Wade set down his book off to the side, he was sitting under the shade of a mighty oak tree, and simply smiled. Houndour was laying in his lap, even if the dog wasn't stoked about napping under the shade. It was far, far more comfortable to sleep on his trainer's lap while basking in sunlight, but he also wasn't complaining. Laying flat on the ground, who Wade had absent mindedly been scratching, was Feebas. Both pokemon had been training all day, with Feebas mostly trying to land a Tackle on Houndour, while Houndour worked on his aim with his fire.

"You know, I always thought that Houndour's flames would be more… painful after a fight," Feebas said. She then purred when Wade began to rub just under her flipper.

"Well, I don't want to actually hurt you, so I didn't use my actual fire. We're teammates, packmates, and I don't burn packmates. I will headbutt or nip them though," Houndour chuckled. "Besides, it would be pretty horrible of me if I were to burn you. Just morally, it's wrong to put you in such pain, and I'd hate to see you or anybody I love in pain. Wade would get mad, I'd betray you by burning you, and I…" Houndour yelped when Feebas hit him with a spray of water. It wasn't Water Gun, but Feebas could still spit and produce water.

"So you consider me a packmate already? It's been what? Three or four days since we met, and you already consider me a packmate?" Feebas asked.

"Of course! I'm the alpha and Wade is second in command. So that means if he approves of you, then surely you can't be that bad," Houndour chuckled. "I got attached to Wade within a few hours of meeting him… which either means I'm atypical for a Houndour, or that's just what it's like to have a pokemon trainer. I've got no clue, but I'm not going to complain either. I love Wade, plain and simple."

"Could you imagine if Wade knew what you were saying? I'm certain that 'atypical' is not a word many would use that often. In fact, Wade's vocabulary is a bit… basic to say the least. I highly doubt he'd expect that from you given that you should approximately be the equivalent of a human toddler," Feebas commented.

Houndour simply laughed. "Wade would probably be too busy with hearing how I said I love him. Then he wouldn't let me forget that I said that, while he physically shows that he loves me back. Is it weird to wish Wade was a Houndour? We'd be brothers, we could actually wrestle. Playing with Wade is fun, but I can easily overpowered him, and Wade with his opposable thumbs is annoying! He strokes my chin or cheek mid wrestling match with it! He's suppose to be glaring at me and trying to fight back, not show me affection!"

"Wouldn't it be worse if Wade were a Houndour? Instead of stroking you mid wrestling match, he's probably gonna kiss you," Feebas giggled. "And then likely gush over how he loves you. I see how he stares at you for a couple minutes after he thinks you fell asleep," she smiled at the thought. "He looked at you so fondly even if he does seem a bit sad at times too. Like you remind him of something that hurts him."

"Wade said he had a dog before we ended up actually existing in this world. I think I probably remind Wade of said dog. I know he says he really hates where he's from, but I'm willing to bet that he missed his dog," Houndour said.

While Wade's pokemon were having a conversation under their traiber's nose, he was running through the pokemon league forums. Despite some of the friendlier comments; or people complaining about how Professor Juniper could do better(he agreed). It was pretty interesting to see what was going on in the world, other trainer's thoughts, or people going crazy over potentially seeing Cynthia in a bikini. People from this world weren't too different from people from his world. What caught Wade's interests were forums on specific pokemon. People had tons and tons of stuff to share about their pokemon regardless of which pokemon that forum was for.

Wade eventually found himself scrolling through a mega forum about the Unova league. Apparently there were already a couple trainers that caught the public's eye. Ash and Trp weren't amongst them, Wade figured that Ash was lost somewhere and Trip probably hasn't been noticed yet. One trainer that caught his eye was named Failure.

For some reason, whoever the poor kid's parents were, named their kid Failure. Juniper said she sent somebody named Failure out recently, and apparently Failure mopped the floor with the first couple of gym leaders… albeit after the second gym match, there was footage of Failure standing out behind the Pokemon Center, hat off, with a shovel. He was obviously crying about something.

"Why couldn't it have been this stupid monkey that died?" Wade could hear, the voice was heavily with an Irish accent. He still thought that the kid sounded a lot like a youtuber he used to watch. And the kid's voice was way deeper than Wade would've expected out of a 10 year-old child. Failure looked a lot like Black, the male protagonist in Pokemon Black and White.

Forum comentors were coming up with all sorts of theories as to what Failure was doing. Some say he's insane. Failure was caught talking and laughing to himself, like he was talking to thousands of voices inside of his head. Others theorized that Failure's pokemon received injuries so severe that they couldn't be saved by the Pokemon Center.

There was a list of Failure's team:

Shitface, a Patrar.

Misery, a Pansear.

And Mistake, an Oshawott.

Apparently the internet was really good at knowing what pokemon was in your team. From the species of pokemon, to their abilities, moves. It was a little bit concerning, but Wade figured he'd never have that problem; he wasn't taking on gyms. Even if he wasn't partnered with a Houndour, which are apparently too aggressive for League Events, he wouldn't want to partake in the Gym Challenge.

