When returning to Viridian City, Alex chose to leave Sienna at the Pokémon Center so she could heal up. During their return trip, they had taken their time to train so the fire type would get stronger, finding she was eager to battle.
She figured she could go the store and stock up on what they needed, for the time being, so informed Nurse Joy so she wouldn't worry.
Reaching the Pokémon Mart, the young girl took her time getting what she needed, not wanting to rush and buy unnecessarily.
Once she was done and had everything paid for, she made her way back to the Pokémon Center, greeted by the nurse who gave her Sienna's ball.
Thanking her, Alex called the Pokémon out when they were outside.
"Feeling better, Sienna?" she asked, picking her up.
"Char!"
"Good to hear."
The pair began to explore the city before thinking about returning to the fields for more training. Alex was thinking of maybe swinging by the school to ask about catching Pokémon since it wasn't something she never fully understood. She had an idea, but would rather talk to someone than guess and waste balls.
"Excuse me, young lady. You're a new trainer, correct?" an old man questioned as he shuffled towards the two.
"Yes, I started yesterday," she answered, unconsciously picking Sienna up.
"Have you captured any Pokémon yet?"
"No, I was thinking of swinging by the school to ask one of the teachers."
"Nonsense, why have some windbag tell you when you can be shown by an old pro."
"Really?"
"Of course," he answered as he guided her near the Viridian Forest border. "You've battled Pokémon before, correct?"
"Yeah, it's the basics to help a Pokémon learn to control their actions, attacks, as well as help them grow stronger."
"Smart girl," the old man grinned as he called out a female Nidoran. "Tilly, flush out a Pokémon if you could."
"Ni!" the blue Pokémon cried out, rushing into the grass, forcing a Weedle out of hiding.
"Scratch it!"
With a battle cry, the Pokémon did so, clawing at the venomous bug a few times, nearly knocking it out cold.
"As you can see, when a wild Pokémon has been weakened, they're likely not to resist capture," the old man explained as he pulled an empty ball out, throwing it towards the bug.
With a few wiggles, the ball stopped, the flashing red light stopping as well.
"Once that light stops flashing, the Pokémon has given up fighting and is all yours."
"That's so cool!"
"But be warned though, with the laws in place, a kid like you gets only one shot. So be sure you know what you want before you make your claim."
"I know, Sir," Alex replied as she watched him fetch the ball, calling his Pokémon back into her ball.
"Another piece of advice I'm sure will help you with catching Pokémon. Aside from weakening them, status ailments help too. Paralyzing, burning, putting them to sleep, and while risky, poisoning them has helped many trainers. Just be sure to have the proper medicines in case you're too far from a Pokémon Center."
"I will, I promise. Thank you so much for the help. I really appreciate it."
"Not a problem my dear, I don't mind helping new trainers out if they need it."
"Umm… Sir, can I ask you something?"
"Yes?"
"I heard rumors about an odd colored Pokémon over in the Viridian Forest, is there any truth to it?"
"I think I've heard some kids chattering up a storm about it. But to be honest, I've never seen such a Pokémon myself. All I know is that it's supposedly a shade of orange or something never seen before on a Pokémon native in that old forest."
"I see."
"If you're thinking of going in there, while I'm sure your Charmander could handle a lot of the bug types, there are other Pokémon that may prove too much. You might want to hold off and try to get more Pokémon around here first."
"Alright, thank you again."
Parting ways, Alex decided she should try her hand getting a Pokémon. She would try to use the same method the old man had shown her to catch whatever catches her eye.
After making sure Sienna was fit and ready to go, she started to make her way to the outskirts of town.
"I wonder what I should get, Rattata or Pidgey?" she wondered, going over the Pokémon she felt she had a chance catching.
She's seen other species around, but a lot of them were deeper in the forest and some looked like they were too strong for her to try and catch.
"Let's see, Rattata and Raticate are really fast and have really strong jaws. But their defenses are pretty flimsy; I wouldn't want to risk putting it in danger because of that. Pidgey is about the same in terms of defense along with Pidgeotto. But they hit much faster and harder compared to most. And they evolve into Pidgeot and their defenses are a lot sturdier by then, plus they can be used as transport. That could really help with traveling if I can't walk or find a bus to take me."
"Der?" The fire type looked up at her trainer in confusion.
"Sorry about that, just talking to myself about what we could catch," Alex apologized sheepishly. "But I've decided what we should get. We're going to catch ourselves a Pidgey! But if we can, I want to try and catch one that's by itself, not part of some flock. It'll be safer that way, think you could help me out?"
"Char!"
"Awesome, let's get going!"
Excited, they hurried into the field, the fire lizard fighting anything she found to be completely alone.
However, each time she attacked, the blows were too much, chasing the Pokémon off before Alex could even ready a pokéball.
"Guess I over trained you, huh?" Alex laughed nervously after a Rattata ran off for the seventh time.
"Char…" the Pokémon gave a concerned look.
"It's not your fault," she reassured, patting her on the head. "We won't give up until we find a Pokémon."
"Charmander, char!" Sienna lit up.
Not long after, they noticed a Pidgey landing not far from them, appearing to be alone.
"Alright, try to hold back, okay?" Alex said, the Pokémon nodding. "Use Scratch now!"
"Char!" the fire type cried out, charging at the bird.
To their surprise, the Pokémon dove out the way, but instead of tackling the Charmander, dove straight for her trainer.
"Crap!" Alex yelped as she ducked, feeling the wind when it sped overhead. "Sienna knock him out of the sky!"
"Chaar!"
