Author note time: Hello dear reader! Welcome to my potentially decent work. This is purely going to be a passion project, so expect updates when I feel up to it. As a college student, my time is limited and my drive to do side projects like this is a little more than unstable, but I will do my best.

Now, getting on to some of the personal changes I am making to the pokemon world; I have decided to tweak several of the heights for pokemon that have a human-like figure. Pokemon like Lucario, lopunny, and others will now have an average height more akin to the human average. However, with this change I am also having it so that they will have large variances of heights (like humans) so some will be taller, some will be shorter. I will do the best I can to keep this clear by stating if they are a head taller or so.

Now, finally, for the part everyone sorts by M and romance for. Yes, this is planned to have lemons; however, keep it in your pants, for now, I don't plan on adding them till later on in the story. Our MC is starting off as a normal trainer who DISCOVERS his love for pokemon instead of just popping into existence wanting to bang em. The reasoning behind this is because it will make the eventual pay off all that much better.

One last thing: I will be shifting through PoVs on occasion, and depending on the PoV, pokemon will either be directly understood or sort of guessed.

Oh, and kids definitely do not start journeys at 10. It's just a little unsafe for kids to literally go out and catch god

{pokespeech, not guaranteed to be understood by everyone, when not understood it will most likely not be in this format}

"English words, you know the drill."

(Thoughts)

[Psychic conversations, might not even get used]

Edit log: check bottom if returning reader.

Chapter 1: off to a wonderful start

It was a crisp cool spring morning. There was still a bit of light snow on the ground, it had not yet seemed to get the message that its time was up. The sun had yet to come up and the world still seemed to be at rest, except for one person.

Markus excitedly packed his backpack, positively shivering in anticipation for the day he will have ahead. Despite his parents' best wishes of taking a more stable career, he was dead set on going on a journey. Although it wasn't the journey that had him so excited, it was the fact that he was going to get a pokemon.

His parents were admittedly not the biggest fans of the idea, and he had a fair idea of why that may not be. Despite his decent grades, he was still offered a scholarship to a decently prestigious school. It wouldn't cover a free ride, but it made his parents quite excited. They were probably under the assumption that he would prepare to go right away as they did and move onto a future career. This instead leads to them being sucker-punched by his immediate refusal to go. To say they were taken aback is an understatement; They were outright fuming. He was fully convinced they would have threatened to kick him out of the house if that wasn't his intention.

Noticing that he had zoned out from his packing, he unclenched his shaking hands and resumed packing after a subtle shake of the head. It was then suddenly that a bright warm light came from the window. Markus looked over, shielding his eyes with his hand as his pupils adjusted, and realized that the sun had finally come up. With the cold of the spring night giving way to the pleasantly warm sunrise, Markus went over to open the foggy window to see that much of the forest outside of town had come to life. He could see many different kinds of bird pokemon taking flight. A few that he could pick out were pidove, starly, and pidgey. All seeming to be hunting for some breakfast in the wide forest around the small town he called home.

Or, he supposed, had called home. Feeling a little down once more, he closed the window and turned back to his nearly packed bag. When he turned he saw his parents standing in the doorway. His mother had a reassuring face that he could tell had a twinge of worry and his father had a stern look that had a hint of sadness. They made eye contact for a moment before Mark broke it and returned to his bag.

"We know we won't be able to change your mind," his mother said softly, trailing off at the end. "but that doesn't mean we won't support what you decide on."

This caught his attention, and he paused from packing to turn to them. He was sort of surprised to see her here but was even more surprised to see his father there as well. Usually, by now he was already on his way driving to his office job.

"We should have seen this coming, ever since you were a little boy you've been fascinated by pokemon." She mused, looking out the window, or maybe even just past it. "Even after news broke of the accident that happened six years ago, your drive to become a pokemon trainer never wavered. We had hoped that the raising of trainer age requirements and the reality of how dangerous the world is would have pushed you to a more safe life, but we both know that you've never been one to back away from a challenge." She said, now looking at him with a smile.

Looking over to his dad, he could see little cracks in his stoic demeanor. A warm smile soon appeared and the big man approached for a hug. Marcus gladly took it, and after a moment his father grabbed him by the shoulders and said:

"I'm proud you stuck with what you wanted to do, even despite our best wishes." He paused and cleared his throat. "Just make sure this opportunity is not wasted, it'd be a shame if you gave up on being a trainer after we rejected that scholarship."

He gave one more pat on the back before turning and walking out of the room with a chuckle that quickly died off. Marcus was happy he was being supportive but also knew that if his father was in his shoes, he would have taken the scholarship. They both would have.

