A/N: Here is Ch 2. Some might find it kind of slow, but it is necessary to the beginning of the saga. Hope you like it!

PLEASE REVIEW!

2. The Blessing

By Legacy

The pearly white glow of the moon outside the open window was the only light illuminating Milo's small bedroom as he sat at the foot of his four-post bed. Aside from the faint chorus of Kricketunes chirping outside, the serene silence of Oak Grove was all that could be heard. Milo whispered quietly so as not to awaken Fawkes, who was curled up sleeping near the headboard.

"... So basically, you travel all around the country and catch a bunch of monsters. Then you train them to fight in order to win those coins."

Although it looked like Milo was talking only to himself or to his sleeping Vulpix, he was actually directing his speech in the direction of the wall just above the small wooden dresser next to his bed.

In the moonlight, a large red and white high school letterman jacket was just faintly visible hanging on the wall directly above the dresser. It was mounted like a retired athlete's jersey on display. The bold white letter 'P' on the jacket's breast seemed to glow in the half light.

"... And apparently if you're able to beat the seven coin keeper people, you get to enter this big tournament at the end of the year. And the winner of that gets to sign with the Greenburgh Lightning!"

Just underneath the hanging jacket, a book-sized picture frame stood on top of the dresser's oak surface. A very handsome boy with coffee bean colored eyes and shaggy black hair smiled widely in the photograph.

"I thought about you right away when I heard about this Battle Quest thing tonight. It definitely sounds like something you'd be able to win for sure."

Perched carefully on top of the standing picture frame was a tattered red baseball cap with a dirty white bill. The three items made up a sort of shrine Milo had made a few years ago, to which he was now speaking directly to as if it was actually the boy in the photo.

"Wish you were here, Danny," Milo whispered.

He lowered his head and chewed on lip almost as though he was startled by what he had let slip. He had been telling himself for years that he was too old to cry, but he couldn't stop his bottom lip from quivering nor his eyes from watering. Painful memories flooded his mind like a toppling dam.

After a few moments though, with great strain on his facial muscles, Milo managed to stifle his tears and cleared his throat vigorously.

"Anyways, Andy thinks we should try to do it," he said of the Battle Quest, trying to sound casual. "It does sound pretty cool, but you know Mom. There's no way she's ever let me do anything like this. It's during the school year."

At that instant, Milo realized how silly it was for him to be talking out loud to Danny's old jacket and photo. Feeling slightly ashamed, he was glad he was alone in his room where no one could see him. Andy or anyone else would think he was insane if they would have seen him talking to inanimate objects in the dark.

Milo stood up from the bed and plopped down in a chair in front of the tiny wooden desk crammed into the corner of the bedroom. He yawned and stretched. It had been an exciting evening, and he was just now beginning to feel its effects.

Hours ago, the Greenburgh Lightning had defeating the Golden Valley Warriors by a score of 5-1 for the KPL championship, but even though Milo and Andy had sat through the duration of the second half, neither had paid much attention after the amazing announcement Hugo Bowers had made on the air during halftime.

Of course, Andy had immediately started concocting plans to convince their respective parents to let them forgo their freshman year at Viridian Academy in order to go on an unsupervised journey around Kanto. Milo knew that no amount of convincing would work on his mother but he humored Andy by trying to act equally as excited.

Truthfully, the idea of the two of them gallivanting all around the country, catching a team of super strong monsters and using them to defeat any sort of trainer associated with a star like Huge Bowers seemed entirely unrealistic. Milo had never ventured off any further than Viridian City on his own before. The outrageousness of imagining himself traveling around the entire country on foot made the idea seem like a huge waste of time, like planning a weekend trip to the moon or building a time machine.

But on the other hand, nothing had been causing Milo more anxiety lately than the prospect of waking up for his first day of high school and encountering the crowded hallways, the difficult classes and general disdain from classmates who were sure to think he was a loser.

Growing up in such a small town from the time he was just a little boy, Milo had been going to the same tiny local schoolhouse for as long as he could remember. There were no more than six or seven students to a classroom and everyone knew everything about everyone in town. Their life's story, their pet's names, you name it.

But this year, having graduated from Oak Grove's only school, the time had come for Milo to move on to high school, the nearest of which was the much bigger and frightening Viridian Academy.

The idea of this transition made Milo feel like a Goldeen who had lived in a small bowl his whole life, feeling comfortable with his safe, simplistic routine, but was now being forced out into the vast, deep ocean to face the scary unknown. He felt sick whenever he thought of this analogy, but lately, he couldn't help it.

And to make matters even worse, Milo suddenly remembered, he would likely be remembered by all who saw him after class earlier that day as the stupid freshman who took out Johnny Lucas in the hall. Not quite the first impression he had been hoping for.

