((A/N: Yesh, I know this chapter's shorter, but I promise the next one will be the longest yet! Enjoy!)

Chapter Two: Humiliating Defeat!

"Bagon is a dragon-type pokemon, standing approximately 2 feet in height, and can learn the moves dragonbreath, headbutt, ember, bite, and rage. It evolves into Shelgon, and Shelgon into Salamence." The mechanical voice of Kanith's pokedex drawled. It flashed a picture of Salamence, and Kanith's eyes lit up with glee. He knelt down to Bagon and showed him the picture of Salamence.

"That's what you'll be, ya know…" he said, still grinning. Bagon's eyes matched Kanith's soon, and it was obvious why; all Bagon held a never-ceasing dream to fly, and now Bagon knew it would be someday. The duo had not yet left Viridian, staying there for several days, relaxing at times and training at others. Kanith had experimented, and found that Bagon knew how to use most of the attacks listed in the pokedex. He had found that Bagon was one of the few pokemon who disliked pokeballs. It didn't bother Kanith much, but it was less convenient.

Today was the day, though, he had decided to leave Viridian; Bagon seemed ready enough, and the last stop to go to was the pokemart to get the potions they needed; Kanith knew that he had better be safe than sorry…

Standing back up fully, he left for the mart. As he and Bagon walked through the city, he realized how attached he had grown to this place; all the trainers were nice and helpful, and gave him suggestions for training. Overall, the city itself was pleasant, busier than Pallet Town, but not bustling to the point in which it would be difficult to sleep at night. Kanith took a right, nearing the mart, jolted from his thoughts when he nearly bumped into someone; the person had two pokeballs, and wore a black vest. The majority of his face was concealed by dark hair, and his overall demeanor was somewhat intimidating. Kanith frowned slightly, and quickly walked into the mart. He browsed the many spray-like medicines, now knowing what effect each of the colorful medicines had. He bought a few antidotes and potions, each only meant for minor wounds. If anything major happened to Bagon, he didn't want to have to rush back to the pokemon center again, so he picked one super potion just in case. As soon as he was about to go and cash out, something caught his eye; the TM section had been of interest to him; the idea that a pokemon could learn a move it didn't naturally have was appealing to Kanith, as it could make his pokemon become that much stronger.

He stepped up to the cases of Technical Machines, and looked through the multi-colored CDs until he stopped at one marked 'Dragon Claw'…he remembered that Bagon was a Dragon pokemon, and quickly pulled the bluish CD out of its case. It was a risky buy; what if it wasn't compatible with Bagon for some reason?

'Doesn't matter, I guess…I could probably save it if I need to anyway.'

Kanith mentally reasoned. He put the items on the table and let the clerk ring them up. The cost was paid, leaving him with very little money; he'd have to earn more soon. He went outside, and decided to wait for a while before he taught Bagon the TM….he'd have to figure out how it worked beforehand. Walking north, he found the streets becoming less populated as he walked. He knew from his map someone had given him, that Pewter was north of Viridian, through one of the largest forests in the world, Viridian Forest. It was widely known that there were many trainers here, and Kanith was already itching for a battle now that he had learned all of the aspects of being a trainer.

By now, he had gotten on the relatively short Route 2, rather quiet, with very few pokemon. Kanith used his pokedex to scan a few different interesting pokemon, finding out about Pidgey, Caterpie, Weedle, Kakuna, and Rattata. Bagon was rather quiet throughout the entire walk, seeming more focused on the task at hand.

"You know, Bagon, I think-"

"Fight me."

Kanith was interrupted by another voice, one that was calm and seemed to be whisked away with the light breeze. Kanith looked to the origin of the sound, to his right. He saw there the kid in the black vest, one of his two pokeballs held in his hand, enlarged to full size and preparing to throw.

Kanith shook his head at the challenge.

"Trainers must fight when their eyes lock. Think of it as a code of honor." He replied in that unnerving voice that didn't seem to fit his intimidating aura.

Kanith sighed. This guy seemed to take things quite seriously, and if it was a battle he wanted, it would be a battle he'd get, though it would be the first of Kanith's. He head was swimming with un-asked questions; Who was this guy? What pokemon did he have? Which one was he going to use? How would he fight? Only one came out.

"So, who are you anyway…before we battle, I'd like to know." Kanith said, Bagon stepping forward and flicking his head at Kanith to show his impatience. Kanith couldn't help but giving a smirk; Bagon was quite impulsive and raring to go already! He was jolted back to reality by the almost creepy voice.Kanith looked back to the black-clad person; he was about a foot and a half taller than he was, and was at least 5 years older.

"Dante Adams, but that's not important. What is is this battle."

'Well, he got straight to the point, alright…'

Kanith thought, but said nothing, only nodding, ready for the battle. Dante, understanding, threw the pokeball, and with a white flash, a wolf-like pokemon was released. It had silver ridges on it's head and back, and looked quite ferocious. Kanith drew the pokedex from his backpack, pointing it at the dark pokemon.

