It didn't take long for the newly-enabled trainers to scatter apart. Less than a minute after Oak gave us the go-ahead I found myself alone in the replica forest. There were plenty of friendly-looking bug type Pokemon wandering in the bushes, but even in my first life I'd known better than to pick one of those as my partner.

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with bug type Pokemon, they're typically Battlers that peak early, but have low potential. If you really want to make it as a battler, you want to pick a Pokemon with high potential, rather than one that grows strong rapidly.

Your first partner is an inseparable bond, after all.

I'd already given it much thought. If I could have a different partner, what would I pick? Flying and Bug types are easy enough to find, normal types are everywhere. If you go to the coastal towns then water types aren't too difficult to find either.

Fire types, however, are very rare. You do find Ponyta in the wild occasionally, but the majority of Kanto's fire types are incredibly hard to find.

But I'm currently in the Pokemon Storage of a rather famous Pokemon Professor. Compared to the routes between towns, or even a lesser Professor's storage, the amount of rare Pokemon I can find here is unthinkable.

And so I pushed through the bushes, ignoring the regularly irregular Pokemon, and looking for something exceptional.

After a few minutes of searching, I came across a Pokemon that certainly was unusual.

A small rat-like Pokemon with a tail that curls up, large incisors and bright blue eyes. A Rattata, but not just any Rattata.

A three-legged Rattata.

Ah, so we meet again.

I must admit that my Rattata was a rather unusual case. His fur was always the wrong colour, a slightly green yellow. Because of that, I called him Yeller. When combined with his missing limb, blue eyes, and his tendency to walk on his back legs, when I first saw him I'd thought I had encountered some rare never-before-seen Pokemon. Unfortunately for all his quirks, he's just a Rattata.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Yeller. He was a good partner who stuck by my side for the entirety of my past life, and a small part of me longs to catch him again, for old time's sake.

But things will be different this time. I have to be better this life, I can't afford to handicap myself like that. Catching Yeller would be walking straight down the path that led to my death. To Red's death, to my mother's death and maybe even to Chee's death... I couldn't do that again.

With a breath I grasped my Pokeball and turned away from him, searching deeper into the forest.

...

It had already been a few hours since I started searching, and the sun was more than halfway across the sky. Even though I had scoured the terrain as thoroughly as I could, I wasn't seeing any rare Pokemon at all. The best I'd been able to find was a Mankey, who beat away my attempts to capture it and ran away.

So now I stood by the side of a lake, staring blankly at the red fish flopping about helplessly in the shallow water in front of me. A Magikarp.

I'm ashamed to say that I was seriously considering catching it.

Magikarp was one of those high-potential Pokemon that I mentioned earlier. But only if you were lucky. If a Magikarp evolves, it becomes an extremely powerful Pokemon called Gyarados. However, Gyarados is not very useful outside of water, as it is quite large and can't move properly on land. On top of that, Magikarp itself is practically incapable of growing stronger without the assistance of an already trained Pokemon.

I shook my head. I can't take Magikarp as my first Pokemon, it's just not a reasonable choice.

Giving up on the Magikarp I pushed past some reeds, and was surprised to see another kid exploring the lake. I genuinely expected everyone else to be done by now.

The boy in question was around my age, with hazelnut brown spiky hair and shining silver eyes. He was wearing a purple jumper and blue jeans which were hiked up to his knees so that he could stand in the water without getting them wet. As I approached he fixed me with a glare and put a finger to his lips.

I froze, and looked down at the ground beside him. Lying in the water was the shell of an incredibly rare Pokemon. Brown with a white rim, the blue body of a tortoise Pokemon just barely poking out of the holes.

A Squirtle!

I couldn't help but be envious of the boy, finding such a rare Pokemon. It looked like he'd been stalking it for a while, waiting for it to fall asleep. Not a bad strategy, it's much easier to capture a Pokemon when they're asleep.

The boy grasped his Pokeball and tossed it with pinpoint accuracy. The ball hit the Squirtle's head, and the creature disappeared into the ball as a wave of blue energy. Both humans held their breath.

-CLICK-

We both breathed a sigh of relief as the ball made a clicking noise, the sound of a successful capture. Yet I couldn't help but frown.

