Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies. The characters in this work are all loosely based on those created by Pokemon and its companies, and this story will never by no means be used to make monetary profit or gain.

BLUE'S JOURNAL

The Brawler:

The first champion of Kanto was an Oak.

Before him were days of the wild. The skies, the lands, the seas... Everywhere was full of beasts with elemental powers that obeyed the single rule of the jungle: Survival of the fittest.

And humans were definitely not the fittest. Weak and alone, we were mostly prey, leading the lives of cattle. We did not have the strength to wrestle tyrantrum. We did not have the speed to outrun aerodactyl. And we certainly did not have the claws to fight armaldo. In other words, we were pretty much useless.

But I supposed it was the basic instinct of every living organism to prevent extinction. So we humans used what we had. We numbered up and stood our ground. Stole eggs and sucked on the insides. Fashioned weapons after watching cubone. Skinned the pelt off piloswine to keep us warm. Adapted to our environment. Sometimes even changed it. Put up walls and called the land ours. Built the first settlements in the world.

The people who lived in the place we call Kanto today were the relatively lucky ones. They did not have to deal with months of flood following those of drought like the ones in Hoenn. They did not have to adapt to a fricking desert like the one in Unova, no. As far as I know, Kanto was the first region to establish civilization. Was it easy though? No, it certainly wasn't.

The wild fought back hard. Many settlements were lost, unable to deal with the constant hordes of attacking monsters. From back then, out of all those perished, only seven made it to today - the seven gym cities of mainland Kanto. Each used to be an individual state, until united by the champion.

Similar stories happened all over the world, not just here. The reasoning behind the need of a champion was simple: No matter how advanced humanity got, we were no match for the pokemon. We tried though. We upgraded from our fists to bone clubs, from throwing rocks to bows and arrows. When once we struggled against the ordinary ratticate, we began hunting dodrio with our sheer numbers and weapons. But despite all our efforts, whenever the truly dangerous came out to play, whenever the tyranitar decided to come down their mountains, the gyarados began rageing near, or the snorlax got hungry, it was a massacre. Our walls could not hold them out, our weapons could not pierce their skin. We simply had no chance. So, it wasn't surprising that at some point someone thought "Hey, how about we fight pokemon, with pokemon?"

The crazy thing was it worked. The first eggs we stole, when they hatched, and we trained the younglings, those offspring became stronger than their wild parents. Like some kind of cosmic joke, ironically humans were born with the ability to increase the true potential of these monsters that had preyed on them for centuries, all through the simple act of training. Of course, during said training accidents did happen, here and there a limb would be bitten off or someone would be melted to ashes. Ignoring those, the truth was humans and pokemon were made for each other, a sacred bond existed, one needed the other for protection, and the other traded its freedom for strength.

We got the better end out of this deal, if you asked me.

Continuing my story, the best of these early trainers came out of Viridian. Leonal Oak the First, my ancestor, was the first trainer to command six beasts at once, making him the baddest of badasses out there. Not only was he physically unbeatable, he was also smart, he had a vision of a unified country, a nation of fellow citizens, all safe and thriving with enough land to grow crops and soldiers to protect them.

Leonal tried his best to unite the seven cities peacefully. Some were immediately ready to join this alliance, those like Pewter, Saffron, and Celadon. Some had to be taken by force, it took a lifetime for Fuchsia to surrender. In the end though, we had a unified Kanto. Alas, old Leo was also near the end of his life. That's how the games began, to find the fittest trainer to succeed the first champion.

Kanto prospered under this system, but there was always an Oak who held her hand throughout her rise. It was an Oak that made the voyage to the nearby Cinnabar Island. An Oak founded the Rangers Organization. Another Oak proposed that Kanto and the neighboring Johto kingdom were to merge. An architect Oak designed the Plateau. War, medicine, research, any field that had any significant progress, an Oak was there.

I was proud of my lineage. My ancestors helped the people. I thought it my duty to also help. And the best way to do that was to become the champion. And not only a champion, the champion. I aimed to be the best, like no one ever was. The youngest, the strongest, the one who reigned the longest. Not for my own selfish reasons, unlike someone I knew, but for the people. The honest truth was that I actually cared. For this country. For its people. I was eager to help in the greatest way, which was why I wanted to win this damned championship in the next three years.