She let loose with a steady stream of flames, the bird showing surprising agility, using the trees to take the hit.
"Don't use any more fire attacks!" Alex ordered, her Pokémon already stopping. "What could we do to catch it?"
She couldn't have Sienna keep attacking; the Pidgey's clearly a lot smarter and more seasoned facing trainers to attack her instead of focusing on Sienna. Her Pokémon would just get tired trying to chase it and fire attacks were out of the question. A few small flames here and there is one thing, but if they got reckless, they'll start a forest fire.
Managing to dodge another swipe by the wild Pokémon, a thought came to Alex. It was risky and probably stupid, but it was the only thing she could think of.
Waiting for it to make another dive, she lunged at the surprised bird, tackling each other to the ground.
"Got you!" Alex declared before yelping when the Pidgey pinched her arm with his beak.
She let go out of instinct, barely having time to nurse her arm before the bird let out what sounded like a battle cry. Looking up at it, she saw it wore what looked like annoyed scowl as it flapped overhead.
Flying higher, the bird suddenly dove, aiming straight for the dark-haired girl.
"Char!" Sienna cried out, running to her trainer.
"Oh no!" Alex gasped, her mind going a mile a minute trying to think, unable to make her body move.
Before she fully processed it, her hand grabbed an empty ball and threw it at the flying missile. When it made contact, a bright light erupted as it opened, the bird's body turning to red energy and being swallowed up.
Shielding her eyes from the light, she didn't see the ball coming back at her until the last second when it smacked her in the face.
"Ow… That really hurt…"
"Charmander char!" Sienna cried out worriedly. She clung to her trainer's arm when she fell backward, seeing her rub her face.
"I-I'm fine," she reassured, nursing her nose.
It didn't feel broken nor was bleeding, but had a feeling it will bruise later.
Looking at the ball, she saw it hadn't stopped moving yet. That meant the Pidgey must still be inside and fighting to break out.
"Explains why my face isn't getting pecked off," she commented, body tense at the thought of the bird freeing itself.
"Chaar…"
"Be ready, Sienna. He might come out," Alex said as she got to her feet.
What felt like an eternity, the metallic ball finally stopped, the red light no longer flashing. It was the signal she needed to know the Pokémon has been captured.
"We…we did it… We caught him!" Alex cheered, picking her starter up in a big hug. "We finally caught our first Pokémon!"
"Char!" the Pokémon chirped, glad to see things are good now.
Stopping their little dance, the young girl set her Pokémon down as she picked her first catch's ball up.
"Why don't we see how strong he is in battle? We've seen his speed and agility so far."
It may have been an unorthodox catch, but it was a catch no less, and she was happy about it regardless.
"Man!" the other confirmed, tail wagging excitedly.
"Alright, come on out, Ansen!" she called out, finding the perfect name for her brand new Pokémon.
Soon as the bird was out and reoriented himself, he turned to his new trainer, giving her a nasty glare.
"Oh, right…"
In all her excitement, she forgot this Pokémon was attacking her originally even if she did give the order first.
Instantly the Pokémon flew right at her, pecking away at her head, causing her to start running from her new Pokémon.
"Ow! Knock it off, we're a team now! We're not enemies!" she cried out, trying to shield herself as best as possible.
After several minutes of this going on, Alex managed to get the ornery Pokémon to redirect his aggression onto some wild Pokémon than on her.
Despite having him battle wild Pokémon surprisingly well, Alex would make frequent trips to the Pokémon Center whenever either started getting too tired.
"Jeez, wish you could actually use the move, Peck. You're beak's hard enough to do it. Feels like getting pummeled by rocks," the girl groaned as she rubbed her head. "I bet you'd be unbeatable with it alone."
Ansen let out a huff as he turned from his new master, appearing miffed by her words, causing her to sigh.
How did she get such a stubborn Pokémon? More precisely, why did she get a stubborn Pidgey of all Pokémon?
"Well, I guess a cranky Pidgey is better than a cranky Charmander," the girl joked as she looked at Sienna. "Least I won't have to worry about getting roasted."
Hearing her bird make his usual battle cry, she turned to see him use a move she didn't recognize right away.
Taking out the Pokédex, she had it scan him, reading what moves he knew, a smile growing as she read the data.
"You learned Quick Attack? That's awesome! Now I know you're going to be unbeatable for sure!" she squealed with joy.
Her joy, however, was short-lived when the bird decided to test his new move on her, slamming straight into her gut.
"Char!"
"I'm good… I think this is his weird way of saying, thank you," she laughed sarcastically, holding her stomach in pain. "I mean, if he really hated me, why would he bother listening, right?"
"Der…" the lizard sighed as the bird apparently answered the question by tackling the girl a few more times.
"Okay… I think I get it now… This…this is revenge," she groaned as her whole body ached, recalling how she tackled the bird. "How very mature of you, brat."
In the background, she could hear her Charmander laughing suddenly, appearing to find this quite funny. Alex rolled her eyes as she drummed her fingers against the dirt.
"Glad you find this so funny, Sienna."
Just as she successfully rolled away from her ornery Pokémon, she got him back inside his ball before further damage was done.
Looking to the sky, Alex found they were out longer than she expected, stars already starting to appear.
Alex decided that it was a good time to turn in for the night, knowing they can continue training tomorrow.
Alex - Pokémon 2 - Badges 0 - Deaths 0
Team:
Sienna - Charmander
Ansen - Pidgey
I apologize again for this chapter being on the shorter side. I couldn't think of what else to put without stretching it unnecessarily.
If you enjoyed this, please leave a review and any helpful critique that may better improve the writing.
