Author's Note Thingy: Sweet! Another chapter down! Let's go!

Chapter 2: Building the Team

0 Deaths

Well, my Bizzarrolocke challenge had officially begun. I didn't know what to do. I just had a Pokemon that had taken a few hard hits and a pile of Pokeballs. I had to think. What were the rules again? The first one was if any Pokemon faints, they die. Pokemon Centers would not work on them. I looked down at Freddy as we walked through Oldale Town, worried for what he may have to go through. The second rule was that I could only encounter the first Pokemon in each location I visited. Okay, that's pretty limiting and it definitely made things harder, but I was the Hoenn Champion. I could handle a little challenge. Right?

We were making our way back home. I figured the professor may have wanted to at least get filled in on how I was doing, along with give me the Pokedex. Sure, I already had the PScan, but it didn't feel complete without the Pokedex. Sure, the scanner in my pocket could give me all the technical aspects of a Pokemon, but the Pokedex showed me what the Pokemon actually were. Like for instance, I wouldn't know that Treecko are considered "protectors of the forest" without the nifty thing.

My internal monologue on how great the Pokedex is what interrupted when I tripped and fell. I heard Freddy make some sort of sound as I hit the ground. I wasn't sure if it was a worried cry or a sort of laughter. Regardless, I ignored it. I got up and tried to see what I had tripped on to find a purple shell that I recognized in an instant. It was a Shuckle shell. "Hey Freddy! Check it out!" I called to my Pokemon who was still making the sound.

The shell, despite getting hit with my foot, was unmoving and calm, as if it were abandoned. It couldn't be abandoned though, since I wouldn't have fallen over it otherwise. I did the first thing that came to mind. "Freddy! Horn Attack!" The Charmander charged the shell and rammed it with the temporary horn glowing on its head. It didn't fly incredibly far, so it did in fact have weight to it.

As it landed on the ground and wobbled to a halt, I kept watching it to see if there was a reaction. Could it have been dead? Can that happen here? I mean it was pretty rash of me to call for an attack so soon, so hopefully Freddy wasn't beating some dead shell.

A few seconds later, I noticed movement. Not a big jump, but a small tremble. Definitely a scared tremble. This little Shuckle wasn't dead. It was just scared. Well, now I just felt like a jerk.

I approached the frightened Pokemon. "Hey there, little fella. You alright?" I moved closer to the Pokemon's face, or at least the hole meant to represent its face, and tried to peer in to see if I could see the Shuckle inside. Apparently I peered in too closely, because I was soon met with the shell quickly closing in on my face.

It wasn't a fun experience. Granted, it isn't every day that I get my face clamped in by a Shuckle, especially since Shuckles aren't native to Hoenn. It felt like a privilege. A painful, painful privilege. Especially since it landed right on the nose. I definitely didn't handle it with much tact and grace, considering it included me flailing my arms around and screaming loudly.

After running around for a few seconds, I shoved my hand into my bag to try to find a Pokeball. This technically counted as my first encounter, so I may as well catch this thing latched onto my face. The pain rushed through my face as my hand frantically searched for a Pokeball. Let's see…Potion? No! Berries? No! Aha! There it is! I pulled the Pokeball out of the bag and threw it at my own head! There was a bright flash of light to replace the darkness that I had seen and then my vision was clear! On the ground was a Pokeball that did not shake. I assume that meant I had officially caught the Shuckle!

"Yeah! We did it!" I said aloud. Yeah, Freddy didn't really help near the end, but he helped weaken it, so I couldn't blame him. I turned to my Charmander. "Are you ready to meet your new friend, Freddy?" Freddy nodded and made an excited sound. I took it as a yes as I threw the Pokeball up in the air.

The purple Shuckle was still hiding in its shell when I brought it out of its Pokeball. I had no idea what it looked like outside of the shell, and if it wasn't for the Clamp attack, I would have expected it to be fainted. It was still shivering slightly, and faint noises could be heard from it.

I quickly pulled out the PScan and scanned the Shuckle's Pokeball with it.

"Shuckle- Lv 3

Type: Poison/Ice

Ability: Early Bird

Nature: Timid

Moves: Bounce/Clamp

CURRENT STATS

HP: 6/16

Attack: 9

Defense: 11

Sp. Attack: 6

Sp. Defense: 12

Speed: 13"

Alright, it was a lot of information. Poison/Ice was a strange type, defensively. It had a lot of weaknesses, from Steel to Rock to Fire to Ground to Psychic. Fortunately, its defenses seemed pretty strong, so it could definitely take a hit. Its timid nature definitely shone through, which I noticed as I heard more faint fearful whines coming from it.

I felt like I had to find a way to console it somehow. Hopefully I could. I had to be calm and gentle. "Hey…hey….it's going to be alright," I cooed as I moved closer to the Pokemon. My natural reaction was not to get too close after what it did to my face, but I've done this before. In Shoal Cave, I had caught a Snorunt that was just as nervous. I approached it this way then, I'll approach it this way now.