A goal that I had to admit looked slightly impossible as I watched my eevee roll around on my bed in my room at Pallet.

It wasn't that I was disappointed, it was just that... well, eeveelutions weren't exactly known as fighters. Sure, there were exceptions, I remembered one of the four in Sinnoh having a flareon, and Karen of our four had an umbreon. But generally, eevee made rare luxury housepets for old women. Or dancers, I thought as I remembered watching the Kimono Girls Show in Ecruteak once.

Then again when opportunity knocks... I opened my deskdex and pulled out the folder I had been updating since my days in training school. My eevee jumped on the table and stared at the giant size screen with wide open eyes.

"Do you know what this is, doll?" I asked. "This is my little side project. You see, I am a bit of a hard worker. I do my homework. You should remember that since you are on the team now. I expect a lot, but not the impossible."

I double clicked the screen. Multiple tabs opened. I began explaining. "These articles right here - all these are second rate stories I pulled from the news over the past years, stories that no one would look twice at. All tell some kind of cheap thriller; mysterious kidnappers in Sevii Three, a haunting in Lavender Tower, etc etc. All of these are happenings with no explanations. To the untrained eye of course."

I was hardly blinking as I began transferring some of the files to my pokedex. "To me, these stories have culprits behind them. Culprits that are most likely pokemon. Pokemon that are strong enough to have done what they've done and cunning enough to have not gotten caught. To me, these stories are potential teammates. And you and me baby, we're gonna go through all of them," I said. Eevee yelped.

I was slightly proud of this plan of mine. Training pokemon was no laughing matter, it took years to tame a wild one. Even then, that pokemon might not be up to battling. The reason why leaders, the four, and the Champion were virtually unbeatable was because of both the experience of their teams, and that their mons were way above the physical average of their species. Natural talent combined with hard work, that was what made good mons. That was why it was hard to find Champions under the age of mid-thirties, it normally took at least fifteen years to build a champion team.

Lance made echoes around the world when he became the youngest Champion ever at age twenty-four. So how did he overcome the lack of battling experience? With lots of fucking talent - with dragons, the strongest pokemon type.

I wanted to be a champion even younger than Lance, so the math was simple. I needed the best mons out there, I needed to convince the deviously smart and incredibly powerful to join my team. Then I needed to train them even more, enough for them to beat the already unbeatable.

I snorted as I thought of how Red was handling himself, wandering aimlessly in the wild. He probably thought he would simply luck himself on a team.

Knowing him, he probably will. Just look - a pikachu that marked him five years ago, now his starter.

Shut up inner voice.

I'm just saying, that guy has killer instincts. I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow tamed the winged legends.

Again, shut up. Also, those birds don't exist.

Says you.

Says me. Which you also happen to be. Me.

I shook my head organizing my thoughts. I saw that the data transfer was over. "Before we roll." I held eevee in my lap and began petting her fur "Two things. First a name. Second, we have to decide on your eeveelution. The sooner is always better with your kind."

I began thinking on names. "I have to warn you, I'm not good at this. I once nicknamed a kid Red and it stuck. I think it's a pretty stupid name, but the guy likes it. Even calls me back Blue, which by the way is a far more awesome color than red. Hey you know the guy too - he was the one with the pikachu back at the lab."

My eevee gave a soft sigh. I chuckled. "Ok, kinda got sidetracked there, I admit."

I gave it a minute's thought, then spoke "Fate. Nah, doesn't roll right. Faith? Too cheesy. We need something that inspires. Hope, maybe?"

The eevee's head rose.

"Yeah, you like that? Don't you think it's too cliche?"

Eevee gave out a long mewl.

"Ok then, Hope it is. Hope." The more I said it aloud the more I liked it. A fitting name for the starter of a future Champion.

"Alright Hope, now all that's left to decide is what to evolve you in." This was more challenging than coming up with a name. An eevee had eight different evolutions, and I wanted the one that would not only suit Hope's natural traits but would also support my team in the best way possible.

