"What?!" The boy glared at her. Yellow glared right back, daring shin to defy her. "I said tell me your name. I want to know what to call you when reporting you for assault."

The boy spluttered. "You're the one who tied me up!"

"Be quiet! It's the middle of the night!" Yellow whispered at him, trying not to awake her sleeping teammates. She looked at him silently, folding her arms. "And yes, I tied you up. That is why you're going to tell me your name and what you're doing here if you don't want me to knock you out."

The boy blinked at her in surprise at first but seemed to get nervous after realizing that she was not budging. He sighed before looking at her with determined eyes.

"I came to challenge you."

...

...

"Eh?"

"And-And your friends too of course." The boy added, nervously chuckling. "I was actually waiting for some newbie trainers to battle with."

Yellow frowned. "So you're here...for a Pokémon battle?" She guessed with a confused expression. The boy lit up. "Exactly!"

Yellow frown deepened. "And exactly why, Mr. Samurai, did you think it's a good idea to challenge us in the middle of the night?"

He chuckled awkwardly,"I...actually didn't think that one through." He looked away in embarrassment. "I just wanted to battle as soon as possible..."

Yellow sighed, resting a hand on her hip with the other on her forehead. She shook her head slowly massaging her forehead to get rid of the possibly incoming head. "That doesn't-" She sighed and continued with a lowered voice. "Even make any sense. Are you stupid?"

"Hey!"

"I said be quiet! My friends are sleeping!" She snapped, trying to keep her voice low.

"Too late for that."

Yellow spun around to see Red and Blue sitting up in their sleeping bags. Blue gave a tired wave to the two while Red yawned.

Yellow's head snapped back to the guy with an intense glare and he squeaked. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay Yellow." Red said getting up. "It's only a few hours until we have to awake anyway."

Blue rubbed his head with a grumble, following Red to walk up to Yellow,"Speak for yourself."

They looked down at the guy. "What was his name again?" Blue asked, voice full of exhaustion and eyes showing no interest.

Yellow shrugged,"Don't know."

Red waved his hand,"It doesn't really matter anyway." He walked over to the metal sword and picked it up. The tied up boy squeaked with wide eyes as the object crushed itself into a ball.

He looked at Red with wide eyes,"You-"

Red looked at him blandly. "Speak of this and you'll end up like the sword."

The boy rapidly nodded. "It's-It's okay. I have more at home anyway."

"Bring those near us and I'll break those too."

As the boy squeaked again in fear, Blue and Yellow sighed. He said it was okay yet was still ticked off about being woken up.

Blue turned to Yellow. "What did he want again?"

Yellow's eyes brightened as she remembered,"Ah! He said he wanted a Pokémon battle with all of us."

"No." Red was already walking back to his sleeping bag. "I'm not interested."

"Wha-?"

"Sorry." Yellow smiled at him apologetically. "Me either."

Blue himself looked the boy over once then grinned. It was a bit smaller than usual because of the drowsiness. "Sure, I'll battle you."

"Great! So we can-"

The boy paused as he saw the two getting back in their sleeping bag while Yellow went back to leaning against the tree trunk with her notebook.

"Aren't you guys going to untie me?"

Yellow looked up from her book with a confused frown. "Of course not? We can't trust you."

"Don't worry." Blue's voice came from his sleeping bag. His next words were said in the middle of a yawn. "We'll still have our battle."

"What?! So I'm just gonna stay here until our battle?!" He shouted in shock.

Yellow nodded with a bright smile,"Mm!" Her eyes moved to Bulbasaur. "You can do it, right Bulbasaur?"

"Bulbasaur!" The Pokémon smiled brightly.

"You're so sweet! I promise I'll try to get some good desserts for you in Pewter!" She promised cheerily.

The boy sighed as he tried to make himself comfortable enough to give himself the ability to wait some hours. He clearly got himself caught up in a sadistic group of kids.

The samurai blinked awake from the sound of Yellow cooing over her Bulbasaur. It was looking pretty exhausted and he thought that it must not have slept at all since it tied him up.

Speaking of tying him up, he moved and sensed no resistance. He looked down at his body to see no vines and smiled widely.

"Ah, Mr. Samurai." Yellow smiled softly at him. "Good morning. We're having breakfast."

The boy blinked at her. "We?"

"Yes?" Yellow picked up Bulbasaur in her arms before cocking her head. "You didn't think we'd leave a guest to starve now did you?"

