AN: Okay, I couldn't help myself and posted this early. This part of the story should be checked for errors but tell me if I missed any.
Route 203 was disappointingly similar to route 202. Yun wasn't sure what she had been expecting but it was a bit more adventurous than the same trees, the same grass and more importantly... the same Pokémon.
She sat down at the base of a three with an annoyed huff.
"Oh Reign, how are we ever going to find you a teammate?" She plucked at her ratty gloves.
He just blinked at her silently.
Not knowing what to make of his reaction she knocked the back of her head against the tree trunk loudly.
With a sigh she said. "Maybe we should just move on."
And she was planning to, already pushing one of her knees under her to get up, until she heard a hoarse voice shout. "Hey you! How many badges have you got?!"
A boy, around her age, ran out in front of her with a determined look in his eye.
She narrowed her eyes, trying to size him up. "None."
"Great, me neither! Let's battle!"
League issued rules stated that a trainer couldn't deny a battle without forfeiting the match unless the challenger had more badges. This meant that Yun had to accept or pay up and while she didn't feel like having a battle right then, she felt like handing away her money even less.
"Fine," she grumbled, "go Reign."
"Crush that bug, Cripplequake!"
While his comment irked her, she was appalled to see that the Pokémon he send out was in fact much larger than her Skorupi and crushing him was in a more literal sense than she would have liked. On top of that she didn't know what Pokémon it was. It looked a little like the local Ponyta except brown, with large ears and more robust looking.
"Careful Reign, keep your distance." She instructed cautiously.
"Use mudslap, Cripplequake!"
The creature spat out a blob of mud at high velocity. Reign scampered out of the way just in time and the glob splat apart on the ground. Some of the mud splashed onto his armored body but that didn't seem to affect him much.
"Mudslap, again!"
After hearing it's trainer repeat itself over and over, Yun realized that the large Pokémon only knew one move. Reign also happened to be much faster, which made the horse-like opponent even more predictable.
She instructed Reign to use poison sting a few times. The move had little effect at first glance but as the scorpion sat back and danced around incoming attacks the other Pokémon started to feel the strain of the poison. It started to move slower and its attacks became weaker, until the ground type could hardly lift its head at all.
"Cripplequake, mudslap, dodge! D-do something!"
One last poison sting and it sank through its legs. The boy recalled his Pokémon with a pout.
For just a second Yun got the enjoy the feeling of sweet victory then the boy fished another Pokéball out of his pocket.
"Get our revenge, Breeze!"
Yun felt her heart sink just by hearing that nickname. If her guess was correct that name belonged to a bird. Sure enough, not a seconds later a Wingull appeared on the scene.
They were lucky that it wasn't well trained yet. Like the previous Pokémon, it only knew one attack. Unlike the previous Pokémon this one was faster than Reign.
Over the last week she had learned that her Skorupi had two things going for him. He was fast and he could take a hit. It was the latter that carried him through the fight as he had to withstand one water gun after the other. He once again managed to poison his opponent, albeit with more difficulty than during the first fight, and after a while it made the Wingull's flight sluggish.
Eventually Yun watched the bird sputter and then fall to the ground while she released the breath she had been holding.
She truly thought that was it and was ready to thank Reign for the fight and offer him some rest but then the boy released a third Pokémon before she could even blink.
"It's your turn Izu!" /
Izu turned out to be a Nidoran, a poison type, and Yun wasn't sure if their previous tactic could even work. On top of that her Pokémon was drooping and trembling slightly. Reign was clearly on his last leg.
"Izu, use- hey!"
She recalled him with a grim expression. There was no point in letting her Pokémon faint in a battle that was lost from the start, but it still stung to hand someone their victory.
She looked up to meet the other trainer's determined expression. "Okay, you win." She admitted ruefully.
"Wait what," He said, the confusion evident in his voice, "where are the rest of your Pokémon?"
She shrugged. "I only have one."
He deflated. "Really? You know you should really go and catch some more. One more Pokémon and you could have given me a real challenge."
One more Pokémon and he would have lost, Yun thought to herself while silently handing him some of her money. It was her first loss in a trainer battle and she didn't like the feeling one bit.
"I can't seem to find any I like..." She admitted sullenly.
He flashed her a blinding smile before saying. "You won't find anything worthwhile on the routes, you have to go off the path. That's where I found both Breeze and Izu."
That surprised her, neither Wingull nor Nidoran were rare per se but they definitely weren't often seen around these parts.
"But isn't that dangerous." Her last experience was still fresh in her mind.
He waved his hand nonchalantly. "Not really, just don't let the rangers catch you out there. They don't like it when people without badges go off route."
Maybe they had a reason for that, her rational side reasoned. But the part of her that really wanted an awe inspiring team itched for the opportunity to find more Pokémon.
Still she doubted. "Well, last time I went-"
"And did you die?" The boy interrupted loudly.
"Well, no." Not even close, if she thought about it.
He continued. "If I know one thing, it's that great Pokémon trainers are brave and take risks. Otherwise, be a wimp and stick with the wimpy Pokémon."
She frowned at the implication but couldn't really find any decent counter argument.
All the while he obliviously prattled on. "Would be a shame though, your bug wasn't half bad." Then he waved at her. "Anyway, I have a league to beat so see ya!"
The rest of the day was spend avoiding other trainers like the plague. Reign was not up for another battle until he had enough rest and she didn't want to lose any more money. Eventually she set up camp slightly off route, half hidden by high bushes. Ever since the incident on her first night she had taken to actually putting up her tent, clear sky or not.