"I already know exactly what I want as my final pokemon - it's probably better to go after it waay later. Keeping it in mind, what should you become, what should you become..."

I thought of the two team building strategies, the core and the type. Type could be easier, there was a reason why every leader, four, and champion went with it. Lance: Three dragons, week to ice, adds fire and rock types to his team as a counter. Steven: Three steel types, adds two fossils to counter fire types and a psychic to counter fighters. I bit my lip. I can go with a dark team, I already want one, umbreon can be another.

I went over the transferred files on my dex. In my mind was now a whiteboard where I was pinning the useful, most likely not bogus, information and connecting them with strings. Slowly, I looked upon the shape they built. I didn't like it. Even if all this info were true, a team like this could never make it.

Fine then. Type building was out. Moving on to core building. Cynthia, a dragon-fairy-steel core. Hmm, with a sylveon I would have the fairy covered but I don't think I can train a dragon in three years. The other two cores are water-grass-fire and fighting-dark-psychic. Hope can become five of these six types.

I cleared the board in my head and began reorganizing. It was an agonizing process; eliminating those leads I considered bogus, calculating each possible teammate for each possible type Hope could become, and then finally checking whether or not that team would hold against league pokemon. Luckily, I had inherited my grandfather's brains. I was now working on five different boards in my head. Hope gently bit my hand concerned by my long-time silence. "Hush now, daddy's thinking," I muttered.

Two of the five shapes in my head were not actually bad, but... Something's missing. I wondered if Red was worrying of his team building. Probably not. He trusts his luck and likes to think on the spot more. Thinking of Red made me think of his starter. And thinking of his starter made me think... A sixth whiteboard appeared in my imagination.

Excited, I put my head between my hands. What if... The other boards disappeared as I concentrated on the final one. I could feel the smoke coming out from the gears in my head whirling. I connected the last few pins, and breathless, looked upon my masterpiece.

Magnificent.

If I pulled this off, I would be remembered forever. This was a team impossible, but destined to be. I stood up so abruptly that Hope fell off my lap. "I got it." I grinned. "Let's hit the roads Hope. We've lost enough time already."

I grabbed my travel bag and rushed downstairs to gramps' basement. The door was electronically locked, as if that could stop me. I already knew every password gramps ever used. I entered the numbers and entered the home-made lab he had built. He was kind of a bring-your-work-home sorta guy.

Where is it, where is it, I kept looking over the cardboard boxes he had stored. Finally, I found the one labeled "Evolutionary Stones". I reached in and took the one I wanted. "C'mere, Hope." I strapped the stone to her left hindleg with a band. "Not too tight, is it?" Hope shook her ears.

We walked out of my house. I turned back for a final look before leaving. It had been a year since Daisy left to join the military after finishing her medical training, and with gramps still at work, the house was empty.

A lump sat at my throat for a moment. This has been my home since... Huh. Are those tears? Weird. Gramps had taken it a bit hard when Daisy had left and I knew he still missed her. Wonder if he'll miss me as much? Probably. That's why he didn't say farewell. Hates them. Sentimental old fool.

Hope pulled my sleeves with her teeth.

"Ok, ok." I closed the door. "Let's go."

))(())((

"During Bug-Catching Contest multiple contestants found injured and passed out - their pokemon missing (Click for the list of missing pokemon). Officers suspect assault and thievery. 'Rangers are assisting us in searching the park,' an officer who wishes to remain anonymous states. 'We'll find the culprits soon.'"

"Heh. Good luck with that."

"Record breaking pinsir catch! Eleven-year-old Jonathan Y. catches the largest pinsir ever measured in Johto's National Park. 'I was terrified when it came out - I panicked and threw my ball and bam! It stayed in. Guess I was lucky,' says young Johnny (Click for photo of Johnny and his catch)."

"Oh, come on! Do people really believe a kid just happened to catch a monster like that - that thing is twice my size!"

"Trainer's gloom goes missing in National Park. 'Neither the officers nor rangers care,' cries out owner. 'They think she just wandered off back to the wild. Plums would never do that, she was my starter!'"

