Went back and changed a few things in the first chapter. The next one will hopefully be finished later this week.

Training with my ekans... it didn't turn out well.

I spent the rest of the morning after I chose him shopping for pokeballs and supplies at one of the nearby stores, since no one at Team Rocket expected me to do any real work until I was a bit more powerful. For now I would train outside the city, where the pokemon were weak, but later I planned on hiking further into the wilderness.

Once I had myself a nice clearing in the surrounding forest, I let my ekans out of its pokeball. I expected (hoped) it to eagerly await my instructions. As my starter pokemon, it would be anticipating our first battle together. Sure, it was a little... callous towards me, but once it saw my overwhelming (nonexistent) trust it would warm up towards me.

The pokemon wasn't so cheerful. As soon as it blinked into existence, it curled into a coil and raised its head in preparation to strike. I wasn't in biting distance, but I might as well had been for the way it bared its fangs.

It was a he. I really needed to pick a name for the guy, but my mind came up blank whenever I thought about it. His scales were a dark orchid shade of purple, but all of the names relating to that were stupid and girlish.

"Hi ekans," I greeted. Perhaps if I raised the volume of my voice, he would listen to me? "Listen up! We're going to have our first battle together!"

I received no reply, but the constant hissing was probably him agreeing in weird snake language.

"Alright, then! This forest is filled with birds. You prey on those, so why not start with a pidgey? Okay, Alexander?"

When I was a kid, one of my best friends was named Alexander. The ekans apparently hadn't had the same experience; upon hearing the name, he threw me a look of clear disgust. The name was a bit pompous, so I decided to go with my pokemon's judgment.

"Right, sorry." I apologized. "I'm not sure what to call you. I'm open to suggestions, though...?" He only continued hissing. I responded, "That's not a name, you know. If you don't have any input on this, you just won't have one 'til I figure something out."

What did people name their giant purple snakes, anyway? I could always go with Fang, but that sounded even worse than Alexander. His rattle didn't inspire me when it came to names, and the same went for his colors. If only he could be female...

Wait a second.

I didn't hear rattling. He looked pissed as hell, but maybe that was his normal look? I could get used to that.

It was then that I noticed the rattata sniffing my shoe. Taking notice of me as well, it glanced up, twitched its whiskers, and returned to shuffling around my feet.

"Ekans, come on!" I yelled. "This can be our first battle together!"

My ekans was shorter than I was, but somehow he managed to look down on me when I suggested this. His disdainful look said it all. The rattata seemed equally uncaring of the giant snake sitting nearby. It had likely accustomed itself to trainers with pokemon.

I tried goading him a few more times, then snapped, "This is pathetic! You're a goddamn snake, you eat mice! Are you seriously letting a rattata get the best of you?"

That struck a chord. As it turned out, my ekans had a sense of pride and would not stand to be insulted. He slithered closer and loomed over the rattata, which had since moved away from me. At the sight of the ekans, it puffed itself out and snarled back, baring two gigantic teeth nearly too big to fit inside its mouth.

"Start with a poison sting!" He only knew a few moves, and I wasn't even sure if he would follow my instructions.

His fangs, when he opened his mouth as far as it would go, were more like knives than teeth. And then there was the venom... I wasn't sure if he chose to use the move because of my orders or his own free will, or if he even knew what the move was, but at least he was attacking. When he bit down, the rattata screamed in pain, thrashing its claws in a desperate attempt to free itself. My ekans bit down for only a second, but the shrieks made it seem like an hour.

I balled my hands into fists, uneasy about the rattata's injury. It sprang into the air to tackle, but its movements were laggard and my ekans easily avoided the attack. I moved my lips to shout an order, then instead of speaking merely let out a shaky breath.

He didn't need any orders. As the enemy's attack brought it within range, he wrapped himself around the prey and began to squeeze. I watched, speechless. Its eyes bulged from its sockets, and the cries turned into whimpers then soundless gasps. The longer my ekans squeezed, the more blood trickled from the rattata's mouth.

I found my voice. "Let go!" I cried. When my pokemon ignored me, I said louder, "That was a command! Let it go!"

Still no response. At the top of my lungs, in a voice that would make my favorite band (Decapitated Magmar, which was quite possibly the greatest metal band in Kanto) proud, I screamed, "Ekans! Let it go, or Arceus help me, I am going to flay you and make a new pair of boots! Now, you fucking snake!"

Although I had probably just surprised him that my voice could reach such a high volume, he loosened and released the rattata. It limped away as fast as it could, not daring to look back. I wondered briefly if it would survive.