I slowly put my arms around the shaking Pokemon hoping it would not clamp around my arms. Once my arms had surrounded it, I closed them around Shuckle and picked him up just as slowly. It was still pretty heavy, but it was nothing I couldn't carry. I figured if I wanted it to open up to me, then I had to give it a chance to trust me, and I figured carrying it around with me was the best way to do it.

I looked down at the trembling purple rock. "I'm gonna call you Amethyst."

I picked up the Pokedexes from Professor Birch. He told me that he was expecting May to be with me, but I didn't have the heart to tell him that May wasn't there. I had no idea who that was. All I knew was that her name was Disc. That and she was really unnecessarily flirty, but that was beside the point. I figured that if she was taking May's place, then I'd be seeing her a lot in the future, so I was ready for anything from her.

Anyway, after I received the Pokedex, I had realized that now I could read up on some information about my new friends. As I walked through Oldale Town and approached Route 103 (out of the way from Petalburg, but the challenge said the first Pokemon on each route, so I may as well encounter what I can) I looked up Amethyst's entry.

"A Shuckle hides under rocks, keeping its body concealed inside its shell while eating stored berries. The berries mix with its body fluids to become a juice."

Well that sort of explained why I had tripped over her when I first encountered her. She was trying to hide somewhere, but there weren't many rocks. Any other rocks were likely already populated with Shuckles. I looked down. Amethyst still hadn't come out of the shell. But she was still getting used to me, so I could respect that. I looked at Charmander's entry, as Freddy sped ahead.

"From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. Its life would end if the flame were to go out."

Wow…that's morbid. Definitely something to look out for. As if in time with my thoughts, I heard Freddy yelp in the distance.

I ran over to the tall grass of Route 103 to see a beam of light shooting toward Freddy. I identified it as a Signal Beam, which worried me greatly, since it was super effective against Freddy. Freddy was knocked back a fair amount, but still landed on his feet. He looked up at the attacker. He smirked. I looked over to the source to see a male Nidoran. Unlike Freddy and Amethyst, his colors were the same as what I had grown to expect from it. He already looks somewhat damaged, which lead me to believe that Freddy was the one who landed the first hit.

I looked back over at Freddy to see how he was looking. Could he take another hit? Yeah, he was pretty strong, but it was still a tough signal beam, and he is weak to that sort of thing. Not to mention, Freddy hits pretty hard, so I wasn't sure if I should have tried to hit him again. Even with his poison sting attack, serene grace would probably end up poisoning it, and if captured I wouldn't be able to carry the Nidoran to the Pokemon Center without it dying on the way.

"Freddy! Be careful! We can't let it faint!" Freddy nodded and attacked immediately afterward I would have been furious if it wasn't for the move he used. I saw a few orbs surround him as he leapt in the air and delivered a relatively weak punch. I had only seen it a few times, and while it wasn't anything special, it was always nice to see a Pokemon use Reversal.

Fortunately, the attack didn't kill it. In fact, it didn't seem to do that much (Freddy must not have been hurting that much), which was perfect. Now I could catch this little guy. I held Amethyst in one arm as I pulled a Pokeball out and tossed it at the Nidoran. After a few shakes, the Pokeball blinked! I got the Nidoran!

I instinctively pulled out the Pokedex first. Since Nidorans weren't native to Hoenn, I wanted to know all about them.

"The male Nidoran has developed muscles that freely move its ears in any direction. Even the slightest sound does not escape this Pokémon's notice."

Whoa! So it has super hearing! I'm surprised that no one teaches you something like this! After learning this awesome fact, I pulled out the PScan. Time to learn the technical tidbits.

"NIDORAN-M- Lv 3

Type: Bug

Ability: Effect Spore

Nature: Jolly

Moves: Taunt/Signal Beam

CURRENT STATS

HP: 3/18

Attack: 9

Defense: 6

Sp. Attack: 7

Sp. Defense: 7

Speed: 6"

For an unevolved Pokemon, this was pretty nice. It was nothing to drop my jaw over except for the fact that Signal Beam had Same-Type Attack Bonus, which complemented its physical attack stat.

I sent out the captured Nidoran to see what it was like as a Pokemon. Not so much its stats or special trivia about it, but about what it was like as a potential friend.

The first thing that the little guy did was smile. Always a good sign. In fact, the first thing he did was smile over at Freddy, the Pokemon who had taken him down. I had to admit this Nidoran was a good sport. After that, he looked at Amethyst's shell, looking quite puzzled. Regardless, he waved at it with another smile. After doing that, he looked up at me expectantly with his big red eyes. He was probably waiting for me to welcome him to the team, so I decided not to keep him waiting.

"Great to meet you, Lio. I'm Fossil! Welcome to your new team!"

The route to Petalburg City was pretty simple and straightforward. The first Pokemon we encountered was a Forretress, who I expected to be a defensive tank. Unfortunately I forgot that the stats were not what I was used to, so Freddy ended up accidentally killing it. So we went down the road with the three of us! Freddy, Amethyst, Lio and Fossil, four friends ready to take on the world!