The boy couldn't help the expression he adopted at that statement. They had tied him up just the night before.

"Anyway." Yellow began after not getting a response. She moved to place Bulbasaur by his dish. The frog descendant slowly started to eat. "We're having French Toast Sticks and eggs if that's okay with you?"

"Oh-oh of course." The boy scratched his head as he stood and make his way over to where the others were. They kidnapped him and now they were offering breakfast?

"Good morning." He greeted the other two boys.

"Morning." The blacked haired one said without looking up from where he was sharing the sticks using a tong.

"'Sup." The brown haired one gave a grin. It seemed more passionate now that he was well rested.

He bowed his head a little when the boy put a plate of breadsticks in front of him along with a glass of milk. "Thank you."

"Of course." They all sat down and started eating.

/

"So Sammy..." Blue began, turning to him with a grin.

"It's Samurai."

Blue didn't seem to notice the correction. "You ready for our battle?"

"No."

"Pfft!" Yellow covered her mouth while Red gave an amused huff. Blue blinked at him, bemused. "What? What do you mean you're not ready?"

"I have to get my Pokémon."

"Why were you walking around without your Pokémon?" Blue questioned.

Samurai blinked at him. "I was excited to challenge you and I accidentally left them there." He said.

Yellow hummed, definitely suspicious. "You, in your excitement to declare as you say it, war, upon us, forgot the very thing you needed in order to actually participate in the the war?", She asked for clarification.

The boy simply nodded. "Yes."

Yellow looked to Red with a glance but when Samurai followed her gaze, he froze slightly when he caught Red staring at him. Red looked away, releasing an amused breath. "He's alright."

Before Samurai could ask what that meant, Yellow nodded and turned back to him. "Lead the way then!", She said with a smile.

/

"I'm still wondering." Blue said as he ducked under a tree branch. He folded his hands behind his head as he continued walking. "Why the hell did you enter our camp with a sword?"

Samurai kept his lead, weaving through the trees seamlessly. "I was testing your merit. It is my way to see if you were a worthy opponent."

"And you'd accomplish that through a sword fight? Then why you would challenge us to a Pokémon battle?" Yellow shook her head. "I'm struggling to see how the two relate."

It was Samurai who now shook his head. "All forms of battle can be rooted back to the blade." The boy said with a bit of passion. "If you cannot take up arms yourself then you are not worthy to lead Pokémon into battle."

"Ah..." Blue made a soft sound of understanding while Yellow cocked her head. Red himself couldn't help but frown a little. It was a flawed point of view but he could see where he was coming from. A lot of weak willed individuals hid behind the strength of their Pokémon.

He too hated people like that but if he was stuck as a normal human in a world of supernatural, he would also be scared to fight them head on by himself.

He sighed internally. As much as a conversation about it would be interesting, he would not argue with the man about his ideals. He was a bit foolish, but his heart was in the right place.

"And here's where I live." They followed Samurai as he walked up to the small log cabin.

"Impressive." Blue looked at the structure as they followed the boy inside. "Did you build this?"

"Me and my Pokémon, yeah." He bent down to a red napsack and took out two pokeballs.

"So you ready for our battle?"

/

Blue and Samurai quickly agreed on the terms of the battle. Two on two, single and no rotations. Yellow played the part of a referee.

"Everyone ready?" Yellow asked, glancing between both of them with an arm raised in the air.

When they both gave firm nods, she brought her arm down. "Begin!"

"Pinsir!" "Squirtle!"

The two of them were in sync.

"Time for battle!"

Squirtle and Pinsir emerged out of their pokeballs, landing in their place forward of their trainer.

"I've challenged many Pallet Town kids in the past few days and have claimed victory against many of the Kantonian Starters in their possession." Samurai smirked. "You can't win."

"Is that so?" Blue drawled. He looked down at Squirtle. "You hear that girl? He's calling us weak."

Red huffed a little in amusement as Squirtle snapped her jaws at the Pinsir threateningly. The stag beetle didn't seem bothered in the least, peering at the water type impassively.

He flipped to the next page of his book, content to wait until the actual battle started. Trainers liked to psych each other out before attacking. Red found the exchange of words meaningless so whenever Blue had dragged them to watch league matches with him, he tuned out the talking.

"Just start already!" Yellow herself seemed to get impatient.

Blue rubbed his head,"Jeez fine."

