AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello once again and welcome to old friends and new readers alike. I hope you're all still enjoying the story. Please continue to review or pm with your comments, thoughts and suggestions. I really do value all input and will reply as soon as I can.
Ignis woke up the next morning feeling a lot more refreshed. He had slept like a snorlax from the moment his head had hit the pillow. Sunlight was streaming through the window as he had not taken the time the previous night to pull the curtains. He looked at his watch which showed 08.30 and hurried to shower, wishing he hadn't slept in his clothes the night before. Breakfast at the pokemon centre was from 08:00-10:00 and he was hoping to see Peter before he left. It would be nice thought Ignis to keep in touch with another trainer embarking on their own travels and see how they were doing with their team building and badge collecting. Ignis admired the older boy, particularly for his patience. He knew that Peter had been training pokemon for a long time but to stay committed to your work to the point that you delay your journey so long took great patience. Ignis was sure that Peter would do well though, especially starting off with such a formidable pokemon by his side such as a graveller.
He pulled on a clean t-shirt and strapped his belt onto a pair of jeans, still getting used to the weight of the pokedex and pokeballs on his hip, and went downstairs. The canteen attached to the pokemon centre was quite busy with lots of people of all ages sitting down eating breakfast and talking. Ignis stood near the door and scanned the room looking for Peter.
"Over here Ignis," he heard voice say from his right and saw Peter sitting at a small table alone eating breakfast.
"Hey Peter," he said walking over and standing by the table, "sorry I'm a bit late, slept like a log".
"Not at all, I'm sure it was badly needed after your day yesterday," said Peter with a wry grin. "I'm not here long myself. Grab yourself something to eat and come have a seat".
Ignis got himself something from the food counter and returned to the table a few minutes later feeling ravenous now that the smell of the food had reached his nostrils.
"So what are the plans for today," said Peter taking a sip of his coffee. "Sticking around Viridian for a while or hitting the road?"
"I think I'll hit the road as soon as possible," said Ignis tearing into his breakfast. He was absolutely starving having eaten very little yesterday.
"Yeah, me too, it'll take a couple of days to make our way through Viridian. We could travel together if you like?" said Peter.
Ignis look up from his breakfast chewing thoughtfully. He was sorely tempted by the offer. It would certainly be a much safer way to travel. He had experienced a little of what being alone in the wild had to offer yesterday and it was certainly a lonely place to be when things went wrong. Even so he decided to stick the plan that he had formed months before his journey had even began.
"I'm not actually going that way," he said tentatively gauging the other boy's reaction.
"Really?" said Peter with surprise. "Nearly all new trainers head to Viridian forest as soon as possible. All the bug and flying types make it a great place to add to your team," he continued looking puzzled.
"I know that," Ignis continued expecting the surprised response. "I've given it a lot of thought but I think I'm going to head to Celadon first. I have family there that asked me to visit as soon as possible and my choice of starter doesn't really do me any favours in the Pewter and Cerulean gyms."
Peter regarded Ignis with a curious expression before he started to laugh. "Well aren't you thinking well ahead," he quipped. "I agree that you'd be at a big disadvantage against Brock and Misty and on top of the type disadvantage your Growlithe is still quite young and inexperienced so it might be best to try an alternative route. What way are you thinking of going?"
"I was thinking of just heading east straight for the coast until I hit the road and then following that up north to Celadon," said Ignis glad of the opportunity to thrash out his plan with someone.
"Hmm that's doable alright," said Peter thinking carefully. "Dangerous stretch of land between here and Route 17 though," he said. "Probably not many trainers around and the nearest rangers would be a while getting to you if anything went wrong," he muttered, as much talking to himself as to Ignis.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Ignis trailing off. He respected the older boy's advice to the point that it would actually make him doubt himself. He would never underestimate the fear of being defenceless in the wild again but he really thought that his plan had been a good one.
"Be a bit easier with a travelling companion," chirped Peter with a smile. "I could come with you if you want until were nearly at Celadon then I could head west for Viridian forest and you could head east for Celadon," he finished.