There were trainers along the way, too. I remembered them from the previous journey I had taken, although replacing the Zigzagoons and Wurmples I had grown accustomed to were Sentrets and Togetics and even Milotics! It was strange and definitely daunting to see these kind of Pokemon with such small Pokemon as I had, but the group remained resolute and fought off the challenges.

The primary fighters were Freddy and Lio. Amethyst still hadn't come out of her shell. She would still even tremble occasionally, and shake even more if I was attempting to push her into trying to fight. Hopefully she saw the fighting styles of Freddy and Lio and learned from it.

Speaking of Freddy and Lio, watching them fight was just as much of a blast as you would expect. Over time, Lio had become superb at firing off Signal Beams, and despite it being a simple beam attack, you could still definitely see improvement. The beams were less erratic and more focused over time. It was slight, but if you were watching, then you noticed.

Freddy was another story. He was always rushing into each battle, eager to fight whenever he was out. It was a wonderful attitude, but it made him resort to more of a brute force tactic. While it wasn't the most refined of techniques, it worked! Every Horn Attack hit in the right spots, and a lot of the poison stings led to poisoning the foe. You couldn't argue with results.

We had finally arrived in Petalburg City after about half an hour of battling and rushing back to the Oldale Pokemon Center repeatedly (when your Pokemon's life is on the line, you don't really want to take a chance). It was just as beautiful as I remember. The ponds were a light blue, complementing the bright colors of the rest of the town. I figured that my first stop would be my dad's Gym.

My dad was a Normal Type Gym Leader at the Petalburg Gym. It was pretty awesome! He taught me everything he knew about Pokemon, hoping that one day I would become a Champion just like he did. Technically, I already achieved that dream, but I suppose it was worth doing it twice. Anyway, he was a new Gym leader, so the Gym was mostly still under construction. After all, we had just moved here.

As I entered the Gym, I observed the Gym's simple layout. My dad was right in front of me, and if I wanted to challenge him, I would do so. But, knowing the strength of his team, I knew I wasn't ready.

My dad laughed joyfully when he saw me, "Fossil, my boy! Good to see you made it!"

I smiled back at my dad. "Yep, just moved in!"

He gave another hearty laugh. "Good! Good! And I see that the professor gave you a Pokemon!" he said as he pointed at Amethyst in my arms.

"Oh, no. I caught this one! The professor gave me a Charmander!"

Before I could continue, he gave me surprised look. "Wow, journey's just beginning and you already caught yourself a Pokemon! Granted it does look a little shy, but I know it'll come out of its shell for you eventually. By the way, Fossil, about an hour ago, I think one of your friends came through here. She said she knew you. She called you her 'boyfriend'. I assume you know her?"

Well, that was news. Not that I was no longer single (which wasn't true), but that she had visited my dad. I assumed he was talking about that Disc girl. Apparently she was following me. Or I was following her. Or something along those lines, I wasn't quite sure. Regardless, now I knew for sure our paths would eventually cross again. Maybe then I could get some answers.

I almost gave my response to my dad's question before we heard the door open behind me. I knew who that was. "Wally!" I said out loud, turning around to greet him.

Wally looked slightly different than I remember. Last time I saw him, he was at Victory Road, ready to take on the Elite Four, and standing strong. Now he looked like he had just got done sneezing eight times in a row with some bags under his eyes and his green hair in more of a mess than mine. I remembered this too well. I would be the one to help him catch his first Pokemon. I was ready to help him with that.

"How….how do you know my name?"

I wasn't quite ready for that. I had forgotten. Everything had reset. In this Bizzarrolocke world, wally and I hadn't met yet. I needed to come up with something. Anything.

"I passed by your house and saw your name on the sign. I guessed that it was you coming through the door." Really? I saw it on a sign? Was that the best I could do?

But apparently they took the bait. "Well, lucky guess there, Fossil!" my dad proudly proclaimed. I wasn't sure if Wally believed me, but at this point all that I could do was hope. "Anyway, Wally. Your dad told me that you were coming. You said you wanted some help catching your very first Pokemon?"

The little boy paused for a moment, then nodded his head nervously, breaking eye contact with my dad soon afterwards. My dad turned around and walked over to the wall. "Well, since this Gym is still under construction, I need to work on it for a bit, which is perfect because my son Fossil here would be happy to help. What do you say, Fossil?"

I knew the drill. I nodded happily as my dad pulled out a Pokeball. "Well then, here you are, Wally. You can use this Pokemon to help you and from there, Fossil can help you with any other details."

Wally took the Pokeball from my dad's hands and asked delicately "What…what Pokemon is it?"

"Why, it's a Skarmory!" Nope. I still wasn't used to the randomness.

Author's Closing Note- Yay chapter two is done! Kinda stopped at an odd place, but I feel like after catching two Pokemon, we shouldn't dedicate too much time to ANOTHER Pokemon catch, especially one that gives character to a Trainer we will only see two more times. Ah well, just rambln. See you all next time.