"The battle is beginning Charmander." Charmander looked up at him but he just gestured to the field. "Watch." He kept his voice a little more quiet as Bulbasaur curled up beside him sleeping, still tired from staying up. "You learn more from observing than you think."

Pichu, who was a fair distance from the both of them also heeded the advice, it's eyes intensely scanning the field.

On the field, Blue took the first move.

"Squirtle, use Water Gun!"

"Dodge and use Vice Grip!" Samurai shouted with a determined frown.

His Pinsir charged, breaking left around the beam of water while its pincers turned a light green. The intimidating claws reached to snatch up Squirtle.

"Withdraw!" Blue shouted urgently.

Squirtle was picked up between the jaws of Pinsir. Samurai smirked,"Slam it again and again!"

Blue gritted his teeth as Pinsir obeyed the action. He knew what had to be done to get Squirtle out of there but it would risk them at a least a couple seconds of vulnerability after.

As he heard Squirtle actually cry out from inside his shell, he clicked his teeth. It was better than sitting around waiting away.

"Squirtle! Use Rapid Spin!"

It took a few seconds but soon, Squirtle's shell began to spin and it forced its way out of the Pinsir's jaws. It landed a few feet away from the bug, dizzy.

"Now's our chance, Tackle!"

Pinsir wasted no time in charging for the Squirtle. Squirtle cried out in pain as it was thrown into a tree.

"Tackle again!"

Pinsir charged again and Blue's fists tightened. Squirtle could only take so many Tackles before it fainted.

He gained a spark of hope when Squirtle seemed to come to awareness. But it was too soon for Squirtle to be moving around and Pinsir was still charging.

"Water Gun Squirtle!"

The starter headed the order immediately and fired a blast of water from its mouth. It hit Pinsir straight on.

"Don't give up Pinsir!"

Pinsir dug its feet in the ground, trying to withstand the water.

"Power through!"

Pinsir took a step forward.

"Don't let up Squirtle!"

Squirtle increased the pressure. It slid Pinsir back a little but the stag beetle dug its foot deeper. It then started to take slow steps to get closer to the turtle.

It took one step.

And another.

One more.

Then a fourth.

The process was repeated until Pinsir was close enough to swipe at the Squirtle, throwing it across the field.

"Squirtle!" Blue yelled in alarm.

A low thud and Samurai's voice mimicked him with a cry of his own Pokémon name.

They waited a few seconds before Yellow walked over to check the Pokémon. She walked back to the side.

"Both Squirtle and Samurai are unable to battle. Release your final Pokémon."

The two opponents recalled their fainted Pokémon. They each took a next pokeball.

Samurai stared at Blue intensely. "I'm afraid this ends now. You can't beat my ultimate battler."

Blue matched his stare. "We'll see."

"Begin!"

At Yellow's call they both released their Pokémon. Blue's Pokémon was Spearow and Samurai's was...

Metapod.

Samurai smirked as the other three blinked at the immobile cocoon. "Shocked right?" He laughed boisterously. "It's better to give up now!"

Spearow looked back at its trainer with a glare. Back when it just left its flock, this Pokémon was its easiest thing to prey on and survive. Did he really think it would pose a challenge to him?

Blue scratched his head. Maybe he shouldn't underestimate it?

He pointed to the Metapod weakly. "Use...Wing Attack?"

The Spearow squawked, looking shocked at his trainer's cruelty but Blue only shrugged unsurely. It sighed before turning to its opponent. Internally apologizing, Spearow took to the skies.

Samurai just smirked. "Harden!"

Metapod's shell began to glint in the light just as Spearow struck. It flew threw the air smoothly to land back in front of its trainer.

As it did, Metapod remained still.

"Is it...ok?" Blue asked.

As Yellow went to check, Samurai laughed,"Of course it is! When my Metapod was a Caterpie, it took out many trainers alone! It's even stronger now that it's evolved."

Red couldn't help but raise a brow while Blue and Yellow looked to each other. Did no one tell this guy that that's not how it worked?

Blue saw Yellow looking at him while gesturing to Samurai and he sighed. Why him?

"Look Samurai, some Pokémon-"

"You don't have to say anything! I understand." He smiled at him kindly, with a touch of pity. "You want to forfeit right?"

Blue frowned, wondering when he gave any idea that he wanted to. "Of course I don't want to forfeit. I'm trying to tell you that your Pokémon fainted."