DING!

The sound of Milo's laptop computer in front of him suddenly stole his attention away from school. The screen illuminated with a message from one of his online video game friends inviting him to play.

Instantly, a feeling of comforting calm swept over him like a warm bath as he booted up his video game and scooted his desk chair into ready position. His racing mind slowed and calmed. His despair and anxiety were momentarily alleviated when he stared into that wonderful, bright rectangular portal that would allow him to escape his own rather mediocre life.

Perhaps that was the reason for Milo's love of gaming. It gave him, even if limited to the time he spent sitting in front of the screen, the ability to forget all the haunting memories of his past as well as the severe anxiety he had been enduring lately. It always felt soothing to become the fictional characters whom he controlled on the computer screen and swap lives with them, if only for a short period of time.

Throughout his adolescence, Milo's propensity for spending his time alone in his bedroom did come at a price. From the time he had first fallen in love with computer games as a small child, he had been somewhat of a social outcast among his peers. Milo had never been explicitly bullied – probably due to the fact that he lived in such a small town – but he often felt as though he was invisible to his schoolmates growing up.

Andy had been Milo's only true friend since he and his mother had moved to Oak Grove years ago into the house next door. And while Milo would never dare tell Andy, he had always been grateful that friendship. He knew Andy, a more outgoing and popular boy, had other friends in town besides Milo. He knew Andy would try to convince them to include Milo in their group, but Milo would normally just elect to spend weekends in his bedroom. Regardless, he was appreciative of Andy's effort.

Perhaps this was why Milo felt so nervous about attending high school in Viridian City. If he couldn't find his niche at tiny Oak Grove Primary, how in the world could he expect to fit in at a huge school like Viridian Academy?

He wasn't good at sports. He couldn't sing or play a musical instrument. The idea of going to crowded places like malls or movie theaters on weekends didn't appeal to him at all. His skinny physique and baby-faced appearance made it hard to garner much attention from girls. And breaking the ice to strike up conversations with strangers was something that terrified Milo.

He didn't even know why he cared, anyway. On the rare occasion he had been invited to join Andy and his friends for a Friday night at the movies or to play baseball with them in the schoolyard, he always seemed to end up declining in favor of spending more time alone in his room. Why was he so worried about fitting in when he always shied away from the chances he did get?

Over the past few weeks, with the autumn fast approaching, Milo had been feeling this inner turmoil quite a bit. The fear of his new school, the confusion about why he was scared, and all the other emotions swirling around inside of him were threatening to consume him. But not now. No, as long as he felt his computer's keyboard beneath his fingertips, the fears and confusion couldn't touch him.

As a virtual warrior, Milo didn't have to worry about all of life's stresses. It was the beauty of his darkened bedroom; there, he was safe inside its protective walls, like a force-field shielding him from the real world... a world full of judgmental teenagers and peer pressure... a world one hundred times scarier than any zombie-infested virtual world he had encountered in his games.

After a few hours of gaming, which had felt like no time at all in his safe alternate world, Milo finally removed himself from the trance he had been in long enough to use the bathroom and stretch his legs. When he returned to his room, he looked at the digital clock on his nightstand.

11:39 P.M.

Nearly midnight. Late for most normal people on a weeknight, but still early for Milo, who regularly remained awake until well into the wee hours of the morning, sometimes until sunrise. He was just about to sit back down and resume play, but suddenly, he heard a noise outside his window.

A low growling sound then sudden rustling sounds in the grass followed by a sharp squawk.

Milo went over to the window. Outside, the moonlight was just bright enough for him to see a small, crippled animal lying motionless in the grassy field right outside the house. It apparently had been attacked by something and left for dead.

Without thinking, Milo jumped out of the window and ran across the damp grass towards the fallen creature. It was a small black and red-feathered bird with one of its wings bent at an unnatural angle as it lay sprawled out on the ground. The Spearow's beady black eyes were open and alive, but looked overwhelmed with the pain of its injured wing.

Milo bent down and scooped up the bird and ran back to the house. Once he had carefully climbed back in through his window, Milo set the injured Spearow gingerly on his desk, scooting his laptop aside with his elbow. He then went to rummage through his closet.

Milo had never been a huge animal lover, aside from his own pet, Fawkes. But for whatever reason, seeing the pain and helplessness in the eyes of this bird caused Milo to feel inclined to do his best to mend it.

Finally, after locating the first aid kit in his closet, Milo rushed over and began to try to work on the bird, who had apparently been sedated by the pain of its broken wing because it was not objecting to Milo splinting and bandaging it.

When he had finished, Milo stood back to admire his work. He was hopeful that Spearow, who was now sporting a small popsicle stick split wrapped in white medical tape, wasn't in too much pain.

