I walked down Route 202 with a slight bit of confusion in my mind. I had wondered what was going on with Dawn. That thought loomed in the back of my mind for quite a while. I carried Gligar's Pokéball in it's minimized form in my left hand rather than in my bag, and kept rolling it in between my fingers. It felt smooth, light, and it looked really shiny. I also started to think about what Dawn had said to me in the lab. 'Use any means necessary to get it on your side...' I floated the thought around in my head, then started thinking about whether or not I wanted to try communicating with my Pokémon. Maybe we had just gotten off on the wrong foot? Maybe it was just shocked and scared to meet me for the first time.

I checked the time on my phone. It read '11:29 AM'. I still had a lot of daylight to kill. I found a pretty good sized rock to rest my bag on, and did just that. I slowly trudged over to a small, open area. I looked down at my Pokéball which contained my starter. I slowly sighed and started thinking for a few moments. I decided to do what was probably against my better judgment and let it out of its Pokéball. I could try communicating with my Gligar, let it know that I just wanted to become friends. It could work. Hopefully at least.

I pressed the button on the Pokéball and it grew so it fit nicely in my palm. I loosened my grip on it, then tossed it up into the air. With a bright flash of light I saw the figure of the bat-scorpion emerge onto the ground before me. The Pokéball landed softly in the grass next to the Gligar.

The Pokémon looked confused for a second, then started to look around its surroundings. I sat in the grass behind it, holding my knees up to my chest while I patiently waited for it to notice me. It finally looked back towards me, and simply stared. We locked eyes and I swore even the wind went dead silent. The Gligar stood up more straight, and turned more towards me. Was this how I was supposed to do it? Maybe I should try talking to it.

"H-hey buddy," I managed to sputter out. "I'm your new trainer. You have to listen to my commands when we battle other Pokémon, and you can get stronger. Isn't that cool?" I don't know why, but in the few times where I've attempted to talk human language to a Pokémon, I always treat it like a younger kid. A younger kid who also happened to be a brick wall, because a brick wall had about the same amount of emotion my Gligar was showing. It was just staring back at me, with a blank expression. Oh God, what if it went brain dead from when I knocked it unconscious? I started closing the distance between the two of us by slowly crawling towards it. As I got a foot closer to it, I noticed a certain shine in the Gligars eye, and it smirked, just enough to reveal razor sharp fangs.

"Gli-gaaaaar!"

I don't know what hit me first: The one hundred-three pound Gligar charging full force into my face, or the realization I was being attacked by a one hundred-three pound Pokémon. It was probably the Gligar, as I didn't struggle to get it off my face until my face underwent a very painful sensation. I fell onto my back hard.

My body was struggling to get up, much less be able to channel all the strength I had to prying this thing off of my face. I had tried prying off the claws first, but that proved to be the hardest part to unclamp. Next I tried the wings. I managed to loosen it up a little, but it simply pulled itself back towards my face, even harder this time. At this point, I was starting to get a little light headed with the lack of oxygen reaching me, as there was a Pokémon blocking my only way of breathing. I then grabbed the tail of this damn thing. With all the strength that I could possibly muster, I pulled back on its tail, and I actually managed to fling it off pretty easily.

I greedily gasped for air, and I glared at the Gligar, who gracefully glided to the ground. "WITH THIS SHIT AGAIN?" I yelled, still gasping. It didn't respond, naturally, and flew towards me again. This time I was prepared. As it closed in, I grabbed its big claws with both my hands, stopping it in its tracks for a bit. It pressed on forward, but I pushed back, and I threw it to the ground. I quickly ran backwards and got some distance in between us. I stared down at it, and its smirk had seem to get bigger. "Look, I just want to talk, okay? I don't know what the hell you're trying to prove but-" I was cut off by the Gligar making yet another attempt to fly towards me. I was prepared to grab its claws again, but this time it flew under my hands, to my sides, and jabbed me with its right claw. Any air that was in my body was immediately knocked out, and the recoil had sent me to the ground a few feet back. I took a moment to try and catch my breath and get up, but I didn't notice the Gligar coming from behind, and it flew to my side again, once more jabbing me, this time in the back and with its left claw. That blow knocked me forward a foot, and sent my face into the dirt.