Ignis couldn't believe his ears. Travelling with the older, more experienced trainer would definitely be safer and he'd certainly feel better having that graveller on his side. "Will you not be late getting back to Pewter for work?" he asked.
"Well it should only cost me a half a day at the most so I'll still be back with plenty of time. Whatcha say, fancy travelling together for a few days?" he replied with a smile.
"Sounds great," said Ignis not needing to think about the offer for a second. He finished the last few bites of his breakfast and rose from the table. "I'll head back up there and get ready to go. I can meet you in a half an hour down in reception?"
They agreed and Ignis returned up to the room packing up his few possessions which mostly consisted of clothes, a light sleeping bag, some food and a few potions and antidotes that his mother had given him leaving. He was very glad to have a travelling companion. Ignis didn't mind not having company but safety in numbers this early in his journey before his team had grown a little was a welcome safety net.
Ignis shouldered the small rucksack and headed down the stairs. He surveyed the lobby looking for the older trainer. There was no sign of him yet but he was still a little bit early. He rounded the corner to reception thinking he'd wait there and maybe have some tea before he left only to come face to face with River who was just heading upstairs.
"Well if isn't little Iggy," said the boy with a grin.
"We're the same height River," said Ignis with a frown, he wasn't in the mood for the cocky trainer and after yesterday's events his feelings towards River had gone from something of a rivalry to an outright dislike.
"Well you seem a little smaller after I made such a fool out of your growlithe yesterday," sneered River. "You remember that right? How is the little pooch, did you have to have him put down yet?" he said with a laugh.
"You mean when your older water type got half savaged by my young fire type before you got a lucky shot in?" questioned Ignis. "Yeah, I remember that alright".
"Whatever man, me and my five pokemon are out of here, I presume poor baby still only has the one?" he continued with a mocking sad face before turning around and nearly crashing straight into Peter who had come down the stairs without Ignis noticing and was standing behind them. Peter stared at him expressionless about a second longer than was nessacary; he was about a half a head taller than River and looked quite intimidating. Peter eventually moved to the side to let him pass giving Ignis a quizzical look.
"The famous River I assume?" said Peter scowling, obviously remembering Ignis's story from yesterday.
"The very same," said Ignis still scowling.
"I wouldn't worry too much about how many pokemon he's caught," said Peter. "Lots of people have this stupid 'gotta catch em all' idea in their heads. It doesn't usually lead to great trainers. Better to have a small but balanced team that you can train and develop to a really high standard," he said.
"Yeah, I agree completely," said Ignis. "My father used to say much the same".
"Your father sounds like a clever man," said Peter with a laugh, returning to his usually light-hearted manner. "Shall we get going? We've a lot of ground to cover today".
The two set off out of the pokemon centre and down the old cobbled streets that headed to the east side of Viridian city. It was a bright sunny morning with a light breeze blowing in from the east which made for ideal travelling conditions. They walked until the dense city landscape slowly transformed into the grassy suburbs that surrounded the city and continued onwards for the best part of an hour until the path curved up north towards Viridian Forest to join up with Route 2.
"Off road from here I guess," said Peter agilely hopping over a small wooden fence. "Keep checking your compass, we'll just head directly east and we'll come to Route 16 eventually".
Ignis took out his pokedex opening up the compass application and checked for east. The updated pokedex had all kinds of useful application of this sort including maps, GPS, internet access and a torch along with all the usual uses of checking pokemon facts. You could also check if a ranger was in the area and write a query or request ranger assistance. Probably most importantly of all there was also a small red button on the side of the pokedex which served as a panic button. Once pressed it would send a distress signal to rangers and any other trainers who had a pokedex nearby. The addition of this feature which had been pioneered by Professor Oak himself had resulted in far less deaths in the wild and made travelling alone a little safer. There were heavy penalties for misuse of the feature and some fools had been known to abuse it but generally the idea had been a great success with plenty of stories frequently making it to the region's media of narrow escapes and heroic rescues.