"Yeaaaah, I think it's too late for dear old Plums."

"IndigoRangersAssociatian/Reports/YearlyReports/SectionsMtoZ/NationalParkJohto/DownloadFile"

"Fuck yes."

The report was long and boring, but it confirmed my suspicions. There was something fishy going on in the National Park. Nothing too alarming for rangers to investigate, but I bet they would if they had collected old pieces of news like I had. I glanced again at the numbers on the report.

...small migration of Alpha level bugs from section C45 to D05...

...0.045 decrease of Beta level poison types from sections C40 to C49...

...a 0.078 increase of broken nests and fallen trees spotted in between sections C42 and C43...

"An outsider," I muttered. "That's gotta be it." The National Park was one of those few safe and friendly wild areas preserved by rangers. A picnic spot for the family on weekends, a refreshing change for teenage couples bored in the concrete jungle that is Goldenrod, everyone enjoyed the taste of Mother Nature as long as she didn't bite back. The National Park did have a few Alpha level threats - pinsir, scyther, beedrill hives - but they usually made nest near to the center of the ginormous area, away from the edges that were mostly occupied by tourists and visitors.

"There is something at the edge of section C. It's disrupting the natural ecosystem there, but only extremely slightly, meaning our suspect is a single pokemon smart enough to know if it attracts too much attention it will be exterminated," I explained to Hope who was sitting on my lap as we waited our names to be called. The stone I tied to her a week ago was doing its work, already Hope's fur color was changing and her body was growing larger. "It's also a fighter, see how it's driving others away from its territory? The pinsir that Johnny kid caught probably took a beating and was running, that's why it was captured so easily."

The guy next to me gave me a condescending look, probably finding it stupid, me talking and explaining to an eevee. I was going to give him a piece of my mind when I heard my name announced. I stood up and walked with Hope over to the receptionist, a pretty looking blonde looking a few years older than me.

"Mr. Oak, I presume?" she asked, smiling.

"It's either Gary or Blue love, never Mister." I replied, sliding my training's license towards her.

"Pokemon Trainer Blue," she muttered reading my card. Then her eyes widened. "That age can't be right?"

"I know, I wanted to graduate even earlier but they wouldn't let me." I sighed, winking her way. "Something about too much talent too early unleashed."

"Let's hope the world won't be deprived of that talent any longer Mr- sorry, Blue," she said. "Your transport is ready at port number nine. Funny name, though, isn't it? Blue. If I were an Oak, I wouldn't hide my name."

"I wouldn't mind making you an Oak, love."

She blushed. "Enjoy your travels Blue."

"Already am," I said, waving her goodbye as I walked away. Hope made a small "huh" sound next to me. I grinned. "Don't be jealous doll. You know you're my favorite."

We found port nine at the end of the corridor. Aside from us, there was a small family of three, the parents and their young girl, and two elderly men, all sitting in their seats and chatting. The girl who couldn't be more than five or six looked slightly nervous.

"First time porting?" I kindly asked, seating myself across her. She looked up at me and quickly nodded. Then she saw Hope.

"Pretty," she whispered.

"That she is. Would you like to pet her?"

She looked up at her parents, who had stopped talking with the other travelers and were listening in on us. "Umm, it's not dangerous, is it?" the father asked concerned.

"She is not dangerous to little girls, no," I answered back.

That apparently was enough permission for the girl. She jumped down her seat and began petting Hope. Hope licked her face in return. She giggled. "Why is there a rock tied to her?" she asked.

"It's a magic rock," I said. "If it stays in contact with her for a few weeks, she'll evolve."

"What will she evolv-"

Bampf. A small puff of smoke interrupted our talk. A claydol and his owner wearing the standard blue uniform of Viridian Travels appeared.

"Hello, dear passengers!" The captain was a jolly man. "Thank you for choosing Viridian Travels! Let's see, our stops are listed as..." He looked up questioningly as he went over them. "Mahogany Town, National Park, and Ranch MooMoo, am I correct?" We all nodded.