It was just a measly pop up tent that she could barely even sit upright in but it was light to pack and at least protected her from falling bugs. And while she usually made a habit of sleeping alone, this time she made a sort of dog bed out of her rain coat, the inside material was soft and padded, and released Reign on top of it. He had barely eaten and barely moved so she wanted to keep an eye on him. A spare sweater was bunched up between the raincoat and her sleeping bag as a sort of barricade.
"Good night, Reign."
A pause.
"Sko." He replied faintly.
It was enough to make Yun smile but even thought she had intended to sleep she spend a good few hours thinking things over. They couldn't keep up with the other trainers with only Reign, today had proven that. They needed to expand their team and she needed to toughen up and make it happen.
Reign was a good fighter, the loss of that battle was on her and her indecisiveness. She fell asleep with a silent promise to finally go after those Shinx.
The next morning Reign was his usual responsive self, which was a relief, and she packed her stuff slightly nervous but mostly excited. Today was the day, she would catch a Pokémon for the first time.
"Alright Reign, I'm heading out."
She exhaled nervously, then recalled her Pokémon. After thinking about it long and hard the night before, she decided it would be better to travel alone. They had been targeted by the Starlies partly because of the ruckus they made but they had kept on chasing them because well... birds ate bugs.
This time she would keep Reign's Pokéball on her belt, an inch removed from her hand in case she ran into trouble. Unfortunately it started raining not half an hour after she departed, making her close her raincoat which effectively covered her belt. On the positive side, most birds took shelter from the rain and stayed in the trees. The heavy downpour kept other Pokémon from running around as well but Yun knew it tended to lure out water types and while she hadn't really been looking for one, she could use one. The first Gym was rock type, which would be a problem for Reign and a Shinx wouldn't help much either.
So she kept walking with an optimistic attitude, typical Sinnoh rain couldn't stop her. She didn't know for how long she had been traveling and the clouds blocked the sun, not helping her sense of time, but it felt like ages before she saw something vaguely blue moving around the tall grass.
Full of anticipation she slowly crept closer to the creature while sliding her bag of her shoulder to grab an empty Pokéball. League guidelines advised to weaken the Pokémon first so it would struggle less but she reckoned if she managed to catch it of guard it might be too stunned to resist capture.
A twig snapped under her foot. Inwardly, she cursed as she saw the Pokémon's head twist her way. This close she recognized it and her heart skipped a beat.
Shinx!
It darted away and Yun scrambled to run after it. This was the opportunity she had been hoping for and she wouldn't let is slip between her fingers. She lobed a Pokéball and missed by a mile as the creature moved in erratic patterns trying to shake her off. The rain was flying in her eyes as she ran and her aim wasn't that great to begin with.
She threw another one but it missed once again. Her breath was coming up short after a few minutes, PE had never been her strong suit, and the distance between them was becoming too large for her to try throwing again. Not wanting to give up she put everything into one final sprint towards the electric Pokémon. It ran to the top of a small hill, giving her a clear view of its position.
Now!
She threw the ball up high with all the strength she had. It flew in a wide arc towards the Shinx while she held her breath in anticipation. Then it bounced off a stray tree branch and was launched sideways. The electric type disappeared behind the hill.
"Oh no!" She moaned while jogging towards the direction her Pokéball had gone. Those things were expensive and she had lost two already. It was laying at the base of a tree and Yun moved to pick it up feeling both disappointed and winded. Right before her fingers closed around the ball, it moved. Her eyes went wide as she watched the Pokéball twitch, once, twice... then it dinged.
For a moment, all she could do was stare at it as the rain slid off her raincoat in small streams. Then she picked it up with cold fingers and fumbled for the release button.
"Fle-e?"
A tiny bird appeared before her, shivering in the rain. It was smaller than a Starly with a grey body and an orange head. But what stood out the most to her was the large black and white tail, almost as long as its body. She tried to recall what kind of Pokémon this was but either she had forgotten or she had never seen it before.
"Uhm... hi? I guess."
It only started to shiver harder in response. She frowned, it looked miserable while wet and on the ground so she decided to return it.
That was unexpected. While a flying type wasn't a bad addition to her team it still covered none of Reign's weaknesses. Yun also had to wonder what her starter would think of a bird in their team.
But those were concerns for later, as the adrenaline died down she finally noticed how cold she was. Her raincoat had kept most of her dry but the bottom of her slacks were soaked as were her shoes.
Setting up a tent in the rain was a pain, even if her tent mostly set up itself, everything was wet and slippery. Still, after a while she was warming up inside, feeling somewhat dry with fresh clothes and socks on. She took the opportunity to check her Pokédex.
The newly caught Pokémon was called Fletchling, native to Kalos which explained why she hadn't recognized it. Birds traveled all over though so it wasn't that uncommon to see unfamiliar flying types.
She studiously read the small bird's entry, finding it odd that it was supposed to have a really high temperature. That was rather unusual for flying types. When she got to the summary information of her Fletchling, she frowned.
It was barely level two, only knew less than spectacular moves and was also weak to rock. At this point she would have to skip the first gym entirely. For a moment she was tempted to head back outside for a water type but felt too tired to get up. Instead she decided to focus on a name. It was male like Reign and she tried to recall the other names she had written down on her list.
While she did remember a good few, nothing seemed to fit like 'Reign' had done for her Skorupi. The sight of the shivering pitiful bird just didn't match with the cool and strong sounding names she had preferred.
In the end, she decided to put off naming him. Perhaps a name would come to her when she got to know him better.
AN: Next chapter, we can start advancing the story, at least it'll introduce some important characters.
