The hardest part about making your way through a big city is that if you don't have a bike, it would take you hours to make it to the city gates. Mauville, the city that is, was huge. There were different districts; one for shopping, there was a housing district for the rich people up on a second story that could be accessed through elevators, a business district. Fortunately, the bike shop was nearby Team Aurora's base.
Zero made his way over, waving hello to the stray passerbies who were awake this late at night. It was snowing slightly, meaning that anybody out was enjoying the fresh snow that blanketed the ground. He hurried, not wanting to get caught out by someone he knew from base before he could get out of the city.
The streets winded on, the occasional streetlamp here and there providing light for our young charge as he made his way down the snow filled street. Zero looked up, smiling to himself despite the situation he was in. Snow had always made him happy. The purity of the white on the ground filled him with determination to press onwards, and he had finally found the bike shop.
'Rydel's Cycles, open day and night' the sign said, filling Zero with relief. At least now he wouldn't have to worry about going on foot. He pushed open the doors to the store, warm air hitting him as he made his way inside.
"Welcome to Rydel's Cycles, how can I help you this fine night?" a middle aged man asked him. 'He must be Rydel' Zero thought to himself. "Oh, yes, I was about to set off for Littleroot Town, and I don't have a means to get there other than by foot." He paused for a moment before adding, "I have a very important message for Professor Birch."
Rydel had been looking at the young man with suspicion for a moment before he heard Birch's name. "Birch you say? Oh the Professor and I are old friends, here." He said, taking down one of the faster bikes. "I'll lend you a Mach Bike if you will take a letter to him for me, it's probably not as urgent as your message, but I figure that if they're going to the same place, then there's no harm or foul in having you bring it to save me the trouble."
Zero nodded. "Makes sense to me, I'll make sure to deliver the letter as soon as I get there for you."
Rydel smiled to himself before shuffling off for a moment. After a minute or so, he returned with an enclosed letter and handed it to Zero. "It's important, young man, that this gets to the Professor, it's for his eyes only." Zero nodded once more, pocketing the letter in his backpack, before wheeling the bike outside and hopping on it.
As he rode off, Rydel yelled to him, "Take care Zero!" and our hero could only wonder for a second whether or not he had given the bike shop owner his name.
On his way through the city, Zero took his time paying attention to his surroundings. Not only was it important to make sure that nobody would find him and take him back to the Aurora base, but he also wanted to take a last look at the city in which he had grown up.
Snow fell heavily upon the ground as an 8 year old Zero saw it for the first time. "What's this?" He asked his mentor, a young man by the name of Jack who had short orange hair. He wore a heavy red snow coat to prevent him from getting a cold, and wore baggy pants and a pair of earmuffs too. Jack was in charge of making sure that Zero didn't get in trouble in the city.
"This is snow" Jack responded. "You know how it rains? About how water gets evaporated and then falls back down to the ground once it gets cold enough?" Zero nodded his head. "Well, snow is what happens when rain gets even colder. The droplets in the air freeze into small things called snowflakes, and when they fall, they bunch up together and cover whatever they fall on."
Zero was ecstatic, a new type of water! He loved learning about sciences, and having just learned about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation endeared him to water. Snow was a brand new kind of excitement to the impressionable child, and he spent many hours playing in it.
Zero smiled to himself as he reminisced on the years prior. It had been nine years since he had first discovered snow. It had been a discovery that had revolutionized the way that his brain worked. He now favored Water and Ice Pokémon above all else. Years had passed, and now he was able to save a Mudkip from the grasp of his prior Guardians.
He made his way to the other side of town carefully, seeing as how Rydel's Cycles was on the easternmost side, and he needed to leave through the western gate. He rode throughout the back streets to evade anybody that might recognize him, but he soon realized that he needed to stock up on potions just in case Mudkip got injured on the way to Verdanturf.
Right after he decided that it was worth it to go to the Pokémart, he saw a vending machine. Of course! Fresh Water was just as expensive as Potions were, and were way more effective to use. After buying himself a few for the road, he got back on his bike and was soon on his way.
The Western Gate wasn't heavily guarded, and it was easy for Zero to pass through it without trouble. A line trailed behind him, marking the path that his bike road along through the snow. And yet the snow that was falling covered the path, obscuring it from sight within minutes.
