Chapter 2: Rookie
The forest air seemed to be still, not from any sort of ominous presence, but just from a general quiet that enveloped this whole vicinity. This trainer had decided to take a more obscured path, in hopes of finding rarer Pokémon than what could be found on the beaten paths. Unfortunately, he'd been in the forest for 3 hours and the silence was beginning to frustrate this normally patient Trainer. Not so much as a Rattata had come over spoiling for a fight, which was really aggravating for a Trainer that knew well enough that making the first attack on a wild Pokémon would often leave you at a disadvantage. The Pidove and Sewaddle had all left him alone, which was good for him because the Pokémon he had with him had a distinct disadvantage against bugs and flying types. As he began to tire of walking in the forest, he noticed a mossy tree stump and decided to sit down. He figured his Pokémon was beginning to tire of simply sitting in a Pokéball, so he pressed the button in the centre of the red-and-white capsule, letting loose a bright flash of white that materialized itself into a Snivy.
"So, Snivy, you feel hungry?" The young man motioned to a sandwich, and the Pokémon's half-closed eyes quickly snapped open with interest as it noticed the sandwich. The Trainer had cut it into quarters to make sure Snivy didn't get too greedy. As Snivy slowly ate its food, the Trainer smirked to himself while thinking about how a grass-type Pokémon could be carnivorous even though it was capable of photosynthesis. He returned back to reality to see that Snivy was on full alert, glaring at some unseen foe. The branches above the pair began to rustle violently as a large pinkish-purple object fell out of the trees and onto the rest of the Trainer's sandwich, annoying him greatly because he was looking forward to eating the rest of it when he got to the next town.
To his surprise, the object began to move. It was a large pinkish Pokémon, with wing-like flaps underneath its arms, sharp pincers at the end of each arm, two pronounced fangs, its tongue lolling out between them in shock, and a long tail with a bulbous stinger at the end. The Trainer identified it as a Gligar, a Pokémon that was obviously not at home in a temperate forest like this one. It was obvious that this Pokémon had gotten lost and glided into the forest by accident, having fallen after thrashing about in the branches it had unwittingly caught itself in. It also seemed to be injured, making no move to attack Snivy but simply just lay there, moaning and gasping for air. Before Gligar could even process what happened, it was captured in a Pokéball. This trainer could not pass up an opportunity to catch a rare Pokémon like Gligar, especially if it was already ready to catch.
Soon after catching Gligar, Darius found himself back on the main path into town, filled with Trainers and wild Pokémon spoiling for a good fight. However, something was about to change in his view of battling. His inexperienced Snivy was about to get a culture shock into the world of battle, much like many Pokémon raised in captivity.
A young boy with his T-shirt grimy from being in the outdoors all day suddenly caught his eye. Of course, Darius knew what that meant on the open road: Battle time. The boy wordlessly released his Patrat from the Pokéball and looked expectantly at Darius. Darius sent out his Snivy, who had not yet battled against another Pokémon, and waited for the inevitable command.
"Tackle!" Patrat sprang into action, charging headlong at the startled Snivy.
"Snivy, collect yourself, and roll sideways." Darius coolly responded. Snivy quickly rolled just before the attack landed, making Patrat lose its footing. "Tackle it." Patrat was rammed brutally in the side, and it coughed up a few flecks of blood as it picked itself back up. "Again." Patrat was hit square in the nose by Snivy's forehead, causing it to squeal in pain. Darius began to tense up as he saw the damage the Patrat had taken because of his command. "Snivy... tackle it again." Snivy hesitated when he heard the uncertainty in his Trainer's voice, but went ahead with the attack.
"Patrat, trip it with your tail." Patrat tripped up Snivy, who ran quickly but not quickly enough to interrupt the dodge. "Bite." Patrat sank its teeth into Snivy, who screamed as blood began to trickle out of the wound. Regardless, Patrat held on, hoping for Snivy to eventually fall.