They walked across the expansive grasslands for about an hour, conversation flowing freely amongst the pair. Ignis let growlithe out for the exercise and he sped out ahead of them galloping back and forth happy to be out in the morning air. Ignis learnt much about Peter as they walked. He learnt that graveller was his only pokemon. He had received a geodude in lieu of pay from his employer some years ago with a hope to working his debt off and then undertaking his journey. This wasn't unusual, many people had to pay for their starters or enter waiting lists from professors or gym leaders in their area like Ignis had. However, shortly after receiving his geodude his mother had become ill and Peter had stayed working in Pewter in order to be nearby and able to look after and support her. Sadly she had since passed away and Peter had gone through quite a difficult period of grief until one day his geodude had evolved and this had sparked some of the old fire that Peter had once had for being a trainer.
Ignis felt awful for what Peter had endured so young in his life. He found it hard to even imagine losing his own mother. Peter always seemed so happy and carefree it was difficult to think of the young man so consumed by grief to the point that his ambition had become paralysed. He was glad that Peter had finally decided to resume his plans to be a trainer.
All of a sudden their conversation was interrupted by a loud yelp from further up in the distance where growlithe had been running. The two trainers stopped talking and broke into a run to catch up to where the growlithe had been. They found him ahead in the long grass, a small amount of blood trickling from a wound above his right front leg. He was growly fiercely at a small, horned purple pokemon that Ignis recognized as the female variety of the nidoran species standing on the other side of the small clearing. Blood stained the nidoran's horn and Ignis knew that there was a very good chance that Growlithe may have been poisoned. He slowed as he approached the scene and heard Peter stop behind him.
He saw Growlithe turn its head to look at him just as the nidoran charged forward again, head down, horn forward ready to bloody the dog pokemon again.
"Look out Growlithe, dodge!" he roared. Growlithe quickly recovered his focus and darted to the side just as the poison pokemon went flying by. The nidoran fell to the ground, its momentum rolling it forward and it rose, hissing madly.
"Tackle Growlithe!" Ignis shouted and Growlithe dug its heels into the ground hard gathering traction and gaining speed at a remarkable pace before connecting hard with the nidoran. The nidoran went flying backwards falling into the dust but Growlithe also gave a yelp as they collided. It seemed the nidoran had managed to stab him once more with her poisonous barb before being shunted back. Growlithe spun round to face his opponent who was rising gingerly to its feet while panting hard. A second cut was after opening near its ear and Ignis thought Growlithe seemed far more tired than he should for so early in the battle and guessed that the poison from the first cut must be starting to take effect.
He could see Peter standing well back from the clearing, arms folded watching the battle between the two pokemon. He was sure Peter would help him if he got into too much trouble but he wanted to do this himself. This nidoran was a fierce opponent, quite large for its species and fought viciously, it would make a fine first addition to his team. The nidoran charged blindly forward towards Growlithe again although moving a lot slower than before due to its own injuries.
"Dodge and bite!" Ignis roared.
Growlithe dodged past the nidoran, although the effects of the poison served to make his jump far less agile than it would normally be. Nonetheless it was enough to evade the slowing nidoran and he managed to bit down hard on the nidoran's back as it went by and the nidoran screeched in pain pulling away from the growlithe's jaws.
"Quickly Growlithe finish this, tackle!" Ignis shouted as his hand strayed to an empty pokeball on his hip sensing victory. He doubted the nidoran could take much more punishment. Growlithe summoned the last of his dwindling energy and put on a huge burst of speed crashing into the side of the struggling nidoran sending it crashing in the dirt. It lay there twitching and try to get up as Ignis enlarged the empty pokeball that was now in his hand and flung it at the fallen pokemon. The ball struck the pokemon before bouncing back and opening drawing the pokemon inside with a flash of red light. The ball landed on the ground swaying from side to side, centre light flashing as the pokemon tried to break free of its confines. After a few moments the ball stopped moving and the centre light stopped flashing.