The bird was actually very beautiful. It wasn't often that Milo had had the chance to look at a Spearow this closely despite how prominent their presence was in Oak Grove's trees and skies. Its black coat was shiny and smooth, all of the feathers streamlined like a freshly pressed suit. The deep red color of the tail feathers and around its eyes gave Spearow a very sleek appearance.

"There you go, bud," Milo whispered. "You're gonna be all right."

Even though Milo knew that a bird couldn't understand him, he thought he saw a look of acknowledgment in the Spearow's face.

Milo smiled and fetched Fawkes' food and water bowls and set them down next to Spearow on the desk. The ailing monster gingerly climbed to its feet and waddled to the bowls, dipping its beak hungrily into both.

When it had eaten its fill, Spearow, obviously unfit to return to the wild, plopped back down on Milo's desk surface and looked ready to rest. It looked noticeably cheerier and healthier already, which made Milo feel good.

He was just about to reboot his computer and resume his game when he heard his mother call from downstairs.

"Milo! Come out here, will you?"

This couldn't be good, Milo thought to himself. Her tone of voice indicated that this wouldn't just be a casual "How was your day, sweetie?" kind of conversation.

Nonetheless, Milo obediently made his way down the hall and found his mother who was sitting at the table in the small white-walled kitchen. A mug of coffee was steaming in front of her on the table as she smiled at her son.

"How's that poor Spearow doing?"

"Uh... fine. How did you know about that?"

"Mother's always know, Milo."

Milo rolled his eyes and his mother chuckled.

"I heard the poor thing chirping and saw it through the window," Cindy said, gesturing towards the open window above the kitchen sink. "The poor thing must have fallen out of its nest. I saw one of those damn Stunkies pawing at it on the ground before you ran out there."

"The bird's fine now," Milo replied. "I bandaged it up and gave it some food. I'm thinking the little guy will be good as new in a few days."

"Oh good. That's great, sweetie."

"Yep, is that all then?" Milo said as he started towards the door to return to his room.

"No, Milo, there's something else I'd like to talk to you about. Why don't you have a seat."

"Mom, come on. I'm in the middle of something upstairs. What is it?"

"Milo, please, take a seat," Cindy Young repeated, sounding stern but still polite.

Milo knew that tone. He knew better than to provoke his mother beyond this point. He sunk his shoulders and walked over to the table. He exhaled deeply as he plopped down in the wobbly chair opposite his mom.

"So how was class today, bud?"

"It was fine," Milo replied shortly, hoping that his mother would let him leave sooner if he refused to engage in an actual conversation.

"You excited for tryouts? Andy's mom says he can't stop talking about it."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"They start right away in the fall don't they? Every day after school?"

"I think so..."

Cindy paused. Milo could tell she had sensed the tone of apathy in his voice and was about to sharply cut to the chase.

"Milo, what's going on with you lately? You've been locked in your bedroom all summer. I practically have to drag you downstairs just to eat!"

"Nothing's going on, Mom," Milo groaned as it became apparent that the conversation he had been hoping to avoid was now unavoidable. "I'm fine!"

"Come on, talk to me," Cindy pleaded. "Andy told me before he left tonight that you said you weren't sure you wanted to try out for the team this fall anymore. I thought you'd be excited. You love watching battling on T.V."

"There's nothing to talk about!"

"Listen to yourself, Milo. I can tell something's bothering you. What's wrong?"

Milo didn't say anything. He stared at the clock on the wall stubbornly for a few moments. He desperately wanted to return to his room, but he knew his mom wouldn't drop the issue until she heard something substantial to quell her concerns.

"I just..."

Milo felt strangely ashamed of what he was about to admit, even to his own mother.

"... I'm just feeling a little nervous about school, that's all!" he said quickly, as though speaking the words slowly and clearly would be even more humiliating.

Milo's mother didn't speak. She just looked at her son with eyes that reflected both compassion and guilt. Milo was comforted by this slightly, but still wanted to leave the table and return to his safe zone.

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry. I should have known... Your first year at your new school. Of course you're anxious about that. Viridian Academy is a huge school!"

"Yeah. Thanks, Mom," he replied dryly to his mother's attempt at compassion.

Milo continued to stare at the coffee mug on the table, feeling a bit ashamed to be confiding in his "mommy" about the big, scary school he was going to be attending. But what he heard her say next made him totally forget about everything and was perhaps one of the biggest shocks of his young life.

"Well, Milo, maybe instead of going to Viridian, you should just enter that Pokémon quest competition that's been all over the news tonight."

Milo nearly fell out of his chair. He looked up at the woman and totally expected to see her chuckling to signal she was joking. Or perhaps he hadn't heard her right. He didn't know whether or not he should laugh at what she had said.

"What?" was all he could utter.