I slowly pushed myself up off the ground, my arms shaking as I did so. I spit out the dirt inside of my mouth and wiped the dirt off of my clothes. The Gligar was ten feet in front of me, standing there. Taunting me. That had made me angry. "Do you really wanna go? I have a much bigger height advantage! I could kick you across this field like a fucking football!" I lied through my teeth. Just because a Pokémon was small didn't mean it was weak. As I felt the Gligar while trying to pry it off my face I could feel most of its body was muscle. Hopefully it would buy my bluff.

It didn't. Instead, it stuck its tongue out at me. Oh, it's fucking on you little shit.

While it still remained on the ground, I quickly ran towards it and attempted to actually kick it like a foot-ball. I hit it as hard as my foot would allow, and it was actually surprised at how much strength I had in my leg. It looked shocked, and was flown a few feet back, but it gently floated back to the ground. Kicking it was my first mistake. Have you ever tried to kick a really large rock with all your might? That's what this felt like. My leg jerked up at the pain and I held it in my hands, hopelessly hopping on one foot as I screamed multiple cusses in pain. My second mistake was knocking it into an area of the field where there was no grass, just dirt. As I lay on the ground in pain, I see from the corner of my eye a small dirt cloud forming. As I look directly at it, a large gust of dirt was launched in my direction, multiple dirt particles flying into my eyes. Up to this point in my life, I don't think I've ever experienced this much pain in multiple parts of my body.

With only the quarter of my vision that remained, I quickly scrambled to my bag to get out a bottle of water to rinse out my eyes. It took me a few moments to find the bottle, but once I did I basically treated every drop as if it were the holiest of all water. I flushed most of the dirt out of my eyes, but the stinging sensation still remained. I furiously looked around for the Gligar, but it wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"God dammit. I knew this was a bad idea…" I thought. "Where the hell is it?" I looked around frantically but couldn't find it.

"Get out here!" I shouted. I huffed out a bunch of air in frustration. I was just about to give up trying to find it, but a blur of purple appeared in the corner of my eyes. I quickly spun my head in the direction of the blur, and saw a scorpion tail retreating into a tree. "There you are…"

I looked at the ground below me, and picked up a bunch of fairly sizable rocks, most about the size of a Pokeball. I looked back at the tree, adjusting my stance to aim the rocks better. I narrowed my eyes and simply waited to see any movement in the tree. I stood perfectly still. Finally, I saw leaves fall, and branches rustling. I quickly threw a rock at the area, and threw another one just to be sure. I heard the second rock hit something, I had just hoped it was the Gligar. I waited a few moments, and the Pokémon had made its presence known by peering it's head out of the leaves. A very apparent bruise was now on the left side of its forehead, and it's eyes were now glaring me down. I think I even heard it snarling.

"Look, Gligar, this doesn't have to continue! All I want to do is talk things out!" Talking to it seemed useless at this point. It looked beyond angry, and I could honestly say I was probably the same. Suddenly, it let out a fierce "Gaaaar!" and flew right over my head. I was a bit confused, but then I realized, a little too late, that it was circling around and headed straight for me again. I instinctively raised my arms to defend myself thinking it would go for my face again, but instead it stopped at my arms. And it bit into my left arm. Hard.

My first reaction was to scream in pain, but instead I managed to stop them from leaving my mouth. I raised my arm so that I was at eye-to-eye level with the Pokémon. Blood was starting to drip from where the Gligar was biting me, but I had to push through the pain in order to show no signs of being hurt. The Gligar and I locked eyes, and it bit down even harder when I showed no signs of being hurt. This time I let out a pathetic little whimper under my breath, and was trying my hardest to fight tears. I even started biting the bottom of my lip to prevent myself from yelling. At this point, a small section of my hand was dripping with blood and starting to get on my shoes. Me and my Pokémon were locked in an intense staring contest. The Gligar started pinching the arm it was biting with its claw, making blood draw even faster. No matter how badly I wanted to scream, I had to hold it in to show this Gligar that I won't take its shit. I stared at it even harder, and the Pokémon actually loosened its bite on me.