"Alright!" shouted Ignis punching the air. "Growlithe, you were brilliant buddy," he said running over to his growlithe who was looking a lot worse for wear but stood proudly, tongue out, panting heavily from the exertion of the battle. "Lie down buddy and let me put something on your cuts," he said rubbing the growlithe's head. Growlithe quickly complied flopping to the floor as Ignis took out an antidote spraying it into the growlithe's mouth where it would be circulated into the bloodstream. He noted Peter a few steps away with his back to him keeping an eye out for other wild pokemon. He went back to his task, spraying some potion on the open wounds which instantly congealed and began to close. Ignis gave his growlithe one last rub under his chin, still marvelling at the wonders of modern medicine before returning his friend to his pokeball.
"That was a great catch," he heard Peter say and looked up to see the older boy beaming at him.
"Bit too close for comfort," Ignis replied with a grin.
"Yeah that was one tough nidoran. I'd imagine it's quite developed and your growlithe is still very young so you should be very proud of how he handled himself. I'd have stepped in if you needed but if you want that nidoran to respect you as its new trainer you had to catch it yourself one on one or you may have had problems trying to train it".
"Yeah I know that," said Ignis. "I was a lot more relaxed knowing you were there than if that would've happen yesterday though" he said still beaming at the pokeball that contained his newly caught nidoran.
"C'mon lets head up to that clearing and have some lunch and a rest" suggested Peter.
Ignis was more than happy to agree. He found battling to be exhausting and he hadn't even done the work. He looked proudly at growlithe's pokeball. Growlithe really had done a great job. He felt bad for his friend's injuries, although they were nothing as bad as they had been after his battle with River's squirtle. He would be ok after the potions and a rest Ignis told himself.
They sat on the ground for a little resting and chatting amongst themselves. Their choice of resting place in the middle of a clearing at the top of a small hill meant it would be very hard for wild pokemon to sneak up on them but even so they remained vigilant for sight or sound of wild pokemon while they took their break.
"Did you know you wanted a nidoran?" asked Peter after he had taken a long drink from his water flask.
"Not really, I didn't have any particular pokemon in mind. I just want to have a balanced team that will help me on my journey and win badges," said Ignis thoughtfully. "I'm quite happy with the catch though, the ground/poison typing gives me a good spread very early on".
"Yeah, I completely agree and their final evolutions are extremely powerful," added Peter.
"Yeah," said Ignis mind trailing off thinking of himself in the future with a powerful nidoqueen at his side.
They sat there for quite some time talking about catching pokemon and building balanced teams while having some food.
"You know it's been over an hour now if you want to let her out," offered Peter as they were packing up to leave.
New pokeball technology meant that trainers were now advised to let pokemon remain in the pokeball for the first hour. The programming of the pokeball served to make the pokemon more docile to its new situation. This would give trainers a little bit of a head start when training new pokemon as the technology would already have started the process.
"I'm not sure what to expect," replied Ignis with hesitation.
"Well you never can be," replied Peter "but she'll be very weak after her battle with your growlithe so she shouldn't give you much trouble".
Ignis looked at him still quite unsure.
"If she does then I'll let out Graveller and we'll see how much trouble she is then," said Peter with a bright laugh.
"Ok so," said Ignis smiling despite his nerves. He hit the release valve on the nidoran's pokeball and she released onto the ground in a burst of red light. The nidoran was standing but seemed completely disorientated which wasn't unusual for a pokemon's first time in a pokeball.
"Nidoran," said Ignis in a loud, firm voice. The small purple pokemon seemed to snap out of its daze at the sound of Ignis's voice and turned her head towards him and hissed.
"Stop," said Ignis in the same firm voicing raising his finger. The nidoran's growling ceased immediately but it glared at him suspiciously.
"I'm your trainer now," said Ignis, eliciting a fresh hiss from the nidoran. "Stop," he said again slightly louder this time and the nidoran once again ceased. "I'm your trainer now," Ignis continued. "We can do this the easy way if you like. I will feed you and look after you and make you stronger than you ever could have been without me," said Ignis. He noticed the nidoran's ears pick up at the sound of being fed. "Are you hungry?" he said latching on to this opportunity. "Here," he said rummaging in his bag and throwing the nidoran one of the treats that Growlithe loved.
The nidoran sniffed at it suspiciously before taking a small nibble. As soon as it had tasted the small treat it ate the rest in one bite and looked back at Ignis expectantly.