Short time later

After his father quickly made off to work for a meeting he would most likely be late for, and his mother soon left not much later, Marcus was one more left with his thoughts.

sigh* "well, I suppose that's that." He said to himself, heading downstairs towards the door. However, when reaching for it he hesitated. He spun around one last time to take a look at the place he probably wouldn't see for a long time. The grey living room, the tiled kitchen, and oddly enough the bathroom down near the end of the hall. His eyes then widened slightly.

(Oh shit! I'm not going to have easy access to a bathroom on this trip.)

He was already reconsidering the whole ordeal.

(I'd better leave before I second guess myself anymore)

He got out of the house a little quicker than would appear naturally. He didn't turn back either.

After a short walk, he made his way to the center of town. He glanced at the sign signaling the entrance to the town, it read: "Fernsworth grove" an odd name to be sure, but it was named after the family that set up the town. This smallish community had a population sitting around 1,000 people if the sign was to be believed, and most people who lived here have stayed in this tightly knit community. Nearly everybody knew everyone and newcomers were often temporary. Most new faces around town were either trainers or tourists passing by, but the town didn't seem to care. My family, however, was part of the smaller third option; people who actually moved to stay. Nothing against this little town, the people are great and all, but there isn't exactly much to do. Most of the workers here find themselves at either the lumber yard or the fields, and corn isn't that alluring to tourists.

Some trainers also settled in the town, the lumber yard workers and field owners would often pay pretty well for strong trainers to take care of the wild pokemon. Fields of food are often pretty alluring to them, and trainers are usually itching for a fight, which means many can make a pretty decent living even if it's temporary.

Continuing to walk through the small town, anyone could make note of the older architecture. Or as they would put it, "rustic appeal." Most buildings were constructed of wood and or brick, and the only newer looking buildings in town would be the pokemon center and the few that decided to renovate from their original designs. Mark walked past several homes, businesses, and restaurants; walking directly towards the extremely recognizable pokemon center.

As the building came closer and closer in view, his nerves began to come back. Even though they lived in a community that lived close to pokemon, it wasn't always that way; and his parents made sure it stayed that way. When they used to live in the city of Granite Falls, it made sense why they couldn't have one. In an apartment far away from any parks, most pokemon would be miserable stuck indoors all day. However, once they moved out of the city he had his rekindled hopes shut down once again through being told that there were no breeders in the area. When he suggested that they could get one from the forest, they seemed to be genuinely upset that he would insinuate bringing a wild animal into the house. While he could agree with them a little, he also knew from school that pokemon were much smarter than the regular wild animals that also inhabited the forest. While he went to school in the city, children not owning pokemon was a much more common occurrence. Once they had moved out here, however, that all changed.

There was a school in a nearby neighboring town that most of the kids here in Fernsworth went to. It was just about fifteen miles away and also just as forested as here. Because of this environment, many of the kids he had gone to school with had either a personal pokemon or the family pokemon with them. Marcus, however, did not. He was a sort of black sheep in this regard, and it didn't take very long for him to feel left out in a lot of the activities that would take place.

While he had moved to Fernsworth in the ninth grade, it didn't change the fact that he still felt extremely pressured to get a pokemon. Only problem is it's a little tough to catch one without one. While casual pokemon battles would occur during lunch, he would often act disinterested at face value to draw less attention to himself, he learned better than to watch as enthusiastically after having to explain why he turned down challenges in past. He wasn't the only kid to go to school without a pokemon, but it certainly felt like it most of the time.

Somehow finding himself lost in thought again, he shook the negativity and instead focused on the task at hand, actually getting a pokemon...or at least trying to.

Because of the town's size, there was no lab to get one of the stereotypical starters from. His only real options to getting a pokemon were either A, hoping there were some in the center looking for trainers, or B, attempting to fight a wild one himself. Seeing as he decided option b was a bad idea, and there was no current way to get driven to a lab, he stuck with hoping there were some in the center. It's actually quite surprising there was a center in a town this small. Usually, the league only staffs centers where there is a lot of trainer traffic, but he won't complain about the convenience of the situation.

As Mark walks through the pokemon centers sliding doors, he is greeted by the distinct hospital smell of hydrogen peroxide and the pleasant jingle of an upbeat melody.

As he approaches the front desk, he sees that the nurse joy seated behind it has a book on the desk and seems really absorbed into it. After continuing to walk towards the counter, the nurse gets a tap on the shoulder from the centers Audino. She then sees him approaching and pushes the book to the side, ready to greet their guest.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center! We heal your Pokemon back to full health. Would you like us to heal your Pokemon?" She says, perfectly following the almost scripted response that she and her colleagues often give, she must have assumed he was a trainer.

"Oh no, I'm not here to heal any pokemon. I was actually wondering if I could take a look at the shelter"

"Well, that's great. We just got some new ones that came in today. Follow me, and I will lead you right there." She had a very upbeat personality as well, he wondered just how similar all of the region's nurses really were.

