Chapter 2 – The Journey Begins! The scream in the Field!

Grinning from ear to ear with excitement and happiness as he, Professor Rowan and his assistants' continued on up Route 201. Daniel was finally going to get his very own Pokémon once he arrived in Sandgem Town. However, one thing crossed his mind: Turtwig. He wondered if it was all right, he hadn't talked to it since Rowan picked it up and he was thinking about if it was actually a wild Pokémon, or whether it had a trainer after all; he felt his heart stop for a minute when he thought of the latter, so he decided to push these thoughts to the back of his mind. Daniel tried to take his mind off things and focus on the lush, green area around him, inhaling deeply through his nose, smelling the amazing aroma of the trees and grass. He happily exhaled through his mouth, almost instantly feeling calm and relaxed, he felt as though he had nothing to worry about, just enjoyed the smell.

With Route 201 finally coming to an end, Daniel instantly picked up the smell of sea air, which replaced the aroma of leaves and grass, leaving Route 201 behind as he knew he must be in Sandgem Town.

"Finally!" he shouted, "Finally we're here! Sandgem Town, at last!" he finished his sentence.

"Yes." The professor simply answered, showing next to no emotion, as he and his assistants' walked past Daniel heading in the direction towards an incredibly large building.

Daniel remained still when they had reached the building, looking in awe as he now stood before the place that his journey would officially begin. He marched proudly towards the building's main entrance with his head held high, trying to contain his excitement, which was proving to be difficult as he knew he was just moments away from choosing his first ever Pokémon.

Daniel was amazed by how much bigger the laboratory was on the inside, it was impressive to see how many people there were who helped run the research facility. Seeing Professor Rowan over at the far end of the lab with the wild Turtwig, Daniel made his way over to check on how it was doing.

"Hey, Turtwig!" he called the Pokémon's name happily, "how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Tur-Tur-Turtwig!" it shouted as it jumped up and down energetically, showing that it was doing great.

"You're a pretty tough Pokémon to go through all that and still be so full of energy" he complimented Turtwig, who was looking at him happily, looking as though it was about to do something, but stopped itself, which Professor Rowan instantly picked up on.

"Yes." Professor Rowan said once more in an attempt to change the subject, "Now that has been settled, Daniel…" he continued, but paused for a moment to turn to Daniel,

"Now Daniel, normally this is where I would ask you if you are ready to choose your starter Pokémon." he continued, "But I have a suggestion, which actually involves Turtwig", Turtwig's head popping up at the sudden mention of its name.

"Huh?"

"Twig?"

Daniel and Turtwig said simultaneously, both curious to find out what the suggestion was that Professor Rowan had in mind.

"Well, if that doesn't prove what I'm about to say, I don't know what will" Professor Rowan said, with what sounded like a happy tone in his voice, something that seemed oddly out of character for him.

Both Daniel and Turtwig looked to one another, and then back to Professor Rowan, failing to understand what he was talking about.

The professor sighed when his discrete hints of what he was implying weren't getting him anywhere.

"My boy, Daniel. You might be oblivious, but you have a good heart; something you share as well, Turtwig." He explained to the two, "which is why I feel it would only be natural for you two to go on a journey together" Rowan said, receiving looks from them both as he said this.

Both Daniel and Turtwig looked at each other one more, both smiling and openly admitting that it was a great idea.

"Sounds like a great idea, professor." He said, turning to Turtwig, "What do ya think Turtwig, sound good?" Daniel asked Turtwig, already having a good idea what its answer would be.

Turtwig closed his eyes and turned his head quickly, "Twig!" he said as he did this.

"Wait, what?" Daniel said confused and a little upset.

Opening its eyes slowly, look at him while smiling, Turtwig happily and playfully jumped towards Daniel, going in for a hug.

"Hey! Oh, I get it, quite the little trickster, aren't we?" Daniel commented, laughing at the fact that he allowed himself to be tricked by Turtwig. "Looks like we're partners now, right?" he asked Turtwig, who nodded at him to confirm.

"Well then, that's settled. Shall we get you two ready for the road?" Professor Rowan asked, "You're going to need to right tools for the journey." He added.

Reaching into his lab coat with his left hand, Professor Rowan pulled out a small, black device and handed it to Daniel, who looked to Rowan, waiting for him to explain what he had just given him.

"That object I just gave to you is called a Pokédex." Rowan explained as Daniel opened it up, revealing two screens, "this Pokédex will provide you with useful information on the mass amount of Pokémon you will encounter during your journey; it's a very useful tool indeed!" he mentioned.

"Next, you're going to be needing these" he handed a tiny half box to Daniel, which was containing six red and white balls, "these are called Poké Balls, these are very handy for carrying the Pokémon you catch around in." Rowan said, giving the explanation, taking one as he enlarged it using the small button located on the front.

"First things first, though", Rowan told Daniel, "You're going to want to put Turtwig inside a Poké Ball so that it will be your Pokémon. It's still technically a wild Pokémon, so you can use this Poké Ball here to capture it" he informed him, handing Daniel the enlarged Poké Ball.

Taking the Poké Ball from Rowan, he crouched down and looked at Turtwig, who looked back at him, waiting for him to say something.