"You want more?" said Ignis with a smile, showing the nidoran another treat in his hand. The nidoran came a little closer and Ignis closed his hand around the treat. "You'll have to play nice if you want it, no more hissing" he said firmly. He took the nidoran's continued silence as an agreement and let her take the second treat, this time from out of his hand.
"I tell you what," said Ignis. "You can stay with me and I'll feed and look after you. I'll train you to become stronger than you could have imagined. Remember my growlithe?" he questioned noting the flash of anger in the nidoran's eyes at the mention of her previous opponent. "He beat you fair and square," continued Ignis. "I'd only had him two days and you saw yourself how strong he is". "I will do everything in my power to look after you and make you stronger but if that doesn't sound good to you then I can release you again".
The nidoran stopped moving seemingly stunned by the offer. Even Peter who had been listening quietly in the background suddenly looked shocked aswell. Nidoran looked over its shoulder at the grassland where Ignis had first encountered him and then back to Ignis and the pokeball. He then looked off into the distance and then back at the backpack that contained the treats before slowly resting its chin on Ignis's knee who was squatting down. Ignis let out a sigh of relief and gingerly put on his hand to stroke the pokemon which she allowed. He fed her one or two treats and then took out some potion to spray on her earlier wounds. Despite her pride she was still quite badly beaten up from her battle with growlithe. Ignis sprayed the potion on the worst of her cuts while feeding her a couple of more. She seemed surprised at the instant relief she felt once the potion hit the spot where Growlithe had bit her and she seemed to grow less tense every minute thereafter. Once he was done treating her wounds he returned her, with her permission, to the pokeball where she could continue to recuperate a little with time.
"Woah," he heard from Peter who had been a silent observer throughout. "I've never seen anyone deal with a pokemon like that before. That was quite the gambit offering to release her".
"Well I would've, I don't want a pokemon who doesn't want me," said Ignis thinking about it.
"Fair enough," said Peter. "Still an unusual approach, usually trainers have to be very firm and strict for the first few hours using force when nessacary. Then once the pokemon is more obedient they make friends with it," said Peter. "You made it obedient by making friends with it," he continued. "That's quite unusual but it worked out well for you".
Ignis was glad it had worked that way. He liked the gutsy little nidoran and didn't want to lose it but nor did he want to rule with an iron fist like some trainers. He clipped the nidoran's pokeball onto his belt next to Growlithe's and shouldered his backpack ready to get going again. Peter packed the last of his things into his own backpack and the pair headed off east in the direction of a small section of forest that rose up in the distance.
The pair walked for about another hour and a half without any incident before they reached the area of woodland. Ignis found he liked travelling with Peter. Besides the safety factor of having a travelling partner he found that conversation flowed freely between the two. They had much the same interests and opinions on pokemon. He learnt that Peter who had always been content with just his starter was now actively looking to expand his team before embarking on his own journey in a month's time. He hoped to use that month to train with any new pokemon he happened to catch while travelling with Ignis. The pair agreed that Peter could capture the next wild pokemon they came across. Ignis had caught his nidoran and both his pokemon could probably do with some more rest and another potion in a few hours before they did any further serious battling.
They continued to walk deeper into the woods. The pokedex had informed them that the area of woodland was not too large and the estimated that the walkthrough time was about two hours. Even though the forest was relatively small the trees grew quite dense and the light faded, obstructed by the foliage of the gigantic old trees as they trudged deeper and their pace soon slowed a little. The pokedex hadn't informed them of any sightings of wild pokemon nearby but Ignis couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. The sightings feature of the pokedex was unreliable at best as it relied solely on the honest reports of other trainers and usually only worked well in densely populated areas. Even so they continued on for some time without seeing so much as a pidgey.
