A/N: I'm afraid there's only so much you can do with Route 1. Oh well. Pokemon still isn't mine.
Chapter Five: A Distinct Lack of Batman (or anything else exciting)
After what felt like hours of repeating his story to the police and anyone who knew he'd been in the storage room, plus lots of grovelling in front of Professor Oak (who'd merely smiled and said he needed to update security for a while now anyway as he handed them their pokedexes), Kirsain and Roddy were finally on the road. Route 1. This was truly the beginning of their journey to the Elite Four.
It was also slightly dull, as the excitement faded away after realising that it was nearly deserted; all the Heksar trainers had already gone on ahead, and Pidgey and Rattata really weren't that all exciting, no disrespect to Shial intended. Kirsain had called his Piplup Vallis, after Shial's partner in the book. As they were his starters he'd be using them together more often than any other pokemon he caught, at least initially, so he hoped they'd get along like the characters had.
Roddy was the kind of person who would call a Pikachu 'Pika' or a water-type 'Aqua,' so he agreed with Kirsain that his nicknames would be pointless and stupid and would only annoy Kir. True to form, Murkrow was now 'Murky' and Bulbasaur was 'Bulba'. Kirsain couldn't wait until Bulbasaur evolved and Roddy ended up calling an Ivysaur 'Bulba' in battle.
"...I mean, Raticate's not that bad," Roddy was saying, bringing Kirsain back to the present. "It, um, it has Super Fang. And it can learn Ice Beam."
"Do we have an Ice Beam TM?"
"Well, no, but..."
"Are you actually going to catch a Rattata?"
"I might try and fill the pokedex one day!"
Kirsain knew for a fact that there was no way Roddy would have that kind of patience, but decided not to goad him further. His friend was already annoyed with him for insisting on fighting every Pidgey and Rattata he came across for the meagre exp they gave. Anything was better than nothing, he reasoned, but Roddy saw it as a waste of time and was waiting until they found some newbie trainers instead, as they'd give more experience and the battles would be less 'mind-numbingly dull', as he put it. Roddy made a point of (loudly) wishing he had a radio during various points in battles, apparently trying to get him to lose against wild Pidgey and Rattata.
As far as Kirsain was concerned, he was currently three levels ahead of Roddy, and counting. He was concentrating on getting Vallis's power up, as he'd be the one to face off against Brock, although Kirsain was contemplating getting a Butterfree in Viridian Forest. Sleep Powder would be a good asset to his team.
To be honest, though, he was getting bored, and slightly sick of repeating the same battles again and again. When another Rattata wandered across their path he didn't immediately release Vallis, instead waiting for it to move off the path so they wouldn't startle it and cause it to attack them. Roddy raised an eyebrow at this new development, and spoke in an annoying commentator-like voice.
"What's this, folks? The world-renowned greatest trainer ever Kirsain Mellowfair has deigned not to beat up a level three pokemon for about as much experience! What's caused this stunning turn in events?" he even presented Kirsain with a curled fist, as if he were holding a microphone. Kirsain snorted and pushed it away.
"One, don't do that, it's annoying. Two, Vallis is high enough at this point that I'm confident about a trainer battle, and three, I'm going to train Shial against the bugs in the forest where she'll be super-effective instead of here. Good enough?"
"Finally he gets it," Roddy said, squinting into the distance. "Hey, are those buildings?"
"Too square to be trees," Kirsain replied, shading his eyes against the sun.
"Excellent," Roddy said, running ahead. "Viridian City, here we come!"
Personally, Kirsain thought he'd been very childish about the whole thing. At least Roddy wasn't quite as annoying when he was around Rob.
He ran to catch up.