From the look the ekans gave me, I knew that he had only mauled the rat to get to me. He absolutely hated me, and instead of escaping he was going to make my life hell.

Fucking snake. Why couldn't I had chosen the nice tentacool?

One good thing came from our first battle together, at least.

I learned how to control the ekans. As it turned out, he had a huge sense of pride. The rest of the day, all it took was an injured pride to unleash him upon whatever helpless creature crossed our path. We stayed within the safe areas with weak pokemon, but none of their attacks fazed him in the slightest.

Actually, I didn't have the slightest inkling as to why he never turned on me. He continued to disobey my orders, ignoring the attacks I shouted and fighting after we had already won the battle (though never to the point of nearly killing it like with the first rattata). Despite this, he didn't so much as brush against me, preferring to instead shoot me hateful glances or ignore me entirely. The only things he listened to were my insults towards his pride.

I didn't know what I was going to do when another trainer picked a fight with us. At best, they would laugh at my lack of control. At worst, he would kill their pokemon and I would be in deep shit. Either way I needed to find a way to get him under control. The idea of killing made me uncomfortable, much less killing another person's beloved pokemon.

If needed, I assumed I would be able to trade him in for something a little easier to control, but that was a last resort.

...no, that wasn't even an option. Not only would it make me look like a pathetic, it would also mean I had failed my starter. It was one thing if a captured wild pokemon didn't work out, but a starter?

"Hey." His eyes flickered towards me for a brief second, but he quickly pretended to ignore me.

I shielded my eyes from the sun with a single hand and gazed at the sky. As bright as it was, the sun had definitely fallen since I last checked. The moon would soon ascend, and I didn't want to be in the forest at night with no company except for the ekans.

"It's almost sunset," I said. "I don't trust you around other people, so return." The pokeball's red glow enveloped him before he could react. I pocketed the device, wondering if he would had fought back if given the opportunity. Maybe he was afraid of being trapped, and that was why he was so difficult? Or he could fear trainers. Both thoughts, while cliché, were better than believing he was just an ass.

It only occurred to me as I reentered the city that I didn't have anywhere to stay for the night. Even if I wanted to go back to my aunt, she didn't live in Celadon City. The hotel I had stayed at for the past week was too expensive to reserve another night. I needed to save the rest of my money for training expenses.

Food first. I needed somewhere cheap. The clearance isle of restaurants. Pokecenters had extended comfort areas for trainers waiting for healing. These served cheap food and I was starving.

The first Pokecenter I stumbled across, an impressive building located conveniently close to the city entrance, bustled with trainers. I squeezed inside and avoided the line of trainers waiting to turn their pokeballs in. The ekans didn't need healing, and even if he did I feared that he might attack whatever poor soul released him.

The nurse didn't spare me a glance, she could barely keep up with the other trainers. My stomach couldn't resist the aroma drifting from an adjoining room. I could only imagine what my ekans would do if he smelled it. Would he be able to tell the difference between my fingers and the smell of food? He could easily bite off a good number of digits, if not my entire hand.

I seated myself at an empty window table. Other trainers lounged with their pokemon, but there was no way I could let the ekans free. Some kid younger than me held a nidoran in his lap and giggled as it licked sauce from his fingers. I stared in undisguised envy. My fingers would be gone if I tried that.

What if I captured one of the pokemon my ekans defeated? The rattata were weak and common, but all the good pokemon were rare. The only other things I might stumble across were a couple bellsprout or the occasional oddish, which I didn't want. There were always caves nearby, I could check one out in case something awesome had made a lair inside...

My head snapped away from the window when another girl slid in the seat across from me. Before doing anything she tossed away her white cap and brushed her fingers through long, tan hair. She then waved at me and threw a hand across the table. I eyed it warily until she grabbed my own and shook it vigorously.

"Aren't you going to get something to eat?" she asked. Damn, how had she known I was hungry? Right on cue my stomach grumbled louder than a starved snorlax. I looked away in embarrassment, but she only laughed and smiled knowingly.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I was just waiting til, uh..."

She snatched a paper nestled on the windowsill and handed it to me. "A menu," she explained. I only had a few seconds to scan through it before she gestured at a nearby chansey. "Can I have whatever soup is cooking? And a grilled cheese for my ditto."

I pointed enthusiastically to a picture on the inside of the menu. The chansey made a sweet sound that I took for an affirmative and scurried away.

The girl took out a pokeball and set it on the table. "What's in it?" I asked, but she didn't answer. I looked up at her with the best begging face I could muster.