"I watched what they said about it on the news tonight, and I think it sounds like it would be a great experience for a kid like you," Cindy said, smirking slightly at Milo's reaction.

Milo detected no signs in her mother's expression that she was kidding. But he still couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Uh... Mom, you do know the contest starts in like two weeks and basically goes the entire school year, right?"

"You can learn a lot about the world by actually exploring it, Milo. You can learn things that you wouldn't be able to learn in a classroom," she said, sounding whimsical before hardening her tone, "... and besides, you most definitely would be returning back to school next year."

"Who are you?" Milo couldn't help but say, his mouth still gaping. "Are you feeling okay?"

Cindy laughed and took a sip of coffee before saying quietly, "I'm serious, Milo. I heard you and Andy talking about it tonight in the living room. You guys both sounded really excited. And even though it's hard to believe, I'm officially giving you my blessing to go on this journey. But obviously, the choice is yours."

Milo's mind was racing a million miles per second. Hearing his mother actually say that she approved of him skipping out on the school year was incredibly surreal, and was still adjusting to that thought.

"So, just to make sure," Milo said, making one final attempt to make sure his mother wasn't half-asleep or going crazy. "You're saying you're fine with me skipping school to go off with Andy traveling all around the country for some crazy contest that we saw on T.V.?"

"Yes, Milo. I'm serious," she replied patiently. "Like I said, I think it'll be a fun learning experience for you and Andy... it'll be good for you."

"And you don't think it's gonna be a waste of time?" Milo asked cautiously.

"A waste of time?"

"Well, you know... There's like no way I'll be able to actually win. Think of all the people that are gonna be entering this thing! It's a nationwide competition."

"There might not be as many as you think, Milo. I don't think too many parents are going to be as generously understanding as me and let their kids skip an entire year of school," she replied with a grin. "And besides, who cares if you don't win? I'm letting you go for the experience... the journey you take is far more important than the actual destination."

"You sound like a fortune cookie," Milo replied with a smirk.

He knew what his mother meant though. She wasn't allowing Milo to go because she necessarily thought he was going to win the ultimate prize... she was letting him go because she thought the adventure would be beneficial to him.

"And remember, Milo," Cindy continued. "Training Pokémon isn't like baseball. The biggest and strongest aren't always the best. In battling, anyone who loves their monsters and fosters a close relationship with them can be great trainers. The Pokémon are the real stars... the best trainers just know how to bring out the best in them."

"Since when did you become such an expert on Pokémon, Mom?"

Milo's mother paused and took another thoughtful sip of coffee. She looked like she was struggling a bit to answer.

"Well..." she started before pausing again. "I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I suppose it's time you knew."

"Knew what?"

"Well, Milo... when I first met your father–"

"Nevermind!" Milo blurted out, cutting his mother off at the first mention of his father. "I don't want to know!"

Cindy forced an uncomfortable smile. "I know... you don't like to talk about him. I... I don't either, Milo, but I just thought-"

"No, Mom," Milo replied firmly, looking up from the table top straight into her beautifully warm brown eyes. "Sorry, but I just don't want to hear it. I know all I need to know about that guy. As far as I'm concerned, I never had a father."

Milo's mother looked like she wanted to reply, but stopped and simply nodded.

"All right, Milo," she said. "Well, it's getting late. I'm going to bed. Try not to stay up too late. I'm sure Andy will want to hear all about what an amazing mother you have in the morning."

"Right!" Milo said as the anger of hearing his father mentioned subsided. He grinned with excitement. He jumped up from his seat, kissed his mother goodnight, and made his way back upstairs to his room.

Back in his comfort zone, Milo actually felt excited about what his mother had said. He didn't know, however, whether he was excited because she was allowing him to partake in Bowers' Battle Quest or if it was because he didn't have to worry about attending Viridian Academy in the fall.

Milo yawned deeply, suddenly realizing how tired he was as he crawled into bed and maneuvered himself underneath his covers carefully so as not to awaken Fawkes or Spearow. As he stared at the pitch black ceiling and listened to his pet's soft, steady breathing, the fourteen-year-old imagined what his life would be like on the road while everyone else he knew would be stuck in school.

Relief and comfort quickly gave way to more anxiety and fear, though, as he thought about the idea of wandering around Kanto with no parental guidance and no experience whatsoever in raising monsters for battle. He thought about what it would be like to be in a real Pokémon battle like he had so often seen on television. Without knowing for sure, he knew it couldn't be as easy as Hugo Bowers and others made it look. Milo didn't even know where he would start.

As his eye lids grew heavier and he began to drift in and out of consciousness, Milo groggily concluded that he and Andy would figure it out. They always did.

And with that, he allowed himself to be consumed by his exhaustion.

To Be Continued...

PLEASE REVIEW! :)