This story is on AO3 with pictures~
"Shinichi, I challenge you!" Ran holds out the pokeball in front of her, pointing to the opposing brunette boy.
Ran…! Shinichi stares in awe at the action, but quickly recovers. He puts on a confident smirk, "Okay, you're on."
Kaito smiles at the sight of the two kids, as he steps aside. "I guess I'll be ref then Shin-chan!~" He skips a bit farther from the pair. "Ran-chan, Shin-chan! Be sure not to take long! We need to set out before nightfall, after all!"
"Thanks, Kaito." Shinichi nods to his cousin.
Kaito smirks back. "No problem."
The two opponents stand far away from each other, as Kaito moves to the center. He sucks in a breath before announcing. "Let the battle begin!"
In an instant, both parties throw their pokeballs. "Mudkip!" Shinichi calls out.
Ran, in turn, calls out, "Go Chimchar!"
Corresponding with their trainer's shout, two pokemon appear from the open balls. On the right stands Ran and her Chimchar, the orange monkey taking a fighting stance. On the left is Shinichi and his Mudkip, its blue fin on his head tilts with the slight breeze. Kaito grins at the two parties then lift his hands into the air. "I believe ladies first is the rule."
Shinichi's mouth twitches along with his eye at the display of Kaito's chivalry. Ran takes it upon herself to begin, "Chimchar! Ember!" The orange monkey spits out a fiery fire.
"Mudkip! Water gun!" Water spurts out, quenching the fireball, creating steam in the middle of the battleground. Shinichi follows, "Use tackle!"
The blue pokemon rushes forward into the steam and makes its mark. Chimchar is thrown to the ground. "Chimchar!" Ran rushes in concern. "Are you okay? Can you stand?"
"Char!" Chimchar grunts as it gets to its feet.
Ran smiles at her pokemon and nods, "Okay, Chimchar, use scratch!" The fire pokemon charges at the blue pokemon. Its arm stretches out nimbly and quickly scratches its opponent. Mudkip flinches at the contact.
Shinichi analyzes the field. Chimchar is a fire type, compared to Mudkip who is a water type, it is weaker in element. However, its speed puts it at an advantage against the slower Mudkip… I guess I'll just have to take advantage of this grass field…! "Douse the ground with water gun!" Mudkip showers its water gun onto the ground, making the dirt soften into mud.
Ran blinks in bewilderment. "Wha—?" She takes a split second to recover, "Shinichi?! What are you doing?"
Shinichi's signature smirk spreads on his face as he stares at the field. "Ran, did you know?" Ran perks up in curiosity. "Mudkip is known as the 'Mud Fish Pokemon'. That means rather than regular dirt, Mudkips have a greater advantage in swampy mud." Shinichi then turns to Mudkip, "Mudkip! Tackle!"
"Dodge, Chimchar!"
Mudkip surges forward, rushing at the opposing Chimchar. Chimchar tries to sidestep dodge, however, it slips on the mud. This slip up lets Mudkip slam into Chimchar. Chimchar skids the mud and stops. The field is silent as Kaito looms over the fallen pokemon. The messy haired boy's cerulean eyes examined Chimchar quickly before waving his hand towards his cousin. "Chimchar is unable to battle, Mudkip wins! Sorry, Ran-chan, but it's Shin-chan's win."
Ran stays silent for a second before smiling. She takes out Chimchar's pokeball and presses the center button, returning the pokemon. She holds the pokeball to her and speaks to it. "Chimchar… good job now have a good rest." She pockets the ball then focuses on Shinichi. Her eyes glare at the boy in seriousness.
Shinichi shrinks away in cold sweat at the stare down. His voice sounding a bit scared. "R-ran?"
She keeps her steel indigo eyes on the neat haired boy before they soften. Her lips tug into a soft smile. "Shinichi… go on... on your journey! I promise I'll catch up to you once I turn 10!" Ran turns to Kaito, "And Kaito, be sure to take care of yourself so that you both don't get into trouble, okay."
Kaito and Shinichi stare at her in awe for a moment before both smirk and exchange looks. Kaito grins, "Okay! I'll keep Shin-chan out of trouble!"
"Oi, what do you mean, idiot. She is talking about you!" Shinichi elbows his cousin playfully. He then smiles at Ran, "Okay, I'm heading out now."
Ran nods, "Take care."
The two boys part ways with Ran, heading out into Route 101.
Meanwhile, a boy stands on top of a cliff as he peers over the town of Littleroot. This boy wore a cap over his dark brown hair, and his tan skin glowed under the sunlight. He wore a playful smirk as his teal eyes eyed the town. "So this is Littleroot town, huh."
The mysterious boy jumps down from the small cliff, passing by two other boys who were hiking up the path. Calculating teal eyes sized up the boys. Probably brothers or twins, both are shorter than me, but around the same height. The one with neat hair being slightly shorter with the bird-nest for a head boy. Must be residents of Littleroot, eh. He shrugs off his observations and lets the two boys slide out of his peripheral vision.