"I don't want to fight you." I said simply. "You're a captured Pokémon, and I'm your trainer. No amount of physical abuse is gonna change that. So I present you with two options: Option A, you and I cooperate like a real team as most trainers and their Pokémon should do. You don't attack me, you accept the fact I'm in charge in this partnership, you can beat up on as many other Pokémon as you want, and together we can kick ass in the Pokémon League." The Gligar didn't respond, but its facial expression showed some interest. "Option B." I stated, rather bluntly. "You can continue to be an annoying little shit, and I swear to God I will return you to your Pokéball, and leave you in a fucking ditch." I was quite pleased with how that had actually turned out. Hopefully that threat managed to convince it.

The Gligar looked at me, eyes still hard. "Make your decision." I said coldly. It looked at me more, but it eventually released my arm. "Gli. Gli-gar." It said simply. "Good. Now we can finally be a proper team."

At this point my arm was bleeding like a river, and I think I may have bitten my lip too hard, as I tasted blood in my mouth, but not too much, so I didn't pay it much attention. I quickly pulled out my Gligar's Pokéball and returned it so it couldn't hear what came next. All the pain had finally gotten to me, and I let out the most blood curdling scream I had ever let out in my entire life. I even scared a flock of bird Pokémon out of a tree. I rushed to my bag to pull out a long roll of bandage which I knew my father would pack. I quickly wiped off the blood using a rag and some of the remaining water from the bottle I used to rinse out my eyes, but it made no difference. Blood kept coming out of my arm. 'How deep did this guy bite?' I thought as I started applying pressure to my arm.

It took about fifteen minutes before I actually started putting on the bandages. Even then, the blood never fully stopped, but instead was halted to a slow creep of blood if left unchecked. I wrapped the bandages over and over, making it as tight as I possibly could. When I was satisfied with my bandaging skills, I cut off the roll and stuffed it back into my bag. My arm stung like a bitch. I moved my fingers, but they moved in twitchy, sporadic movements. That didn't look too good. What sucked the most was the fact I'm left handed, so now I have to use my right hand for most things, which I rarely ever do.

I sent out the Gligar and it appeared next to me. I waited a few moments, then realized it wasn't going to attack me again. "So... Are you ready to head out?" I asked it. It looked up at me and nodded. "Gli-gli!" It didn't seem too happy, but it wasn't exactly sad or mad. It was just content with my existence. And I was okay with that for now.

I picked up my bag from off the ground, and started heading down the path of Route 202 once more.

…

'3:43 PM' my phone read.

"Do you see anything?" I called out. Gligar was flying overhead looking out for Jubilife City. "Gli-gli! Gar!" That seemed like a good sign. It started leading me in the direction it was flying towards. I couldn't help but feel pleased with myself. I managed to at least gain some respect from my starter Pokémon. It only cost me a pint of my blood. I constantly kept looking up at my Pokémon, just to make sure it didn't fly away. I had to be certain it wasn't feigning it's respect. Thankfully, it didn't look like it was.

I started feeling cold. It was odd because the weather was still pretty warm. I held myself closer to my body to keep warm, but it didn't help me much. The first buildings of Jubilife City started to come into view. Gligar slowly glided down next to me, and followed alongside me.

"Gli, Gar-Gar!" It stated. I had a puzzled look on my face before admitting, "Look, most trainers just pretend to understand what you say, and it really depends on the circumstances." The Gligar just looked at me flatly before gliding ahead of me.

The archway that signaled the entrance to Jubilife City finally came into view. The first place I needed to go was the Pokémon Center and get my injuries properly checked. The last place I needed to go was home. I didn't want my parents to find out the first day of training entailed me being bitten by a Gligar. I started running towards to Pokémon Center, but it proved difficult because my entire body felt heavy all of a sudden. My legs felt like giant weights holding me down. Soon I was slowed down to a creeping halt, and was slowly trudging through the sidewalks of Jubilife. People who passed me were constantly giving me funny looks.