I had no recollection of this boy either, but with a Pokemon like Squirtle, and his catching technique, he should have become a very skilled trainer.

Between this boy and Chee, I was beginning to think I was a very unobservant child. Unless...

Swallowing carefully, I met his gaze. The appearance felt a bit off, but the way he looked at me and the way he caught that Pokemon were very familiar, so I had to ask. "Are you Red?"

The boy's face immediately scrunched up, and his glower went from a general glare to a full-on scowl. "Haah!? Don't go comparing me to that loser!" He growled.

I almost shrunk back in surprise at his response. "Oh, I just-"

"You trying to insinuate something punk?! I'll fight you right here, I don't give a damn!" The boy whipped up the pokeball containing the freshly captured Squirtle.

"W-wait, I don't even have a Pokemon yet!" I defended myself, raising both hands to my head to offer surrender.

The brown-haired boy tilted his head at me for a moment, looking confused. "What about that guy right there?" He asked, gesturing to the space just to my right. I blinked a few times, then looked down.

Standing by my feet preening himself, was a Yellow Rattata with a missing arm.

Yeller.

When did he...? No, more importantly, why is he following me?

I frowned, but shook my head. "No, I haven't caught any Pokemon yet."

The boy frowned, then clicked his tongue. "Whatever loser. Listen up. The name is blue. B-L-U-E. Never make that mistake again! Got it!?" He shouted, and I nodded generously.

Blue spat on the ground and turned to leave.

"Ah wait-"

He fixed me with a final glare, stifling my attempts to speak up. Without a word he looked away again, and left.

I sat in stunned silence for a few moments, before I felt a soft sensation rubbing at my leg. Looking down, I saw Yeller rubbing his face against my leg. He stopped and looked up at me. His eyes were determined, as if saying Don't worry champ, we'll prove ourselves to him later!

Yeah, that's Yeller for you.

But why are you here!?

...

I was too arrogant.

It had been another few hours since my encounter with Blue, and the sun had started to set. Eventually I gave up on getting an incredibly rare Pokemon and started trying to catch any decently strong Pokemon I could get my hands on.

But I encountered an unexpected problem.

I'm really bad at capturing Pokemon!

Come to think of it, in my past life I never managed to catch any Pokemon aside from my Rattata. Even after all those theory classes on catching, I was never able to put it into practice.

It was arrogant of me to think I could catch something rare like a Squirtle or a Charmander in the first place, but why couldn't I even capture a Mankey?!

Actually I'd gotten so desperate that I even tried capturing Weedles and Caterpies, but I just couldn't get them either.

So here I stood, eyes hazy, staring down at the Pokemon I'd rejected earlier. The fish flopped helplessly about in the shallow water. Wordlessly, I took aim with my Pokeball and threw down as hard as I could.

The Magikarp did a backflip and smacked the Pokeball with it's tail, sending it flying directly back into my face. I fell over backwards from the impact, lying on the ground defeated.

"Why...? Not even a freaking Magikarp...?"

As I retrieved the Pokeball from my face, the window reappeared in front of my eyes for the first time in a while.

[Tutorial 1: Catching

- Learn how to Catch a Pokemon. (Complete!)
- Discover a Pokemon suitable to be your partner and capture it.

Rewards: Gain Type Proficiency
Penalty for Failure: Death]

I stared at it in silence for a minute. Then I scowled at it.

"If I've learnt how to catch Pokemon already, why haven't I been able to catch anything!?" I exclaimed to the heavens.

The window refreshed.

[Hypothesis: You are incompatible with your targets.]

I punched the window and it flew a few feet away while fading out.

"Shut up! I refuse to give up!"

I jumped to my feet and slapped my cheeks to focus.

I'll show you the skills I learnt in the military, and I WILL capture a Pokemon, whether they like it or not! First I'll need some reeds and sticks, a few heavy stones...

...

It was well into the night by now, but my trap was already perfectly laid. I sat quietly in one of the trees nearby, covered in mud to mask my scent. I'd stuck bits of foliage to my muddy clothes in order to hide myself, though it was likely unnecessary.