"Then if you would all kindly hold on to Aia here - yes just like that. We'll go once I get clearance." The captain held to his earpiece. The girl looked as if she was going to be sick.

"Don't worry," I whispered lowering my free hand. Gratefully, she held it.

"Port nine is a go. I repeat port nine is a go. Five, four, three, two, one-"

Bampf.

I opened my eyes. We were in a similar room like the last one, except here on the walls it read "Welcome to Mahogany Town!".

"Is it over?" the girl asked. She hadn't opened her eyes.

"It's over sweety," her mom answered. They let go of the claydol.

"Thank you," the girl whispered. I smiled back.

"Next to National Park. Three, two, one-"

We stood in a smaller room than the last ones. Not that unsurprising, since the city stops were busier and required larger space. Hope and I exited. Behind me I heard the now too familiar "three, two, one, Bampf!".

"I hate teleporting," I said to Hope. "Too expensive, and it takes forever to find a seat. But it's still the quickest way of transportation."

A short walk later we were diving deeper and deeper into the woods of Johto's National Park. I constantly checked our location on my dex. "Right now, we're still in section A of the park. This is the outermost ring. We need to go to C. That will probably take about a week. We should try to make the most of it and train you."

I hadn't really gotten the chance to train Hope seriously before. The soonest port to National Park was from Viridian eight days later from the day I had gotten my starter. I had made the journey in five by cycling without any breaks. The next day I had crashed dead tired. The last two days I had been busy buying supplies and netballs.

"This is your first time in the wild since you're a lab mon so don't be scared," I said. In response, Hope rolled her eyes. I continued. "Let's make the most of our time here."

And we did. The following days were exhausting for both of us. We both woke up at dawn after camping the nights. I trained eevee in special agility exercises in hopes of increasing her speed. I also captured two other pokemon, a rattata and a pidgey. I kept them in their balls for now, Hope was still too weak to help me subjugate them, and I dared not let them out for they would most probably escape. I caught them in the first place because I noticed the rattata's fur losing its purple color, and it was close to evolving. A ratticate would be a good training partner for Hope later. As for the pidgey, I hoped to evolve it into a pidgeot I could ride, so I wouldn't always have to spend my Oak family allowance on transportation.

Hope was learning fast. Her body, charged with the energies of the evolutionary stone tied to her, was growing at a noticeable rate. Her brownish fur was almost gone, and her ears were longer and sharper. She didn't mewl anymore, and her growls were more threatening. There were still shortcomings though, her jaw strength was not nearly enough to break even pineco shells, and she was quick to give up when injured. Once a kricketune barely scratched her on the side, and she ran back to me afraid. I forced her to carry on fighting which she did, but later spent the rest of the day sulking behind me.

She isn't a head on fighter, probably never will be. A supporting role is more suited for her in my team, a counter mon. Which is why we need to make her faster. Many teams had failed because their shortsighted owners only wanted the big, powerful pokemon. That was not how team building worked, each mon had a job, each mon was tasked with covering the other's weakness. And I already had a role other than brawler for Hope in mind, so I wasn't that worried about her reluctance to battle.

Detouring a bit, we eventually reached sector C1 nine days later. Another half a day's walk later we were between what my map told us were parts C42 and C43. I found a clearance that looked as if a wailord had rolled over, trees were broken down and tossed aside like nothing, and the ground was covered in large insect carapaces.

"I think it's safe to assume we're near," I whispered. Hope was also tense, she was crouched and growling. "Let's do a bit detective work." Speaking out loud always helped me clear my mind "It's safe to assume some kind of fight happened, between our mysterious pokemon and a hive of..." I kicked one of the shells over to inspect. "Drapion. Ugh, nasty these things. Don't touch anything, their bodies are still poisonous after death." Hope steered away from one of the bodies she was near.

"Hmm, our assailant walked right into this nest. It was looking for a battle, and judging how it left the majority of bodies behind, it killed just for sport. A good time. It didn't even care that the enemies were deadly poisonous, heck, it probably even sought the venom. Looks like we're dealing with a murderous poison junkie."