Once he enters the town, he digs into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. On the paper was a hand-drawn map of the town. He scratches his head in frustration as he tries to make out the map. "Man… Kazuha needs to do a better job at drawing a map! Aggh! I can't tell north from south with this damn thin'!" He then crumples the paper and stuffs it back into is pocket. Grabbing his hat, he fixes it. "I guess I'll just ask the locals."
As he was walking into town, he notices a young girl with messy long brown hair sweeping with a mop. A mop…? He shakes is head at the sight, letting it slide. He approaches the girl with a friendly grin, "Hey girl!" the girl looks up in surprise at the boy. She then points at herself as if asking if he was addressing her. "Yeah you! I need directions to the lab of a 'Professor Agasa'. D'ya know where I can find it?"
The girl blinks then gives the boy a friendly smile. "Ahh! Agasa-hakase? Yeah, I know! I can take you there!" She then props her mop against the house and walks up to the boy. "I'm Nakamori Aoko! Just call me Aoko! What is your name?" she giggles, "Your accent is funny."
A vein pops on the boy's head. "It's not funny, it's 'KANSAI-BEN'! And yer wonderin' who I am?" The boy turns his hat around so he wears it backward. "I'm Hattori Heiji! Nice to meet'cha, Aoko-chan!"
"Ohh… well, it's nice to meet you too, Hattori-kun!" Aoko then walks past Heiji and motions him forward. "Come on, I'll take you to Hakase now!"
"'Much appreciated."
Following Aoko's lead, Heiji is now in front of the laboratory. He waves goodbye to the girl before facing the door. After observing the house, he rings the doorbell. A thud and sounds of fumbling echoes from inside the house, finally after 10 minutes, the door opens. Agasa swings the door open, his big body taking up the whole doorway. "Hello!" he cheerfully greets the boy. He then blinks at the sight of the stranger. "Umm… would you be Hattori Heiji-kun..?"
Heiji smiles brightly, "Yep, that's me! Hattori Heiji atch'er service!"
"Oh! Heiji-kun! I've heard so much about you from your father! Please come in." The professor gushers Heiji into his house and leads him towards the back room.
Once reaching the room, Heiji takes a few minutes to examine the room and all the different machinery on display. "Oh—" His teal eyes stop on a green object. The object perks his curiosity, causing him to reach out towards it and pick it up. "What's this, Hakase?"
"Oh! That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Heiji-kun!" Agasa pipes in, catching Heiji's attention. "That is a pokedex! A pokemon encyclopedia. I as hoping that you could take it along on your journey and fill it for me."
Heiji quirks an eyebrow at the device, as he fiddles with it. A grin spreads out on his lips, "Sure, Hakase!" He slips the device into his backpack pocket for safe keeping.
Agasa walks over to his desk grabbing a pokeball before walking back to Heiji. "Also, Heiji-kun, I have something else for you."
"You do?" Heiji blinks.
Agasa laughs lightheartedly as he makes his way to the boy with a pokeball in hand. He hands the pokeball to Heiji. "Here, I want to give you a rare pokemon I acquired." Heiji gives the professor a questioning look and the big man responds with a nod. Heiji smiles as he releases the pokemon inside the pokeball. A green amphibian pokemon pops out of the ball, it's black eyes stare into Heiji's teal ones. "This is Treecko, a grass type." Agasa introduces.
Heiji smirks at the pokemon, kneeling down to meet it. "Yo, I'm Hattori Heiji. 'want to be my partner?"
Treecko stares cooly at Heiji, before nodding. Heiji smiles, holding out his fist to Treecko. Treecko smirks and bumps fists with Heiji.
Agasa watches the duo with a warm smile, before he coughs to catch their attention. "Now, Heiji-kun, I want to inform you that I have given two other boys a pokedex and pokemon too."
"Ohh… So I have some rivals eh." Heiji stands up, facing the professor. "Perfect! Bring it on!"
"They actually left just earlier today, too. They look like brothers—practically twins, but they are cousins!" Agasa blabbers.
Heiji nods in interest as he takes in the information. These were probably the guys I passed by one the way here, eh. There is a glint in his eye, "And what are these cousins' names?"
"Kudou Shinichi and Kuroba Kaito! I believe you will get along well with them!" Agasa informs.
Kudou Shinichi and Kuroba Kaito, huh. Heiji grips his hat, twisting it back so it faced forward. A smirk plays on his lips as he returns Treecko to its pokeball and pockets it. He waves goodbye to Hakase, and leaves the town of Littleroot, looking out at the bright blue sky.
He pulls out two pokeballs, releasing the pokemon inside. From one, Treecko pops out, and from the other a gray dog pops out—a Poochyena. Heiji takes a moment to introduce the two pokemon to each other, before he began on the road to Oldale Town.
I wonder what they are like…
…Kudou and Kuroba…