"Snivy, shake it!" Darius began to panic as he began to see his Snivy in great pain. Snivy, however, was still more collected than Darius, as he rolled, smacking Patrat's head on the ground and making it lose its grip. Snivy fell down in pain after shaking it off, blood trickling down its serpentine body, but it still held a determined glare.
"Patrat, wrap it up! Tackle!" Patrat began to charge at Snivy, who was struggling to raise its head. As Patrat was about to strike however, Snivy began to glow green.
"Wha..." Darius flipped open his TMA.
"The Snivy, Bulbasaur, Treecko, Chikorita, and Turtwig families of Pokémon will begin to glow green if they are on the losing end of a battle and in serious danger of fainting. This is the Overgrow boost, giving them a second wind and boosting the power of Grass-type attacks."
"Patrat, no hesitation! Bite!" Patrat was about to bite the fallen Snivy when Snivy suddenly opened its eyes and sprang up, knocking Patrat flying into a nearby tree and fainting it in one hit with a swift surprise tackle. Snivy then fell onto the ground, not quite fainted but breathing heavily as the Overgrow boost started to dissipate after the battle. Darius' hand was shaking as he administered his only Potion to the battered starter Pokémon, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
"Hey man, great battle!" The boy walked up to Darius. "Judging by the way your hands are shaking, you don't battle very often, do you?"
"First time." Darius said as his voice wavered. "I studied battles for a long time and I've seen battles before, but it's really different when you're in one. It doesn't seem to be so... messy when you're watching it."
"Man, I remember my first battle against another trainer with my Patrat. I panicked when the other guy's Purrloin got a critical hit with Scratch and lost. This is the first time I've lost this week, though. By the way, I'm Pete. Nice to meetcha." Pete offered his hand to help Darius back to his feet. "Trained Pokémon are a lot stronger than wild ones. Your Snivy is pretty strong, but I suggest you avoid other Trainers until you've had some experience with the wild Pokémon around here. Wild Patrat around here don't know Bite and they're a lot weaker. I just suggest you avoid Pidove because of the type disadvantage, but they don't really fight much anyway."
"I got a Gligar in reserve just in case. No worries about flying types here."
"HOW? Gligar don't live anywhere near here!"
"I found one in the woods tangled in the branches, so I caught it."
"That's AWESOME! Well, good luck on your travels! A good bit of training and maybe poor Robert might have a decent challenger! Haha!"
"Robert, eh..." Darius thought to himself as he walked away from the scene of his first battle. Robert was probably the next town's Gym Leader, he deduced, and he made a mental note to do some research that night.
Suddenly, two Pokémon snarled at him from a patch of dark, thick grass. They revealed themselves to be a Zigzagoon and a Patrat, and they squared up raring to go against yet another human intrusion into their territory. Darius released Snivy and Gligar to attack, but his Pokémon were both hit before he could issue a command. Gligar seemed unfazed as it jumped off its tail and began to glide in the air, hovering just out of reach of its attackers.
"Gligar, good job! Snivy, Tackle Patrat!" Snivy began to charge when a zigzagging Tackle from the quickly-moving Zigzagoon hit Snivy in the side. Before Darius knew what was going on, Gligar clamped his pincers onto the unwitting Zigzagoon, who began howling in pain as Gligar didn't loosen his grip. "Snivy, get up and tackle Patrat!" Snivy sent Patrat flying with a quick strike, but Patrat got up almost immediately and squeaked loudly in protest. Gligar thrusted his stinger into the squealing Zigzagoon, and it began to shiver as the poison took hold. Gligar then flew upwards to evade Patrat's Tackle attack.
"Good job, Gligar! Snivy, use Tackle on Patrat!" Snivy was overwhelmed by both Pokémon attacking him, and hesitated long enough for two Tackles to hit consecutively, but it still held firm against the onslaught. The Zigzagoon cried out as its body glowed purple and the poison damage took effect.