Sure, being a strong trainer seemed promising. Wade knew what was coming, and he could breeze through that if he were even remotely decent at battling. It also made his job of keeping an eye on White and her friends easier. Though by the time they'd even get to the first gym, Wade knew he'd be outclassed. White, Cheren and Bianca should all eventually become very capable trainers.

White is supposed to become the champion while Cheren eventually becomes a gym leader. Both of which takes quite a bit of skill as trainers to be, albeit as a gym leader, you had to hold back quite a lot against new trainers. Wade knew he wouldn't be able to keep up with those two, and Bianca would still find some way to be able to easily walk through Wade and his team.

Luckily, Houndour and Feebas were already turning out to be pretty tough. Sure, Feebas wasn't very strong, but Wade couldn't fault her on that. According to the Pokedex, Feebas just weren't strong battlers, which made more novice trainers turn their noses on them. Once the fish evolved, she'd be a force of nature. Feebas, despite being one of the slowest pokemon in the games, was pretty quick. She managed to catch Houndour off guard a couple of times. Girafarig was appearing to be a capable esper as well, even if Wade decided to hand Girafarig off to White for a bit, as tomorrow was the big day…

Goodbye to that nice, warm bed.

Houndour was also turning out to be pretty strong. Not only did Houndour run circles around Wade himself, but also outmatched Wade and Feebas in physical strength. Sure, Wade wasn't sure what Houndour could lift pound per pound, but the pup was considerably powerful. Houndour's flame, when in what Wade assumed was 'real mode,' the dog burnt through solid rock. It also left a bit of an ooze on the charred rock.

Wade read in the games that Houndour and Houndoom had toxins that fueled their flames. Albeit, Wade wasn't sure if the games were fully trustable for his information in this world. But the ooze did seem like it would hurt if it made contact with bare flesh. So, instead of touching it like an idiot, Wade figured he should go have Professor Juniper have a look at the stuff later. She'd probably know what it was, the woman was much smarter than he was, and it showed.

Juniper had a surprisingly vast skill range beyond just being a professor. Despite 'not having enough time to cook' she was pretty good at it, or Wade just loved spending time with her. Juniper also managed to completely floor Wade in chess, which likely meant she could strategize for better than he could; she was probably a trainer at some point. Juniper even tried to teach Wade some of her strategies in a pokemon battle, which Wade figured he would incorporate into his own style if he even had one. Juniper was a good teacher, having taught Wade some basic, but effective battling strategies, taught him how to cook, and even some on the field medical remedies.

Wade loved this woman.

"Say Houndour, there's a forum for canine-like pokemon," Wade received an annoyed look from Houndour, who was now trying to nap. The pup groaned and sat up so he could watch his trainer scroll through forums. As incredible as the Pokedex was, it lacked a touch screen, and moving through the forums with it was a bit clunky. Much like an an iPod had a dpad with a scroll wheel on it, which was fun to fidget with.

For typing, web browsing, or anything that wasn't scanning pokemon was a Nightmare to do. Wade had gotten faster at working with the scroll wheel, he grew up with an iPod, but still found the scroll wheel more tedious than a simple screen you could put inputs through by touching it. It turned out that you had to hold the middle button down to scroll up, or leave it released to scroll down while spinning the wheel.

Wade hated the Pokedex for that.

What Wade took note of, was how popular Growlithe were. The dogs were all over the place, with pokemon such as Rockruff coming in a very far second place of popularity in a poll that was taken a couple days ago. In fact, Growlithe were. More popular than Arcanine across households. They were small, warm, and friendly. Growlithe were also very protective and acted as a good defense for your house.

Surprisingly, Houndour were pretty common as well, but labeled as a shittier version of Growlithe. Houndour were more likely to be aggressive, horrible tempers, and just not very friendly apparently. Albeit, a small few were defending the species, that they were as loyal as a Ninetales when you gain their trust.

What was also pretty shocking was that Vulpix and Ninetales were quite unpopular; they weren't 'canine' enough apparently. Wade thought that was dumb, they're labelled as 'fox pokemon' which, as far as Wade knew, also canines. It turned out that Vulpix and, more specifically, Ninetales were pretty picky with who their trainer was. Any Ninetales however, were pretty good with small children. This led to quite a few 10 year olds waking up to a wild Ninetales sheltering them with their tails. The children who wake up to this sort of thing ended up leaving their camp with one more pokemon.

Oh the fright that must've come from that kind of awakening.

Wade stretched and yawned. "Well, you can go ahead and nap now, Houndour. I'm probably gonna join ya," Wade slipped his Pokedex in his pocket and laid down. Houndour was happy to note that he was now being held closely to Wade, and that his trainer finally found the true joy of taking a nap. That was good, his trainer was learning.