My prey stood beneath the shade of the tree, one of the rarer Pokemon I'd been able to find. A small blue ball with two feet, and a tall blade of grass coming from it's core. The pokemon called Oddish took a few steps, stopping and making a sniffing motion.

Go on, your favourite berries are just over there...

Sitting on a stump not far from my current location was a small berry salad, designed to entice a grass-type Pokemon's palette. The scent was irresistible to a creature like Oddish, and it merrily skipped towards the berries.

NOW!

With a sudden jerk, I pulled the makeshift rope made of intertwined reeds. The ropes pulled out a supporting branch under the pitfall trap I'd created beforehand, and the Oddish let out a shrill chirp as it fell. Wasting no time I tugged the second rope, pulling up a net hidden in the trap and trapping the Oddish.

I quickly jumped down from my hiding place. The ropes weren't very strong, and the net wouldn't hold the Oddish for long, but it would hold it long enough.

I dashed over to the Oddish and threw the Pokeball in it's face. In a flash of blue light, it entered the Pokeball, which fell to the ground with a thunk.

"HELL YEAH!"

I exclaimed, pumping my fist into the air.

Then the Pokeball burst open with a flash of light, and the Oddish skittered away. As if to taunt me, the mysterious window appeared in front of me again.

[Incompatible Partner]

"...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I HAD IT!" I screamed, stamping my foot in frustration. "IT WAS RIGHT THERE! HOW DID IT GET AWAY?!"

I stopped and let out a heavy sigh, sitting down on the grass.

It didn't matter how much catching strategy I used if they didn't stay in the ball. Even when I gave up on getting a rare and powerful Pokemon, I was unable to capture anything. I pulled my legs up in front of my chest, and buried my head in my knees.

I could see it all so clearly. My mother's funeral, the days in the army watching my friends and their partners being mowed down one by one, the pain of watching everyone I know and love die because I wasn't strong enough to save them, and I never was.

"I am a terrible Pokemon trainer." I grumbled. "What did I think I was going to achieve? In my past life I was just some random soldier who died in war. Did I really think I was going to become someone special just because I got a second chance?"

I pulled my head from my knees and looked to the sky. The stars were beautiful, shining their light down on me from above. Among all those stars, how could I ever hope to make any meaningful difference?

"I give up." I whispered.

And then I felt a sharp pain in my left leg. "AGH! OW!" I exclaimed, throwing my leg forward in a kicking motion, and sending the three-legged Rattata who had bitten into it flying a few feet, where he gracefully landed on his back legs.

I blinked in surprise at the rodent. He's still here!?

But the friendly and encouraging expression it had been giving me all day had dissipated, replaced with a distinct glare.

Because he'd been my partner, I knew what he meant as soon as I looked in his eyes.

How dare you give up?!

I growled, climbing to my feet. "What do you know?! How am I going to change anything if I can't even catch a single Pokemon!?"

Don't give up!

"I don't want to give up!"

Then why are you trying to?

I frowned.

Yeller waltzed over to the open Pokeball lying next to the remains of my pathetic pitfall trap, grabbing it between his existing arm and his teeth. Then he brought it over to me and poked it against my feet.

You can still do it. I believe in you. His eyes said to me. If I can get by with a missing limb, you can get by with poor catching skills.

And it was then I realised something I should have understood a long time ago. Throughout all my life, whenever I was down, whenever I struggled, whenever I felt like giving up there was always one guy who stayed by my side, no matter what.

I'll help you find another Pokemon, so don't you go giving up alright?

The Rattata turned and started sniffing about, looking for other Pokemon that it could lead me to. Even now, he was helping me instead of thinking of his own benefit.

That's right, I'd said it myself so many times, but I'd forgotten what it actually meant.

A trainer and his first Pokemon are inseparable.

"Stop." I said softly.

The Rattata stopped and turned to look at me. I kneeled down in front of him and smiled. "You're right. I can't give up now, I need to save everyone."

I looked my old partner in the eyes, holding my Pokeball out in front of him.

"Will you help me do that?"

Yeller's eyes gleamed with excitement. I thought you'd never ask!

And with a flash of blue light, my Pokeball was filled with the Yellow, three legged Rattata-No, filled with my lifelong Partner.

Yeller.

-CLICK-