Please note that I do not own Pokemon, or any other characters mentioned in this story.

Some additional notes you may consider: I will be using the level/technique relationship just like in the games. A Pikachu will not learn Thunder Bolt unless it is at a high enough level. On the other hand, experience points and level up requirements may vary a bit. Interpretations of techniques, however, are mainly from my imagination. For example, how would a Magikarp use tackle if it were not in the water?

I doubt I'll be explaining any more story mechanics in these headers. If you have questions for me, I'll try to address them in the comments section.

Once again, thank you for reading, and I hope that you enjoy the story.

Chapter 2: Trials and Errors

It was still early in the morning when the four boys were ready to set out on their quest.

None of them had ever left Pallet Town before, but fortunately Jason's mother had bought him a map of the local area. The other three followed him as he led them towards Viridian City, where they hoped to get supplies for catching more pokemon.

"You three have been friends for a while, but I don't think I know you very well," Joshua said as they walked. "Daniel, why do you want to be a trainer?"

"I want to be the very best," Daniel said proudly. "Like no one ever was. Someday, I'll be a pokemon master, maybe even a master of my own gym."

"I want to be a pokemon breeder," Jason replied. "Raising pokemon seems more fun then just battling with them. But I need to learn about pokemon as well as get some funding. I figure if I can become a pokemon master, I'll get all the experience and publicity I could ever want."

"What about you, Joshua?" Daniel asked. "You have a pokedex, but no pokemon. Are you just planning on raising them, too?"

"I want to be like Professor Oak," Joshua replied. "I want to study pokemon and learn everything there is to know about them. A training journey will be fun, but I want to settle down some day and have people come visit me with their questions about pokemon."

"I don't think I ever want to settle down somewhere," Caleb said with a smile. "I'm going to travel the world and defeat every pokemon trainer there is."

Jason stopped suddenly. "Look," he whispered.

The others looked where he was pointing. A small bird pokemon was snacking on a fallen apple, not far from where they were standing.

"This would be a good chance to test Caleb's Charmander," Joshua surmised. "According to my pokedex, that's a low-level Pidgey."

"Too bad we don't have a pokeball to try and catch it with," Caleb said as he pulled Charmander's pokeball out of his pocket.

Jason turned to Daniel. "Don't you have one? I thought I saw a pokeball in your pack when you were getting a snack earlier."

"You have a pokeball?" Caleb asked with a smile. "This would be a great chance for you to catch your first pokemon!"

Daniel didn't look so happy. He pulled a pokeball out of his back pack and showed it to the others. It already had a pokemon in it.

"It's a fish pokemon," Daniel explained. "I've only had it for about a week. It can only attack in the water, and even then it isn't very strong. I didn't even have to weaken it when I caught it with a pokeball."

Joshua scanned the fish with his pokedex. "Magikarp, a fish pokemon," the pokedex said in its computerized voice. "Its body is made entirely of scale and bones. It is considered to be one of the weakest pokemon known to exist."

"Ah well," Caleb said with a shrug. "Back to battling." He opened up his pokeball, and Charmander popped out.

"Charmander. Char char," the pokemon said.

"Charmander, charge that Pidgey with…um…" Caleb looked over to Joshua. "What are Charmander's attacks?"

Joshua consulted the pokedex. "Scratch and Growl," he replied. "Looks like it will need to level up before it learns any fire-based moves."

"Ok then, scratch attack Charmander," Caleb shouted.

Charmander charged down the Pidgey and gave it a good scratching. Rather then stay to fight, the Pidgey flapped its wings hard and ran away.

"Yahoo! Our first victory, Charmander," Caleb cheered. Charmander smiled and joined in the little victory dance Caleb was performing.

"Does Magikarp have any attacks that I don't know about?" Daniel asked Joshua eagerly.

The pokedex replied out loud to Daniel's question. "Magikarp's attacks are-One: Splash. Magikarp splashes about. Two: Tackle. Magikarp builds up speed when in the water and rams into an opponent."

"I guess not," Joshua said with a shrug.

"Maybe if you keep training it, it will learn some new techniques," Jason offered, trying to cheer up his friend.

Daniel wasn't going to reply anyway, but before he even had the chance a young girl stepped out from around the corner of their trail.

"Oh, hello. Are you boys the trainers from Pallet Town?" she asked.

"We sure are," Caleb said proudly. "How did you know?"

The girl giggled. "Not much happens around here, so when new trainers are going to start out, it becomes big news."

"Do you hear that boys?" Daniel said, cheering up a bit. "Only two pokemon and we're already famous. Imagine what they'll say when we each have six."

"Only two pokemon?" the girl asked. "I was hoping for a battle. I have four."

"We accept your challenge!" Caleb said eagerly. "We'll battle two against two."

"I don't think we should count Daniel's Magikarp as one…" Jason started to say, but it was too late. The girl had already thrown out her first pokemon.

"Oddish, a weed pokemon," the pokedex said. "Oddish uses different kinds of spores for its attacks."

"Caleb, your Charmander should be able to use the flame on its tail to attach after that last battle," Joshua shouted. "It's called an Ember attack."

"Oddish, attack Charmander with your Absorb technique," the girl commanded. Oddish ran towards Charmander.

"Don't let it near you Charmander," Caleb shouted. "Use Ember."

Charmander rapidly wagged its tail at Oddish, sending several sparks of flame in its direction.

Oddish squealed and ran away. The girl called it back.

"I should have known better then to use a grass type on your fire type," the girl said. "No matter. Next, I'll use Jigglypuff!"

"Jigglypuff," the pokedex announced, "a balloon pokemon. This cute and cuddly pokemon is very rare. It puts its opponents to sleep with its beautiful singing."

Sure enough, the Jigglypuff had started into a lullaby. "Oh no. Charmander, hurry and attack before the singing affects you," Caleb called out.

Charmander tried to charge in, but it only got one scratch attack before it was fast asleep.

"One down, and one to go," the girl said with a smile. "Do you think your other pokemon can resist my Jigglypuff's song?"

"I don't think the singing is what will beat us," Joshua sighed, but Daniel stepped forward.

"If I want to be the greatest pokemon trainer ever, then I should be able to beat any opponent no matter what the odds." He held his pokeball up proudly. "You just wait and see. Magikarp, use your Tackle attack."

He threw the pokeball as hard as he could. Magikarp popped out, still flying through the air. It landed right smack on Jigglypuff's head. The pink pokemon, fell on its back, knocked out by the sudden blow. Magikarp flopped onto the ground and waited.

The girl grudgingly called her pokemon back to its pokeball and left with a grumbled 'nice match'. The boys were too stunned by their victory to reply.

Jason was the first to recover. "Way to go Daniel. Using your own throw to give Magikarp momentum."

"Actually, I was trying to bean Jigglypuff with Magikarp's pokeball," Daniel replied a bit sheepishly. "I just didn't throw it far enough."

"Well, a win is a win, and that's all that counts." Joshua said, patting Daniel on the shoulder.

"And the best part is that neither of our pokemon lost any health," Caleb added. "Charmander should be ready for battle when he finishes his nap."

Suddenly, the heard the girl scream, "Get away!"

"Not until you hand over your pokemon, little girl," a different female voice replied.

"Pokemon snatchers," Jason gasped. The four boys took off towards the sources of the voices.