I was very confused as to why people were staring at me with weird looks on their faces, so I was about to whip my phone out to look at myself in the camera, but as I look down at my left arm, and saw the bandages almost completely stained red. The part that scared me the most was the fact I noticed my skin had almost completely been drained of color.

'Oh God oh God oh God what do I do?' I helplessly thought to myself. I got really worried and started to panic. I kept thinking to myself, 'Am I gonna die?' I started frantically looking around the city, but now everything seemed to turn into a giant blur. I took a step forward, and the area around me seemed to be moving slower. Suddenly the ground rushed upwards to meet my face.

…

"...tar, ..lp me ou.. .re!"
"..hyd.."
"...eding! Car.. hi...ter!"

I heard very faint noises. They sounded like voices, I think. They were very muffled and garbled, and I couldn't understand a word they were saying.

The next thing I remembered was feeling like a rag doll. I was looking down at the ground, at something white- no, gray. Suddenly I remember looking upwards. I think I saw the sky, which then turned orange to white. Everything after that is extremely fuzzy and black. I couldn't do much thinking anyways. It hurt to muster up a thought.

Then suddenly, a loud ringing sound in my ears which eventually went away.

I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't quite get them open all the way. I opened them slightly, and in those tiny slits I was met with more darkness. I closed them again for a minute, then tried opening them again, this time with more success. I opened my eyes fully and got a view of what was above me.

A ceiling. In a dark room.

I immediately shot up, which I was surprised I managed to do. Instant regret as a head rush came over me. I winced at the feeling, but it passed over quickly. I was sitting up in a bed, in a dark room. I looked over to my left side to see a heart rate monitor, however not attached to anything. I was extremely confused as to what the hell was going on.

I spotted the digital clock which illuminated it's corner of the room in an ominous red glow. '1:07 AM' it read. I plopped my head back down on the pillow. 'No use in trying to get answers at this hour I suppose…'

I fell back asleep rather easily, although no dreams were there to entertain me that night-

…

"You were suffering from both bad poisoning and very mild lack of blood," the doctor said. "That was before you collapsed on the ground, where you then cut your forehead, although nothing serious on that front, thankfully."

I was sitting up on the bed listening to my diagnosis while sipping on some oran juice. "Poisoning?" I asked curiously "How'd I get that?"

The doctor held out a Pokéball. "I assume this Gligar is yours?" I nodded, and he sighed. "Gligar are part poison types, and their fangs, pincers, and tail are the most poisonous parts. Judging by your injuries, you were hit by two of the three, and the poison had time to settle in your blood system. We already gave you some antibiotics when you were brought here, so most of that poison should be flushed out. The area on your arm where you were bitten was properly bandaged, and should fully heal within the next two or three weeks."

"You said I was brought here. Any clue as to who did?" I asked, wanting to know. Maybe I could thank them later.

"A trainer like you I believe. I think she said her name was Elena. She had a Rhydon, which is what carried you here."

"Is she still here?"

"Well, she left the emergency wing an hour after she dropped you off and made sure you weren't going to die, but I'm pretty sure she's staying at trainer wing of the Center."

"Thanks for the info," I looked down at his name tag. "Dr. Colson."

"It's my job to help," he stated simply. "I took the liberty of packing some antibiotics for treating poison into your bag. Trust me, you'll need of for raising a poison Pokémon. You may need to buy more for the future."

"I take it you have a poison Pokémon then?"

"Drapion. Been a partner of mine since I was a teen. Also helps in the creation of antidotes."

I whistled, showing I was impressed. I didn't expect a doctor to have a Drapion, so I gained some more respect for him.

After I was done getting my diagnosis, the obligatory 'take care of yourself better' speech, and getting my things ready, I finally headed out of the emergency wing of the Pokémon Center, and went to find that other trainer who saved me.

...