"Houndour – This pokemon can attack with dark type moves like crunch, as well as fire-type moves such as flamethrower." The pokemon encyclopedia drawled. Kanith stowed it back into the backpack.

"Right…Bagon, use headbutt!" Kanith commanded, Bagon launching forward, its head almost colliding with the dark-type pokemon, which barely dodged the technique. Without a command, Houndour launched forward from it's maw a burst of flame. Bagon was bathed in the flames, and soon fell forward, unconscious, the flames leaving several burn marks on the dragon-type. The flames were almost scalding even at this range, and were almost white-hot in some places. It was a good thing dragon-types had resistance to fire, or Bagon would have been in even deeper trouble.

'Woah…he's good…'

Kanith thought, stepping forward, pulling the backpack off, unzipping it. He rummaged through the bottles of spray medicine until he found one marked 'potion'. He sprayed it on Bagon, watching as the wounds sealed up quickly. He was amazed at the power of the medicine that was sold at the pokemart and vaguely wondered what the super potion would do if he used it. As soon as the bottle was empty and Bagon was back on his feet, Kanith looked up, expecting to see the trainer there, but nothing was there…As if he simply walked out just after he had won, without even a handshake, which was traditional before most battles. Whoever it was, he was rude, but he was in a league of his own. To put it simply, Kanith, a new trainer, just got completely destroyed by some guy who wanted to fight.

"No way…that guy's good. He didn't even have to command Houndour, and it was over in only a few seconds…" Kanith said mostly to himself, clenching his fist.

"I'm gonna fight him again…but he had two pokemon…although, it's not like he needed both. But I'll need to catch another one, myself… so I'll need to train Bagon and whatever else there is to catch…so, I guess it's time to use this…" he said, searching in the bag. He drew out the blue-ish disc with a tag on the end that read: Technical Machine: 02 – Dragon's Claw.

He moved over to Bagon with the disc in hand.

"Look, Bagon. This is a Technical Machine, and it'll teach you a new move you wouldn't normally know…" he explained, hoping he would use the disc correctly; he didn't want to hurt Bagon. Bagon nodded, seeming to understand what was going to happen. Kanith positioned it over Bagon's head, lowering it slowly. As soon as it came into contact with the dragon-type, it began to glow, slowly turning from dark blue to turquoise to cyan to white. The heat from the now-white disc caused Kanith to go into a sweat, his fingers beginning to burn slightly from the sheer power of the Technical Machine. He began to worry that he had used it incorrectly, but waited to see what would happen. Blue balls of energy began to orbit his dragon pokemon, and Bagon looked as if he was in pain for a moment. Soon, the energy, which was orbiting ever closer, was absorbed into the leathery skin. After a moment like this, the disc began to slowly revert to its normal color, and when it was blue again, it cracked straight through the middle. The glow was gone, and Bagon looked like it had gained new power.

"Okay, Bagon! Use Dragon Claw on…" Kanith looked around for a target, until he found a large boulder a good distance away.

"On that rock!" Kanith finished his command. Bagon's left set of claws began to glow, and it charged up to the boulder, and Kanith didn't see what happened after that; smoke began to rise from where Bagon should have been. After a moment of genuine worry, the smoke cleared, revealing the boulder to be demolished, broken into thousands of pieces. Bagon was standing in a triumphant pose, giving a toothy grin that must have been learnt from another human. This both amused and confused Kanith. It was funny, at least, but who had it learned it from? That meant it must have had a trainer once to learn a human posture like that, right? But it didn't really matter…because now Bagon was his pokemon. Instead, Kanith smirked at the power of the new move. Maybe if he met that guy again, he could try to defeat him…this, Dante kid. But, for now he'd need to get to Pewter to earn his first badge. So, with the dragon pokemon at his heels, he entered the forest through the large building separating Route 2 and Viridian forest. Inside were a few trainers socializing and battling, and a security guard. Kanith didn't bother; he would fight some people in the forest, he was sure of it. So, he simply showed the guard his pokedex, which included his ID and Trainer's License and was able to enter Viridian Forest, which could have stretched forever; as no light was on the horizon; you could easily get lost in the place for weeks if you didn't stay on the trails.

"I wonder, which way…" Kanith said to himself, looking at the dark forest ahead; there were two passes through the thick bunches of trees. The canopy of the tall trees blocked out most of the sunlight. He shrugged absently, and decided to go right, not finding any pokemon he hadn't already gotten data on.

Only a few yards down the path, he saw a kid his age wearing casual clothing, with pokeballs at his waist…

"Hey, you! Let's battle!"

Kanith smirked; this would be the first of many trainers he'd probably encounter in the forest…

((A/N: Okay, I know it was a little shorter, and I somewhat cut it off, but I don't really think it was necessary typing up all those battles. I just wanted to know, do you think I should have done so? Please review and give any suggestions, no matter how useless you may think they are.)