I was excited, my initial suspicions of the species of this pokemon were proving right. I have a pretty good idea what this guy is now. Let's catch it. I pulled a pair of rubber gloves out of my bag and began piling a few of the skorupi corpses together. Using my matchstick, I started a fire, skorupi still being part bug before evolving into dark were more flammable compared to the adult drapion. I cut off a piece of my shirt and held it over my mouth to prevent inhaling the deadly gas that began rising from the fire. Hope too stood away from the wind direction.

"I have antidotes but I want to save them for later. I think we're gonna need to burn a lot more bodies to lure this guy."

The thick, purplish smoke followed the wind deeper towards the trees. I waited a good fifteen minutes but when nothing happened, I pulled a drapion corpse into the fire.

Coughing, I fell back. The smoke became deeper in color and expanded violently. Even through my mask I could taste the sickening air on my tongue. My eyes were beginning to water. I also heard a vibrating sound above the treetops, probably the bugs which had nested there were now eloping to escape the toxic air. But then I heard the sound I was expecting.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump. Thump.

Power echoed through each step. Thump. Crack. The sound of an unfortunate tree in the way falling. Thump. Thump. Hope's growls grew louder. Thump. It stepped out into the clearing.

It was neither tall nor wide, slightly bigger than me. But I didn't let its size fool me, I knew its body consisted of pure muscle, covered in a thick, blue shell. Its insectoid legs left footprints in the hard ground. The normally yellow eyes were purple, it was breathing deeply, inhaling the venomous air that made its blood boil and mind berserk, easily doubling its already unchallenged strength.

My eyes however were fixed on one thing: The long, bloody, pronged horn on its forehead. The shape indicated it was a male. He locked eyes with me, assessing me as a threat. I reached down and pulled a log on fire. I held it in both hands in front of me.

"Come and get me ugly."

The heracross charged and I barely dodged, I was lucky, the same poison in its blood that made it stronger also made him more wildly out of control. He ran straight to the nearest tree and his horn got stuck. He pulled back once, twice, and the horn came free, leaving a gaping hole in its absence on the tree.

The heracross turned back to face me. Since his initial attack missed, he was steadying himself, trying to face me in a more calmed state. I knew his horn was not the only dangerous part, his clawed fists were powerful enough to knock down a house in one blow. Then again, to use his fists, he needed to catch me.

Taking measure of the burning log in my hand - bugs hated fire -, he tried approaching me slowly. This was actually playing into my hand. I backed up, keeping the distance. A flare of anger passed through his eyes, but he didn't charge again. Instead, we began circling each other.

This was it. A heracross being part fighting would never accept a master unless defeated in combat, a trait few have accomplished. Right now though, I had more than a chance. This heracross was battle worn and willingly poisoned. Poisons worked different on a heracross, they acted as an adrenaline boost and shut down pain receptors, leading to increased physical province and confidence. The heracross in front of me was addicted to the high that venom gave him, but this meant his fall would hit harder. I only had to survive until the poisons worked through his system.

If I can.

"How does all that drapion venom feel?" I asked him while still circling each other. I realized I had no idea where Hope was. "I bet you have some pecha berries stored somewhere, don't you? That's how you operate. Get poisoned. Beat up others while high. Eat some berries to heal and then repeat. The great life." I could see that my human voice was riling up this feral pokemon. Good. That will only make the poison work faster.

"Except you slipped up now. You were on your way to your antidotes after clearing up this drapion hive when you smelled more, didn't you? Thought you missed a few skorupi, eh? But instead all you found was a puny human."

The heracross began crouching ever so slightly. I expected an attack soon. "You could always turn back and heal yourself. But that's not you, is it? You wouldn't retreat out of a fight." I planted my feet and stopped our dance. "Pretty dumb if you ask me."

The shell on his back opened up, showing a pair of wings. At the same time, he lunged forward; head lowered and arms opened wide. With the added speed of his flight, it was impossible for me to dodge him. I tried hitting with the log. He blocked it with one fist and swung me over his back with his mighty horn. For a second, I was raised in the air high, then I landed on my back. I lost my breath as I tried finding my feet.

Too late.