Samurai paused. "...What?"

Yellow sighed, standing up from beside Metapod. "He's telling the truth Samurai. Metapod is unconscious."

Samurai's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But how?"

"Some Pokémon..." Blue began to explain. "Like the Caterpie line, go into a cocoon state in their second stage. It renders them immobile and almost completely vunerable. In this stage, the most Metapod can do is harden. So if a Pokémon like Spearow, lands a powerful move before it gets to raise its defense, it will most likely faint."

A pause.

"Oh."

Blue nodded slowly. "Yeah..."

Yellow watched Samurai from the side, gauging his reaction.

"So how does it get to evolve? It can't train like this."

Blue shook his head. "No but Metapod had already stored we got when it was just a Caterpie. Battling and gaining strength just speeds the process up." He shrugged. "That's the way it is for most Pokémon. But since it's a Bug type, the process is faster. It usually takes two to three weeks for a Metapod to evolve without battling."

Samurai perked up. "Oh, so I'm expecting an evolution any day now." He recalled his Metapod. "Thank you for that lesson. That really helped clear things up."

Blue nodded as his Spearow flew to land on his shoulder, wary not to shake too much and risked getting nicked by its claws. "Sure."

Yellow returned to the side. "Metapod has fainted and Spearow has won. Which means Blue is the victor of the match."

Samurai and Blue walked to shake hands and Samurai handed Blue the victory money. One hundred and twenty dollars.

"Thanks for a good match."

Blue smirked. "Anytime."

/

The group had finally made it out the forest with tall trees fading into low cut grass.

"Finally." Yellow sighed. "I thought we were gonna be in the forest forever."

"Don't be so happy yet." Blue said, looking at the sky. It was nicely faded blue with orange becoming bolder from the bottom as the sun set. Scattered across the view were a few shapely clouds. "The sky's been weird these days. It rained when we first reached Viridian and rained the night we left."

Yellow frowned as she was reminded. "It was so cold." She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. "And wet."

Red nodded along. "We do need to consider investing into some tents. We'll get ill if we continue like this."

"I don't even get why it's raining so much." Blue shook his head. "It's only a few days til June!"

Red shrugged. He wouldn't know.

"We'll have to be more careful though." He looked around their surroundings as they walked. There weren't many trees, and even those which were spotted, were quite short. "We don't have much coverage out here."

Blue smiled a little, raising his arm behind his head as he sighed happily. "At least there's more space for training."

Yellow rolled her eyes, folding her arms with the same movement. "Of course that's what you care about."

"What's wrong with training?"

"Nothing's wrong with it. I just think-"

Red sighed as they dived into another bicker session. He looked to the Pokémon at his feet as it sighed in union with him. It had a strong preference to be outside of the pokeball unless it was an emergency. So even though the Pichu seemed to be getting tired but Red knew it would be too stubborn to even mention it to him. He turned to his friends to interrupt their argument.

"Can we stop here for today?" He asked. They both blinked at him as they paused. "I'm feeling a little tired."

They both blinked at him, glancing at each other briefly both having the same question in their head. Red is actually prone to overworking himself and ignoring his exhaustion if it got him even a little farther in his task. Why would he want to stop when they only just left the forest?

Blue caught the sight of the slightly panting Pichu standing by Red's feet. He nudged Yellow who yelped a little before quieting down when she saw Pichu.

Pichu caught unto their stares but before it could register the situation too much, Yellow nodded at Red. "Ok! I'm tired too."

Blue nodded, tacking on a yawn for good measure. "Me too." He rubbed his belly. "I'm hungry too. What's for dinner?"

Red rolled his eyes, ignoring Pichu's stare directed at him. Since they're stopping early, they could afford to indulge themselves. "Stew."

If you asked Blue if he was happy to reach Pewter City, he would say yes. Camping in the wild was hard, thank you very much.

But if you asked him if he was ready to be in Pewter City?

He would still say yes.

Because as much as he was nervous for his first official battle, he would not turn away. Being nervous would not make him a coward.

"You okay Blue?"

Blue was snapped out of his thoughts by Yellow's worried voice. He turned to his friends to see them both looking at him. "Huh?" He said intelligently.

"You were doing that thing that you do when you're nervous." She explained.

Blue frowned. What thing?

"You frown a lot when you're nervous." Red informed him. Yellow cocked her head,"You didn't know?"

