to give it to her as a parting gift, but she'd earned it.
The remainder of their afternoon was spent traveling to Oldale Town. There were a few more wild Pokemon to deal with, and Riley handled them perfectly.