"Tackle Zigzagoon, Snivy! Gligar, Poison Sting on Patrat!" At Darius' command, Gligar tried to attack, but the Patrat was too fast and adeptly avoided its attack. Snivy tackled the shaking Zigzagoon, causing its eyes to go blank and glassy as consciousness slipped out of it. The wound from Gligar's stinger began seeping blood as its body shivered involuntarily. Patrat reared around for a charge at Snivy, but Snivy suddenly struck Patrat with vines without warning, causing it to fall over next to Zigzagoon, too injured to continue, as the lash wounds from the vines were streaked with red. Darius battled 2 more Patrat on the route, but they were quickly felled by Snivy's newly learned Vine Whip.
As Darius got into town, he quickly ran to the Pokémon Centre to get his Gligar and Snivy ready to go as well as allowing himself to rest for a night. The Pokémon Centre no longer allowed Trainers to stay for free, but the money his mom gave him before he left was more than enough to not only cover the cost of his stay but also to buy some Potions and Antidotes.
He walked up to the counter of the building, which was unlike most Pokémon centres because its interior deco was not unlike that of a hunting lodge, with beautiful brown laminated wood floors and wooden tables. Even the Pokémart had wooden shelves and cabinets instead of the traditional metal and glass display cases. Instead of a big blue sign it simply had a wooden hanging sign that said "MART" in big block letters written in black paint. A gray stone fireplace was off to the left, though few people were making use of it simply because it was the end of spring and the weather was warm, even at night. He only saw a boy about his age with a curled-up Tepig at his feet, talking to a Hiker on the couch and laughing.
"Identification, please."
Darius turned to see a woman who appeared to be a 40-year-old woman in a nurse's uniform staring at the desk. She was a plain-looking woman with fair skin, wavy brown hair and dull green eyes, and her long fingernails were clacking on the desk in a way that annoyed the young man, but he still went to the counter. He handed over his Trainer card to the woman, who put it into the reader.
"Darius Revion. Oh, you're a rookie trainer, hmmm? Lemme see those Pokémon."
Darius handed over his two Pokéballs to the nurse.
"These Pokémon haven't had an examination yet in our databases, so this may take a bit. Feel free to stick around." The nurse walked into the back with the two Pokéballs, so Darius decided to turn around and go find a place to sit. At this point, the other boy was sitting alone because the Hiker had left and he was playing some sort of game on his TMA, so Darius sat on the couch opposite to him and decided to take inventory of his supplies.
"Dammit! Stupid piece-of-crap game." The other boy angrily locked his phone and shoved it into his pocket, having evidently lost at whatever game he was playing. "Hey, what's up?" The boy looked at Darius with casual interest, having nothing else to do.
"My Pokémon are in for an examination. You?" Darius replied.
"My Tepig here is done. It's too late to do much so I'm gonna stick around here and grab a slice of pizza or something later." The boy replied. His Tepig snorted as it looked up at Darius with obvious interest. It had a black eye, evidently from a recent battle, but it still appeared to be in good condition. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Darius. Yours?"
"Alex. Add yourself in my TMA, I feel like you'd be fun to battle in the future." The boy responded.
"So did you just get that Tepig?"
"Yup. Just started out today. What about you?"
"I got a Snivy from Professor Fern earlier today, and caught a Gligar that crash-landed in the woods about an hour and a half ago."
"Really? I got my Tepig from Professor Fern. Funny that I met you here."
"Agreed. Well, see you later, I'm gonna go eat."
"Peace man." Alex simply nodded his head as Darius went on his way. The two boys hadn't really said much to each other, but they had already connected as friends in the way that boys often do when they first meet another boy they have something in common with. As he walked away, Darius began to think about the Pokémon gym that was in the town, which was located in the basement of a coffee pub that turned into a bar at night. He figured out that the local gym specialized in normal-type Pokémon and they were considered to be one of the easier gyms to win at. He went over and got himself a cheap cheeseburger before sitting down at an empty table. He was tired from a full day of battling with his new Pokémon, and the rest of the evening passed in a haze as he picked up his Pokémon from the nurse and headed off to his temporary room on the second floor for the night.