He turned already before I even landed. I saw the two clawed feet coming down ready to squash my head when- Hope. She appeared out of nowhere. Blindingly fast, she hit the bug full body, making him miss my head by a small margin. Distracted by this new enemy, he tried following Hope, but this gave me the time to get on my feet and throw a netball from my belt. The ball hit him mid chest, opened, and then the red light came out trapping him in.

Body aching, I put some distance between the shaking ball and me. Hope also came near me, growling in a deep voice had I never heard before. The ball violently shook once. Twice. And then-

The ball exploded as energy came out of it free. Before the heracross was angry, now it was furious. He gave a great battle cry and darted towards us, the ground cracked under the pressure from his force and I swore I thought we were gonna die, but just before reaching us, he fell on his knees. His eyes were full of hatred as his mouth began foaming. His body lingered a moment, then he fell face down.

No time to waste. Ignoring my pain, I limped towards my bag while Hope grabbed the bug with her teeth and tried turning him up. I took all my pills of antidote and dumped them down the heracross' mouth, force feeding them to him. His body twitched once, then his ragged breathing steadied. I put an ear to his chest, the heartbeat was loud and clear.

Exhausted, I laid on my back. Hope came near and began licking me. In all my turmoil I hadn't even noticed she had finally evolved into her final stage.

"You look beautiful," I said, gasping. She purred. "Seriously, you were amazing. You saved my ass from that beast."

We both looked towards the soundly sleeping, recovering heracross. "Not bad of a first impression eh, what do you think? Do you like him?" I asked. Hope put her nose up in the air. "Aww don't be so picky. We're gonna need him. If he decides to join us." I looked around us. "We should probably put out that fire before the whole forest burns or gets poisoned."

))(())((

The heracross woke up at night. We had just cleared the area of the drapion corpses and had started a regular fire going. He watched us bug eyed for a moment, then sat cross legged across us. I noticed his eyes had regained their normal yellow color.

"Here." I tossed him a handful berries "Pechas. You're probably clean of venom, but hey, they are also delicious, and I don't know about you, but our tussle made me hungry as hell." There was no way of him understanding what I was saying, yet he nibbled on the berries anyway. He drew himself closer to the fire and us, but still kept his horn lowered.

I examined him closely in the light. His carapace had smashes all over the front, but the back of his shell was smooth as far as I could tell. His horn was chipped but looked thick. Without a doubt he was an extremely experienced fighter well above his species' capabilities. All heracross liked tussling, not all went decimating complete nests by their lonesome.

"You are magnificent," I said, awe stricken. "So much raw power, so much violence. Yet wasted." I stood up. His eyes followed me. "Well, thanks for the sport. C'mon Hope let's go." She hopped near me, and we turned our backs aiming to leave. I heard a surprised grunt behind us.

"Well, what did you think? That I was gonna spend the rest of my life here? No, my friend, I have a whole world out there to conquer, one much larger than this small piece of woods you occupy. Oh, almost forgot my bag."

I went back near the fire to pick up my bag. I saw the heracross in a confused state, half-crouching half-sitting, he was looking at me with a blank expression on his face. I picked up my bag. "See you later, keep out of trouble, stay away from drugs."

This time, I was truly aiming to leave, but he suddenly jumped in front of me. Hope snapped her jaw at him, but I ordered her back. Ignoring the giant bug, I tried walking around when a claw stopped me, poking my chest. He had his head lowered, eyes challenging, aiming his horn at me.

"No," I said strictly. "We aren't going to fight again. I beat you. Live with that." I moved again, but he pushed me back again. "No!" This time I snapped. He looked surprised, and even, heh, hurt.

This was my plan of course. I guessed this heracross priding himself on always winning, no matter the opponent, no matter the odds. But he had lost to me. I had seen him fall on his knees. His fighting type pride depended on our rematch. No doubt he could snap me in two in an instant, but where was the honor in doing that to an opponent who wouldn't fight back?

"You. Lost." I heavily accentuated on each word. Then I left.