"So, looks like the journey starts here. You ready to get going?" Daniel asked it, holding the Poké Ball out towards Turtwig.

Looking at the spherical object that was now in front of him, Turtwig smiled happily, lifting one of its front feet and tapping the ball, turning it into a bright red light as he entered. Three shakes and it was caught, Turtwig was now officially Daniel's first Pokémon and partner.

"Come on out, Turtwig!" Daniel commanded as he threw the Poké Ball into the air, causing it to open, let out a white light, which made its way to the ground and formed Turtwig, who happily stood there before Daniel.

"Well, that seems to be everything, so go ahead and start your Pokémon journey you two!" he encouraged them. "Have fun and take care!" he added.

"We will! Thanks for everything, professor!" Daniel said with a huge smile plastered on his face as he and Turtwig left the laboratory, eager to get the journey started.

Standing outside the lab, Daniel decided it would be best for him to go home and tell his mother than he was finally going to get to go on a journey. Not to mention getting his first Pokémon, just so she didn't worry about him leaving in the morning and not returning for months. He couldn't do that to her.

Running home surprisingly didn't take that much time, less time than it did when he first set off for Sandgem Town. As though she had somehow sensed that he was about to come home, Daniel's mother was sat on the bench outside the house waving at Daniel as he ran down, getting closer to home.

"Hey! I'm back! Mum, I finally got a Pokémon, and what's just as good, I'm going on a journey!" he shouted at the top of his voice as he ran with Turtwig by his side.

"Oh!" she said surprised to hear the news, "so that's why you were off like a shot this morning" she recalled the incident of the morning.

"Yeah, sorry about that, mum" Daniel apologised while bowing, "But this could be it, mum, finally, I can go on a journey and work hard to become the Sinnoh Champion!" he informed her, "How great would that be?" he finished.

"Well, this is all rather sudden, I mean it's late, you don't want to be starting your journey now." She told him, "You would be better leaving bright and early tomorrow morning where you'll be refreshed."

As excited as he was to get his journey started, he knew she was right, starting his journey this late wouldn't be sensible, so he nodded in agreement, going into the house with Turtwig and his mother, turning in for the evening.

The next morning came so fast, which didn't bother Daniel or Turtwig too much, because they were finally going to start their journey today. After eating breakfast and getting everything together, they said good-bye to Daniel's mother and made their way back to Sandgem Town, to resume where they had left off the previous day.

Daniel must have been getting used to Route 201 now, because it didn't take long for him or Turtwig to pass through it and they were greeted by the smell of sea air once again.

Daniel checked his map to find where he should head first.

"Hm, it looks like there are two Routes from Sandgem Town: Route 202 and Route 219." He said, trying to decide where to go. "Route 219 leads to a nice sandy beach, which would be nice…but Route 202 would take us straight to Jubilife City." He pondered between the two before making a final decision.

"Alright! I've decided! Route 202 is where we're heading next. Hopefully we can reach Jubilife City before it gets dark." Daniel told Turtwig, who was up getting moving.

"So let's go!" he shouted.

As Daniel and Turtwig reached the start of Route 202, they were greeted by the magnificent sight of the grassy fields as far as the eye could see and a warm breeze brushed across their faces as they stood, admiring the view; holding their arms out wide, feeling the warmth of the sun beaming down onto them.

"Sure feels nice, huh, Turtwig?" Daniel asked, stood with his eyes closed, enjoying the warmth.

"Wig…" Turtwig said softly as it was now laying on the ground with its leaf glowing a light green, absorbing the sun's energy,

His eyes now opening, Daniel noticed what Turtwig was doing and instantly knew what it was.

"Hey, that's Synthesis!" he said in amazement, "so you can use Synthesis then? That's so cool!" he continued.

"So, shall we keep going? As much as I'd love to take it easy, if we stand around here all day, we'll never get to Jubilife City" Daniel informed Turtwig, who stood up immediately, determined to get to the next city.

As they made their way through the route, they noticed a flock of Starly fly over them and Combee buzzing as they enjoyed the smell of the fresh flowers in the fields on either side of the path the two were walking on.

"Today is going to be a good day, Turtwig!" Daniel stated as he continued walking.

"Twig?" it looked up at him, confused as to why he thinks that.

"Well, there isn't a single cloud in the sky" he pointed out, "not to mention the Pokémon around us are all happy too", he looked down, smiling, to which he received a warm smile back.

"HELP!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a loud scream that echoed though the field, which sounded like a female's voice. Daniel and Turtwig quickly focused their attention on the direction the sound came from.

"Turtwig! You heard that, right?" hoping his Pokémon heard the scream too.

"Turtwig! Turtwig!" the Pokémon shouted back, clarifying it did and telling him they should go help.

"You're right! Come on! We've got to go and help!" and with that, the two ran as fast as they could, cutting through the field to save time and get to whoever was in danger.

"Don't worry! We're coming!" Daniel shouted as loud as he could, hoping to let whoever was there was help on the way.

To be continued…

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review, I'm always open to feedback with ways how I can improve.

Chapter 3 will be coming your way soon!