They didn't quite walk in silence as she would often point towards different areas of the Pokemon center like she was giving a tour. With how little he had been in here, he made sure to make a mental note of everything she described.

After a little while more walking, we reached an opaque glass door that he could make out some movement behind. He assumed it was the shelter.

"Before we go in, I have to ask. What are you here for? Are you here to just see the pokemon, or here to try and scope out an addition to your team?"

"I'm here to potentially find a pokemon to start my journey with."

"I see, but I'm curious. Why not go for one of the starters from the labs? They are usually better trained at answering orders and are generally better at battles while also being much more famous."

"Well.." Marcus paused, "I'm sure I may be better off with one of the lab pokemon, but I'm sure some of these ones deserve a chance at an adventure too. A lot of them may not have much experience in battle, and that means we can both learn together."

She squinted at him skeptically, not fully convinced.

"And.. because I have no direct way to make my way to a lab" he added a little awkwardly

She dropped the suspicious act and let out a soft laugh, the audino also joined in. Marcus looked at them both confused.

"What, we aren't allowed to have fun? Don't worry, all of the lab starters have been claimed, or are to be for the next month or so."

He raised an eyebrow, "wait really? Why would that be?"

"It takes a lot of time to train up that many starter pokemon, and school just got out, meaning a fresh batch of trainers." She said with a smile, finally opening the door.

"Now go have fun in there, and be sure to come to us before you pick your starter." She said while the audino waved goodbye with a pleasant expression on her face.

After the door had shut he turned around to see what looked like several dozen very different types of pokemon. They were all either playing around or lying about in the large floor space. A few of the pokemon paid him any mind, but most of them stuck with the activities they were already doing. Judging by an initial impression of the room, most of the pokemon were on their first stage of evolution, the few evolved ones were off in their little cliques.

Judging by the large variety of pokemon that he assumed were not native to the area, most of these pokemon were either dropped off by other trainers or were from other shelters. There was still a lot of patrat, lillipup, and pidove, but they didn't make a majority of the room as he had expected.

While analyzing the room, a lillipup snuck up on him and somehow launched a small rubber at his back. After feeling the impact he turned to the dog-like pokemon and saw the expectant look it had on its face. Leaning down to grab the ball, the lillipup watched this movement with great interest and anticipation as its tail began to slowly wag. Watching this movement he paused just before grabbing it, making it shift its eyes up to Marcus only to realize that when it looked away Marcus had grabbed it and threw it far off. Caught off guard, yet excited, all the same, the lillipup chased after the ball as it continued to bounce away. Realizing he may be here for a bit, he dropped his backpack off against the wall as he saw a very excited lillipup tailed by a few other pokemon coming his way. As they stopped in front of him, the lillipup he had first met expectantly dropped the ball; this time not taking its eyes off of it no matter what. He played catch with whatever pokemon came to play for a good while before telling them that he had to go, much to their dismay.

As he walked away after grabbing his backpack, he saw that they got right back to playing with the ball in the large group he had formed. It put a smile on his face to know he made them that happy, and would have stayed if he didn't already have something he had to be doing. That lillipup seemed like a good pokemon, but something told him that wasn't exactly what he was looking for. He wasn't quite sure why he felt this way, but his gut just had a feeling I guess.

*Grumble

Oh, it wasn't the only feeling his gut had apparently. Still watching them play, he reached in one of his pockets for a sandwich he had prepared. After grabbing its bag, he felt his foot hit something that didn't budge, and suddenly tripped forward hitting the ground. And dropping the bag as it slid a bit ahead of where he landed.

After putting a hand to the back of his head and recollecting his bearings from the ground, he saw a very angry looking pokemon in front of him. It looked to be mostly blue with a red belly. It also had stubby arms and legs alongside what looked like a fin on top of its head. He couldn't recognize this pokemon at all, but he could clearly see that it was waving its arms accusingly at him and shouting something. Not sure what to do as it approached, he pushed himself back a bit until his hand accidentally grabbed his lunch bag. Suddenly having an idea, he quickly reached inside and pulled out the sandwich he had packed. At first, the pokemon continued its incredibly vocal advance till its eyes broke contact with his and instead found their way to the sandwich. The sandwich didn't distract them for long, as they then immediately resumed glaring at him, but now they were at least not yelling.

After another good ten seconds of staring between them, he made a move to remove the sandwich from its plastic wrapping. The odd little pokemon looked at it again, a little bit longer this time, and then went right back to staring at him, this time with squinted eyes. Once he had fully unwrapped it, he could visually see the small creature crinkle what he assumed was its nose, smelling at the contents of the sandwich. It took another glance at it, this time longer than the last.