White giggled as Girafarig began to sniff at her shoulder. "That tickles, Girafarig! Please stop!" White patted the giraffe on the head and giggled again when she got licked in the face. Wade had opted to leave Girafarig with White, Cheren and Bianca for the day.

"He needs the rest, plus he likes ya. Just make sure he doesn't do too much rough housing," Wade instructed before he walked out of the door.

"I still don't get why you like Girafaig so much. Didn't his tail just try to bite you?" Cheren asked.

"Well, his tail isn't exactly sentient. It just does things, and I guess it decided that it should try to bite me. Luckily, Girafarig stopped it from doing so… who's a sweet boy?" White began to baby the giraffe. While it would've been demeaning, given how smart said giraffe was, Girafarig didn't really mind. It was kind of nice, since he didn't need to prove his intelligence, to just be treated like a colt.

Girafarig bleated when White began to scratch him behind the ears. "Why must this kid be so damn good at ear scratching? I mean, I'm not complaining, why must you spoil me so? I still need to get used to Wade's mediocre pampering!" Girafarig grinned when White looked at him in shock. She had been laying up against the giraffe's side until he had chosen to use telepathy. "What? Were you not expecting me to be able to communicate?"

"No, it's just… that's really cool! Though I was just talking to you with a baby voice. Don't you pokemon ever get tired of being treated like babies? I sure wouldn't be happy, since that would be insulting towards my intelligence," White said.

"Why are you talking like Girafarig can speak?" Cheren's eyes then widened. "He used telepathy with you specifically didn't he?" White nofded. "God dammit, why does every single pokemon specifically love you?" Cheren asked.

"Well, she does know where to scratch. Also no, most pokemon don't care about how you speak to them. Houndour loves being babied, albeit he is a pup. I also like being babied, but it's because I like feeling like a colt. Also, please keep scratching my ear, White. It feels really nice," Girafarig decided to stop directing his telepathy to just white.

"Of course!" White then began to ask questions like "who's a good boy?" While continuing to pamper and groom the giraffe.

Bianca blinked before screaming about how she's going insane. Pokemon can apparently talk, and she never knew. Cheren and White chuckled at their friend's naivet. Girafarig also had a good laugh, but was too busy with White working her magic on him.

Professor Juniper patted an Oshawott. Before her sat the Unovan Water Starter, along with a Teppig and Snivy. These three pokemon were going to be what the three children would be picking from. White was likely going to get first pick, it was going to be her birthday. So the professor decided to take some time to make sure that the three were ready for their big day tomorrow.

"Just remember you three, make sure you bond with your trainers. I hope you three can begin to see them as family!" Juniper grinned when all three starters looked just as excited as the children to start their journey; they could finally get out of the lab. Sure, it was home, but it gets boring to just sit around. Having a trainer would mean seeing the world.

Having a trainer would mean they could make a name for themselves. A shot to the top, being the strongest pokemon that they could be. To have somebody to love, something to fight for. To live. That's what it meant for a pokemon to have a trainer. Tomorrow would be the big day for the starters, and they couldn't wait a second longer for the day to come.

"So, which one do you want as a trainer?" Oshawatt asked the other two.

"I don't know, that girl in the dress seems pretty nice," Tepig said.

"I'm hoping for the kid with the glasses. He seems to mean business and I like that… though why does it matter if we dream about who we'll have a trainer? We aren't the ones Choosing, the children are," Snivy said.

"Well, it's just fun to imagine which one we'll have as a trainer. At the end of our journey, we'll probably love up witj loving our trainer, regardless of who they are, right? So let's have a little competition," Oshawott grin. "Whoever has the strongest trainer wins!" She declared.

Snivy grinned. "Me and my future trainer will kick your ass."

"No, me and my trainer will!" Tepig butted in.

"Ah Wade, are you ready for tomorrow?" They all turned to the professor. Before the starters stood a man, who didn't look particularly interesting. He was at least 20 Years-old, and was holding a Houndour which was the most interesting part about him. They've never seen a Houndour before. "Nope… still gotta watch those kids though, right?"

"Of course. These are the starters that are going to be traveling with the kids."

Houndour waved a paw. "I look forward to traveling with you three!"

Each starter felt a shiver run down their spine.

a/n:

aight so, got a review saying that i'll probably be following the pokedex shit like it's the gospel. That's a fair assumption, so imma actually try to stray away from that. Especially stupid stuff like certain pokemon not being able to fly, or others being absurdly fast.

also somebody left a review telling me to stop writing for this, and write something they want to see... i don't get paid for this. I only do this because i want to, and so i write what i want to. Do I do a good job at writing? I dunno, but the more you tell me to write a certain thing, the less likely that it'll happen.

the more you know!*

anyways, feel free to review whether or not this story is dog shit. Prepare for chapter 12, stuff picks up very slightly off the ground and hovers there for approximately 10 more chapters.