Disclaimer: I do not, have never, and most likely will never own Pokemon in any way, shape or form. This story is just for the personal enjoyment of those that read it and does not, nor ever will, receive any monetary funding. Thank you.

When I was growing up I didn't have a lot of spare time. Working the farm was hard and there was always something that need to be done. But when I did have some time to myself I would go out into the woods and explore. I found all sorts of things, but most importantly I never went to far from the village. There are all sorts of pokemon out there and many of them aren't very friendly to humans.

But given that I was now a Pokemon Trainer I figured I would be fine if I explored a bit off the beaten path so long as I had my Rattata walking by my side.

"Oh God! They're gaining!"

Now given everything I have just described, you might not be too surprised

"Rattata use quick attack!"

That I had a swarm of Beedrill behind me.

Rattata's quick attack had brought the total number of Beedrill chasing us down to four. But that was still four angry Bug Types that wanted us out of their territory. Taking a glance back I saw that one of the Beedrill was speeding up, getting ready to ram us. Probably a tackle if I had to guess.

The buzz in the air got louder as it the Beedrill accelerated towards us. I took another costly glance behind us and got a face full of Bug Type for my curiosity.

The impact of the tackle forced me to the ground, gasping for breath. Franticly breathing in air I scurried forward on my hands and knees, trying to get away. Rattata, bless her soul, hadn't hesitated to pounce on the nearby Beedrill, taking advantage of the distance between it and its brethren to remove another threat.

Coughing and struggling for breath I stood and began to limp forward, Rattata at my side, trying to get away.

I'm not going to lie, I things might not have turned out so well if Dad hadn't showed up at that moment.

"Pachirisu, Thunderwave!"

Pachirisu was Dad's assist pokemon. Every ranger is allowed to have a pokemon partner to help with a capture or general calming or a pokemon. Pachirisu had been with Dad for as long as I could remember and was one of the most useful assist pokemon around, learning a specialized version of thunderwave that would all but stop a pokemon's movement for up to 15 seconds but leave no lasting status conditions. Perfect for dealing with wild pokemon that you didn't want to take to a pokemon center.

"Capture Styler go." he said, his voice light as with a few strokes and spins of his hand the styler circled the Beedrill, calming them down and sending them on their way.

Finally catching my breath I returned rattata to her pokeball, she deserved a rest, and stumbled over to Dad.

"Thanks for the assist, i'm guessing Mom called you?"

Frowning he turned to me; gave me a once over, seemed to decide I was fine and hadn't been hurt, then smiled and answered me. "You got that right" he said. His voice filled with relief and a hit of amusement "And a good thing too, you looked like you were about to be turned into a pincushion by those Beedrill."

Laughing in relief that I was okey I sat down and settled up against a tree. I closed my eyes and relaxed for a minute. Then something occurred to me.

"Hey Dad?"

"Hmm?" he replies from across from me, leaning against another tree, eyes closed, taking in the sounds in the forest.

"How did you know I was in trouble?"

Cracking his eyes open he laughed and walked over to me and and took off the pack he was wearing, and offered it to me. "It looks like in their rush to start their journey, someone forgot all their equipment." he said, clearly finding the who thing outrageously funny. " You were an hour gone by the time your Mother realized you forgot your travel pack. So she had Mrs. Tanner's Pidgeotto fly it out to me along with a quick message asking if I could get it to you."

Blushing as bright as my my rusty hair I reached out to grab my pack, only to find it wouldn't budge. Looking up at my Dad I saw mirth morph into a concerned expression he openly wore on his face as he tightly gripped the strap.

"Are you really sure that you can do this?" he quietly asked all humor gone from his voice. We both knew what it was, just a last ditch effort to try and change my mind. We've had similar conversations ever since I announced my plans to go traveling. "I mean. You've only been gone for a few hours and you already forgot your travel pack and enraged a swarm of Beedrill. Are you sure that your cut out for this?"

"I didn't provoke them" I exclaimed "I was traveling just a short distance from the path to try and find any berries and Rattata wandered off. By the time I found her it was too late and she was already being chased by the Beedrill."

Dad just sighed. "As her trainer what she does is your responsibility. What would you have said to me if your Rattata had attacked a human, someone who couldn't fight back. Would you have said that it was her fault then?"

The blush was back "No. I'm sorry, I know what you mean, what I did was irresponsible. As a Pokemon Trainer I should be aware of my pokemon at all times or else they could do something irreversible." I stammer out.

Giving me one more onceover Dad took a deep breath and release the pack allowing me to sling it over my shoulders. He seemed to hesitate for a second before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball.

"I know you know, i'm just worried." he sounded weary now. "I also know that it took you quite a while to save up enough money to buy Rattata's pokeball." Handing me the pokeball in his hand he said "I know it isn't much but I thought you might encounter a pokemon you wanted to catch for your team before you got to town."

I stared down at the pokeball in disbelief, then looked up at Dad. Mom and Dad didn't want me to go traveling. We had a lot of arguments about that, plenty of shouting and the house was so tense that I actually looked forward to working on the farm away form them. Eventually I got them to agree that if I could catch my own starter pokemon before my 15th birthday I could go. It had taken me over a year of holding onto every scrap of money I could get my hands on to buy my first pokeball and even more effort to catch a pokemon without any kind of assistance. To see him give me a pokeball was something that I had never expected. It was essentially my Dad giving his blessing for my journey.

I pulled him into a hug, tears beginning to form around my eyes. He returned the hug.

"Good luck. And be safe out there kiddo" he whispered into my ear.

I nodded back at him, not trusting myself with words right now.

Coming out of the hug I calmed myself down and simply said "Thank you." before I turned and began to head back to the beaten path, my new pokeball clutched in my hand, relief washing through me as I now knew that I could make my journey with a clear conscience.