With it fully unwrapped, and its interest captured, he broke the sandwich into two pieces and handed half of it in an extended hand towards the now seemingly calm creature. It eyed his hand, then his face, then the sandwich again as it licked its lips. With the number of teeth he saw, he was really hoping it would decide to take it with its hands instead of its mouth. After he had fully extended his hand, it came closer slowly step by step and immediately grabbed at it once it was within reach, and backed away with its prize.

After it was in their hands they returned to where they stood before approaching and took a slow small bite while suspiciously eyeing him; almost seeming to gauge if whatever it was offered was enough in trade for the beating he was initially going to receive. After the first bite, its eyes immediately widened from their squint and focused on what it had in its little hands.

The rest of that half didn't even last a second before it disappeared. It had a very pleasant expression on its face, eyes closed and what he assumed was a toothy smile on its face. This expression, however, quickly disappeared and was replaced with a similar glare it had before. It crossed its arms, or at least, he assumed what it was trying to do, and looked away from him.

Now finally given an opportunity to sit up, he began to stand and started to raise the sandwich to his mouth before he heard it yelling at him again. This time it seemed to be directed somewhere other than me this time. He looked back to realize it was now turned around again, pointing directly at the other half of the sandwich he had.

"Ohh, no. You got half, and that's fair" he said clutching the sandwich up high where he knew it couldn't reach. "I think half of my sandwich is more a fair trade for an accident."

It now looked just about as angry as before, it took a step forward and yelled pointing at him, the sandwich, and itself.

While seated, he could still hold it high above its reach and intended on keeping it that way. There was no way he was giving up the entire thing.

After making his position clear, it said something lowly and then immediately ran at him, taking Marcus by surprise. He tried to get into a stand-in time, knowing he may be able to outspeed it with the height advantage, but before he could get all the way up, it was already upon him. It tackled him right in the chest, knocking him once more in the direction of discovering gravity. Once he was set off balance he fell over once more, oddly enough, the tackle had hurt much less than anticipated. Usually from what he observed, even the simplest of attacks could break bones due to their power alone, but he was perfectly fine..besides sitting on his ass off course.

After a short moment his eyes widened as he realized he had lost, in the time it took him to get back up, the little pokemon was waving its arms and legs while turning, "dancing" triumphantly with its prize in hand, an expression of almost pure joy on its face. After its little victory, and seeing the expression it had, he couldn't feel sour about a loss when it brought such joy to someone.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw nurse joy walking over semi-urgently.

"Oh, Arceus, are you okay?" She said with a worried expression. The pokemon was still dancing.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Marcus said, dusting off his pants with his hands while standing up. "Just having a little fun is all." The elated little pokemon was still dancing to itself.

Nurse joy then went from a concerned look to a disapproving one, turning to the ecstatic pokemon who had apparently finished its victory dance and was now pointing at Marcus with a look of pure victory on its face.

"Now Rose, that wasn't very nice of you." Nurse joy said waiving a disapproving finger at it. She reached for the sandwich Rose held, but thr quickly stuffed it in their mouth with two hands, stuck their tongue out, and disappeared, quickly digging underground.

Nurse joy sighed, "I was hoping she wouldn't cause any trouble for you, she has a rather bad habit of finding trouble with visiting trainers."

"So that's what kind of pokemon it is? Rose? Marcus stated confused."

The audino that always seemed to tag along let out a small laugh and Marcus was once again left in the dark.

"No, no." Nurse joy stifled a chuckle, "Rose is a Gible and a rather overdramatic one at that."

"Oh, I was going to say. I've never seen a Pokemon like that. I'm assuming it's a rock type or something?"

"You are on track with the 'or something' part, she's a ground dragon type. And much like her typing weakness, she refuses to ever 'chill out' around trainers."

The pun was lost on Marcus, but he could tell there was something there and let out a chuckle.

Marcus always had a thing with getting distracted, but this time he somehow failed to see that the gible Rose had snuck right up on him and was now standing beside him. It no longer looked upset but was now looking right up at him with a pleasant look. She wasn't very tall by any means, the top of her fin almost reaching his waist, but she wrapped her little arms around his leg in what he assumed was a hug. She was a bit heavy, but he lifted his leg a bit and shook it a bit but she still clung on.

"Well, nurse joy." He paused taking another look at her happy expression, "I think I picked one."

Holy crap this chapter wrote itself. I sat staring at my ceiling for days thinking of how to start, and I think the intro could be a little better, but I got into a flow somewhere along the way.

Be sure to suggest possible new mons to be added, if you somehow have fanart for some ungodly reason, be sure to pm me or something. Idk how this all works, maybe ask for my discord info if you have something visual to share. If it's a suggestion, just leave a review or Pm?

Again, I may run the show here, but I have about zero clues about what's going on man.

Maybe weekly updates? Maybe every few days? It really depends

Edit log: Somehow I had referred to Rose as a gabite in this first chapter, this was not intentional. Rose is currently a gible