Zero knew this route very well; he used to have a part time job helping out the day care couple. It had paid well, but he had eventually gotten a job closer to his old home. The elderly couple was nowhere to be seen outside, which was understandable given that it was nighttime. He stopped at a few places to harvest a few Oran berries from the ever growing Oran bushels, and continued on his way.
Eventually though, he encountered a place that was overgrown with tall grass. He put the Mach Bike into his backpack pulled Mudkip's Pokéball out of it.
Zero had never before walked through tall grass without somebody else to supervise him, and thus it would be his first step towards being self-sufficient in his own mind. To him, the situation was akin to that of a child being told by their parents that they could serve themselves ice cream. Exciting. Invigorating. Nerve wracking. Zero steeled his nerves and strode through the grass.
No Pokémon popped out him immediately, which was a good sign to the young Pokémon trainer. he made his way through it completely unscathed, and reached the other side without a single Pokémon showing up.
It's important to note here that Pokémon do not only show up in tall grass. In fact, it would be wrong of me to say that they were constantly on the lookout for people to show up in tall grass so they could pick fights with trainers. Pokémon that lived in tall grass, are, as a generalization of course, very nonchalant. Of course, if a trainer were to disturb a Pokémon in its natural habitat, or if for some reason the Pokémon wanted to be captured, it would seek out humans to do battle and potentially get caught.
It's also very important to note here that Pokémon can live elsewhere, such as right outside tall grass lying in wait to ambush trainers who thought they got out without a fight.
And so Zero was given quite the surprise as he got tackled onto the ground by a wild Volbeat, who promptly flew off and turned around with a glint in its eyes. This Volbeat had been looking for a good fight all day, but none of the other wild Pokémon in the area wanted to duke it out. Finally night had fallen, and the Volbeat had been about to give up when it saw the human come through. And with a human usually came a good Pokémon battle.
"Volbeat!" the Bug type exclaimed to the trainer. "Come and battle me!"
Zero stood up, wiping the snow off of his snow jacket. A Volbeat eh? The first wild Pokémon that Mudkip would fight. Thank Arceus that it hadn't been a Roselia. "Go Mudkip." Zero said as he tossed the Pokéball, releasing the water type.
"Kip!" said the young Pokémon as it came out of its Pokéball. It quickly saw the Volbeat and knew what was going on. A serious look graced its visage as it assumed a fighting stance without a single command from her trainer.
The Volbeat wasted no time with any sort of pleasantries with the water type, and instead began to rush forwards in the start of a Tackle. Zero was prepared, and ordered Mudkip to dodge the attack before following up with a Tackle of her own, which she was able to pull off fairly easily. She slammed into the wild Pokémon, knocking it to the ground before it sprung back up, looking like it had barely been hurt by the attack.
The Volbeat suddenly turned on the lights in its tail, which had been off until now, and in the temporary blindedness of the Volbeat's Flash, it managed to get a hit in on Mudkip. Mudkip hadn't been hurt too badly either by the hit, but it was still a little bit disoriented by the sudden brightness in the dark of the night.
The battle raged on, with dodging on both sides, tackles going through and missing, a mud slap that didn't seem to do anything (due to type disadvantage, Zero realized afterwards), until finally the two Pokémon were on their last legs. This last attack was all or nothing, and the Volbeat prepared to use one last Tackle before Zero said something to Mudkip.
"Mudkip, use Water Gun." It had been the first time in the battle that he had told his Pokémon to use the ability, and the Volbeat recognized as the spurt of water came racing towards it that it had lost the battle. It attempted to dodge the water attack, but it was much too slowed from exhaustion and got the full brunt of the attack before it passed out to wake up in the morning.
Zero was ecstatic, as was Mudkip. Their first official wild Pokémon battle together, and it had been a win, no less. But Zero recognized that Mudkip needed some rest, and so after giving it a few Oran berried he returned her to her Pokéball.
As he continued towards Verdanturf, he knew that he had quite the adventure to look forwards to.
Hello all, so that was chapter two of Zero to Hero. I hope everyone who read it enjoyed it. And sorry Asaf for making you wait two and a half months to read this, I got caught up with life things and couldn't find inspiration to write for a little bit. Seeing your story get updated just recently got me on my feet though, and I punched out the last thousand words I needed to end this where I wanted.
Anyways, if you're reading this, give me a follow and review to let me know what you think so far. ~Remvis.