She winked and pressed the button. What came out was one of the weirdest things I had seen in Kanto. Instead of a pokemon it was a squiggling ball of slime, and it... it had a face? Oh dear arceus it was looking at me. Its weird mouth twisted up in what I assumed to be a predatory grin. The girl caught my expression. "What, you've never seen one of these before?"

"We don't have many grimer in Unova."

"Grimer?! You're going to hurt his feelings!"

I examined the ball of goo. "Are you sure it's a he?"

"He likes to be a he."

It crawled towards my hand. I considered moving said appendage off the table and as far away from the creature as possible, but I suspected the girl would slap me. It didn't feel gross on my fingers, more like a cooked egg than slime, but it was still weird. And pink. Grimer looked filthier than this girly thing. I refused to see it as cute.

"I've never heard of... what was it again?" It was true, I hadn't.

"Ditto. I've heard they're spreading, but they're mostly here in Kanto. And they're hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for."

Maybe it wasn't as bad as I first thought. "His name's Jeff," she told me. It- he had a face that totally wasn't cute once I got past the fact that he was a ball of goo. Not cute at all. I didn't like cute things, I liked badass things.

The chansey came with our food quicker than expected. I admired its ability to carry all the plates, but I supposed it had been trained to do so. The girl winked at me as she handed the pokemon a bit of money, saying she would pay for the both of us. I didn't complain about the free food.

And man, did this chicken look good. It even came with sides. I took a few gulps from my water as I tried to determine what to eat first.

"You have any pokemon?"

I held up my pokeball. "One."

"And he's not eating with you?!"

"Uh..." How did I explain to her that my ekans was a ferocious monster? It would eat her ditto alive. Not only that, but it would smell the chicken on me and take a chunk out of my face second.

Without warning, she swiped the pokeball and pressed the button. My breath caught in my throat. Here it came, my ekans, all that was unholy and murderous...

Shit.

I half stood in my seat and pressed myself as far away from the table as possible. Something less of a scream than it was a squeak came out of me. I couldn't afford the medical bills after it mauled her, or the burial fee if it murdered her. Oh god I was about to become one of those trainers who lost control.

The confrontation lasted shorter than expected. My ekans lifted his head and hissed lowly at the girl, but the sounds gradually turned to a low hum as she scratched his chin.

My face must had screamed confusion because she asked, "What's up with you? Sit down!"

"I... what are you doing?! He'll bite you!"

He smacked my arm with the tip of his tail. I yelped and rubbed the angry red spot. Stupid snake. "Are you kidding?" She ignored his attack. "He's a sweetie. Trust me, I know it when I see it. How long have you been together?"

"Got him this morning. And he's not sweet. He's a monster. He-"

She was the one who slapped me this time. "Don't say that! You're never going to get him to trust you if all you do is insult him!" She glared at me with as much venom as the ekans. Her eyes were green, I noticed. The brightest green I had ever seen in someone's eyes.

"Now, what's his name?"

"Dunno."

"Ugh. You didn't even name him?"

I threw up my arms. "I can't think of one! He didn't like anything I suggested!" In my agitation, I clutched my dog tags tightly.

She reached over to uncurl my fist. "Just this one little thing, okay? Give him a name. That's all I'm asking."

Turning my gaze to the dark streets beyond the window, I considered this. I did owe her for paying. The girl fed my ekans pieces of my chicken as she waited. My stomach complained about this, but I doubted she would let me eat until I named him. The first thing that came to my mind was stupid, but I was hungry and needed my food before he took it all.

"What do you think of Seb? That's what my brother named his starter. Well, he named it Sebastian, but-"

She beamed at me. "I love it! Perfect for an ekans." No response from said ekans, but he was fixed on my food.

Finally, I could eat. My pokemon and I were both so starved that neither of us bothered the other while eating. He understood that this was my food, and the girl would hit me again if I didn't let him eat.

Apparently, he didn't feel the need to massacre every pokemon he saw. He got along fine with Jeff the ditto and they made a game out of pretending to attack each other. I learned the hard way that a ditto could transform into other pokemon, though this one hadn't quite mastered the trick. Its snake form always had a weird quality to it that instantly marked it as a ditto, and while it eventually figured out the exact shade of purple it could never get the markings right.

I also learned that the pokecenter offered cheap rooms to trainers. This news made me whoop for joy, earning the curious looks of other trainers. I didn't care what they thought. Without somewhere to stay, I'd be homeless until the Rockets officially moved me into their headquarters (or wherever they housed their members).

Before leaving, the girl asked me, "What's you name?"

I hesitated, not used to the sound of my trainer's name. "Chrome."

The green-eyed girl left without giving me her own.