They stopped after a little while to have some water. Just as Peter was opening his backpack a large, furry hand shot out of the foliage overhead and grabbed the handle pulling it upwards. Peter lunged forward grabbing the other handle and pulling fiercely on it. He fell backwards to the ground with the effort dragging a white and brown pokemon that Ignis recognized as a mankey down on top of him. The pokemon gave a wild screech and dealt Peter a blow to his shoulder ripping through his jacket and drawing blood with its sharp claws. Peter shouted in pain as he scrambled backwards to get away from the wild pokemon, blood trickling down his jacket from the open wound. A flash of red light signalled the release of Peter's graveller into the fray and he instantly started to trade blows with the smaller but more agile pokemon. Peter signalled for Ignis who had reached for his growlithe's ball to stay back so he reattached the pokeball to his belt and stepped back a few paces to watch the battle. The two pokemon were battling fiercely. The mankey's eyes were blood red and it was snarling and screeching. In direct contrast Peter's graveller was quiet moving with deliberate strong moves. It seemed relatively unbothered by the mankey's vicious assault as blow after blow landed on its hard body.
Ignis heard Peter give an order that he couldn't make out and graveller grabbed the mankey and threw it with incredible force into a nearby tree causing the large trees whole structure to shake violently. The mankey rose to his feet obviously dazed from the massive impact. Ignis was impressed that it was still conscious at all. As it happened it wasn't conscious for long as graveller rumbled towards its swaying frame crashing into it with a heavy tackle attack.
Just as this happened Ignis noticed another set of eyes glowing from the tree that had shaken and made out the form of another mankey as it dropped down to a lower branch watching the battle below. He had only just trained his eyes on this second mankey and reached for growlithe's pokeball when a third appeared on another tree. Almost instantly the far side of the clearing went from a serene woodland landscape to scene out of a nightmare. Mankey after mankey started to appear within seconds of eachother until Ignis estimated there must be nearly a dozen. He felt his blood run cold as they silently watched the scene unfold below them. Peter hadn't noticed yet as he was concentrating on his battle so much.
"Peter…" said Ignis, his voice shaking despite himself.
Peter didn't hear him, or if he did he ignored him for the sake of finishing the battle. He threw a pokeball at the fallen mankey. Ignis watched the scene as if in slow motion. The ball flew through the air hitting the mankey squarely on the head before bouncing back a few inches. It opened and a large burst of light covered the pokemon pulling it into the ball which rocked back and forth for about three seconds. Those seconds seemed to last an eternity as Ignis watched on in horror along with a dozen other pairs of eyes glowing against the darkness of the shaded forest. The pokeball dinged loudly signalling the capture and ruptured the silence of the seconds which had proceeded. The noise from the pokeball seemed to wake the watching mankeys from whatever trance had kept them silent while watching their brethren be captured and suddenly all hell broke loose.
The woodland erupted with the sound of the pokemon roaring and screeching and even graveller seemed to cower a little as the sound of the blood-curdling screams mingled together into an ear splitting crescendo. Peter who had been about to pick up the pokeball froze rigidly at the eruption of noise and when he looked up all the blood seemed to drain from his face and a look of sheer terror replaced his usual happy features. The sight of Peter who had always seemed so calm and in control appear so afraid sent a shiver down Ignis's spine. The sight of their fellow mankey being knocked out and captured had sent all the other pokemon into a rage and they started to drop to lower and lower branches closing in on the two travellers screeching wildly and ripping branches and throwing them at the travellers as they went. Graveller had dispatched his opponent relatively easily but outnumbered a dozen to one it would have no chance. Despite their size Ignis could see that their arms were extremely strong allowing them to swing from branch to branch. The mankeys were whipping themselves into a murderous frenzy and came closer and closer. Ever second that went by the silhouettes of more and more of the pokemon seemed to appear high up in the trees drawn by the deafening clamour that the forest had erupted into.
Ignis saw Peter scoop up the pokeball and slowly take a couple of steps backwards until the two trainers were standing side by side. The mankeys continued to bay and screech wildly, coming closer and closer, but they also seemed to be waiting for the trainers to make a move. Ignis saw Peter reach slowly into his pocket. He knew from the small flashing red light that he could see emitting through Peter's trousers that the boy had activated the panic alarm on the side of his pokedex. The two trainers locked eyes as the first mankey dropped to the forest floor a mere ten metres from them. Peter whispered a single word, throat seemingly too dry with fear to speak any louder.
"Run".