The cry was ecstatic. I heard a crash, then another. Twigs were snapping. Curious, I turned and saw the heracross gone mad, hitting his body on one tree and another, unable to cope with his defeat. I sighed and walked back. His eyes glimmered with hope as he saw me.

I took out a netball and put it between my feet on the ground.

A minute of silence followed. I could see him connecting the dots in his junkie brain. I was never going to accept a rematch. He would forever live with his shame. Unless...

Unless he joined me. Unless he accepted me as Master. Then his defeat would mean nothing, because if I was the Master, then he was the Pupil, and it was only natural for the Pupil to lose against the Master.

"Stay and live for nothing. Join and be my champion." I tried promising him fresh new battles with my voice, ones where he would be truly tested, ones that this peaceful park could not offer him.

He still stood still.

Hope came near him. She rubbed herself on his legs and stretched. Then she looked up to him, and the two pokemon locked eyes.

I didn't know what sort of message passed between those two pokemon. I only knew that my heart was beating incredibly fast as the giant heracross reached down and pressed the button of the ball with his horn.

I pressed the ball near my lips "Welcome to the team, Invictus."

))(())((

I threw my pokedex hard at the wall.

Luckily, it didn't break.

Here I was, relaxing on my five-star hotel bed in Goldenrod, thinking of how good I had started my training career. My starter had evolved in a mere fifteen days after I had gotten her. I had caught and, uh, almost tamed a second pokemon, a wild monster. My six-member main roster was a third done. My initial plan to assemble a full team within a year and then challenge leaders repeatedly in the following two was going on track. By suddenly appearing a year late with a capable team against whom no one would have the time to prepare, I was hoping on surprising my opponents.

And then this happened.

I could still read the screen from where my dex fell. "Indigo Time Record! Mysterious PKMN Trainer Red Defeats Pewter Gym! Click for details and video."

I didn't watch the entirety of the video - the minute I saw Red feigning horror against Diamondback I already knew Brock lost.

So here I was, lying on my back, watching the ceiling, and thinking, asking myself the important questions of life. Like, if I really was petty enough to change my plan of building a full team first and challenging gyms later, to challenging gyms first and building a full team later, just because my childhood rival had gotten the jump on me and acquired a badge sooner.

Tough call.

Then again it wasn't.

I mean, I did kinda promise Invictus new battles. And I don't think he's the kind of bug that would like waiting. This has nothing to do with Red. It's just practical.

Keep telling yourself that.

Mew damn it, do you ever shut up inner voice?!

Sighing, I took my dex and began dialing.

"Viridian Transport, right? When's the soonest port to Pewter from Goldenrod?"

If he went to Pewter first, he's probably on his way to Cerulean now.

I thought this wasn't about Red.

Shut. Up.

"Also, while you're at it, book me another port from Pewter to Cerulean, about a week after the one to Pewter."

Never are you getting ahead of me again Reddy boy.

Never.

))(())((

Author's Note:

Blue wields a heracross during the championship rematch of the gen 3 remakes of the gen 1 games. Does this mean all of Blue's pokemon will be from that team? No. Though clever readers who have played the games might guess how his team will shape up based on his own explanations during this chapter.

The reason why Blue's heracross, Invictus, seeks poison is my interpretation of heracross' ability in the games, "guts". Basically, it works like this; if a pokemon with guts gets poisoned (also works with any other status condition), its attack will double. It's kind of a risky ability, and in my opinion the constant toxic damage is rarely worth the boost in attack.

Red briefly touched upon this topic, Blue explains it more in detail. The core strategy is real and the three three-type-core teams are fire, grass, water, and steel, dragon, fairy, and psychic, fighting, dark. The reason these three are referred as cores by pokebattlers in real life is that each three type has a counter cycle within, like: psychic strong against fighting, fighting against dark, dark against psychic, you get the idea. I bet most of you in game build a fire water grass core without even noticing, just because how easy these three types counter basically everything.

Confession: I liked writing about Blue more than Red. Blasphemy!

Anyone can guess what Hope evolved to? Hints were dropped all over.

Next chapter Red will finally be in Cerulean and maybe... challenge Misty? We'll see.

Next Update: 25th December.