"Why would I know tha-?" He shook his head. That was just an easy way into a nonsensical argument. "I'm fine."

"Is it the gym battle?"

Blue looked at Red blankly. When the boy didn't break his stare, Blue rolled his eyes. "Yes, it's the gym battle." He waved his hand dismissively. "But I'm gonna be fine."

"We know." Yellow stated and Blue glanced back at her. He didn't get to meet her eyes as she and Red began to walk to the city. "We were just checking."

Blue sighed and he only barely managed to stop himself from running a hand through his hair. Even his friends weren't worried for him. He was just psyching himself out.

"You coming?" Red's voice penetrated his thoughts. The boy raised an eyebrow at him and Blue nodded before jogging to catch up.

"Let's go."

/

When they finally stepped foot into the city, the sun was beginning to set and the crowd that would be present in a city was nonexistent.

Yellow stretched as she yawned. "Finally! I can..." She tried to blink away the rest of her exhaustion. "Sleep in a warm bed. Oh cra-!"

Blue caught her arm, tugging her back on her feet before she fell. Yellow sighed in relief. "Thanks." She looked at the stone that she tripped over. Several other stones of various sizes where laying around the area. "Who left these rocks lying around? Someone could fall."

"Those are my rocks."

The children all startled at the gravelly voice that answered Yellow's question. Looking over the area where the rocks lay, was a man. He was of a short stature and slightly dark skin. He had on blue jeans and a sleeveless orange top. They were both riddled with dirt stains. His hair was matted and to his shoulders with a red beanie slapped on in an effort to cover it up. The man, for a lack of better words, looked homeless.

Blue took notice of the sign by the man and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You sell rocks?"

"Yes." The man turned to him. "You buying?"

"No thanks." He replied quickly. He saw Pichu hopping on a rock to sniff at one of the smaller ones. "Why do you sell rocks?"

"Pewter City is a place of stone." Blue wasn't any less confused and the man surely knew it as he scoffed. "Souvenirs." He said. "If you're not buying, leave."

"O...kay?" Blue turned to his friends to see them curiously looking at a stone Red had in his hands. His Pichu was straining on its tip toes to sniff at it but appeared confused on what it was.

"What's wrong?" He asked them but Red stood up at that moment to walk up to the man.

"I'd like to buy this."

Blue blinked.

What?

/

"Are you sure about buying that rock Red?" Blue asked as they approached the Pokemon Center. "That man seemed pretty suspicious."

"Positive." Red replied easily. "Pichu didn't think it was a normal rock. There might be something inside."

"Like a gem?" Yellow asked with pep in her voice.

Red shrugged. "Or something? But Pokémon usually have good instincts on things like these so I trust Pichu."

Said Pichu could only gape at him in surprise while walking but no one seemed to take notice as Yellow chose that time to whine.

"Aww...I should have let Bulbasaur out too."

"You could go back tomorrow you know?" He walked through the entrance first as the doors automatically opened. "He'll probably still be there."

"Hello. Welcome to Pewter City's Pokémon Center." Nurse Joy greeted them as they walked up to the counter. "How can I help you?"

"We'd like to schedule a check up for our Pokémon and three rooms please." Yellow spoke for them.

"My apologies but we currently have no available single rooms and the rooms with the lowest occupancy is double rooms. Would you still like to book a room?"

"Yes please."

"Okay." Nurse Joy clicked around on the keyboard. "May I see your IDs?"

They all handed her their IDs and she began registering them. "Oh? Red, Blue and Yellow, what a coincidence."

The trio met eyes before turning back to the nurse. "Coincidence?" Blue asked.

"Yes." Nurse Joy smiled at them. "Three of the packages that arrived two days ago were to be delivered to you." Faster clicks came from her mouse. "Ah! Here. The senders are Delia Ketchum, Samuel Oak and Mary Fiore. Are you aware of these names?"

Blue nodded. "Yeah, they're family."

Nurse Joy nodded. "Okay, I'll just send them to your rooms." She looked back up at them as she paused. "If that's okay with you?"

"Of course. Thank you Nurse Joy." Yellow said. The lady smiled at her, handing them back their IDs. "No problem." She grabbed a tray from the side to lace it on top of the counter. "If you'd place your pokeballs in here, I will give them that check up and have them back to you as soon as I can."

They complied easily with the command and after they were given their keys, they each went to their rooms.

Blue's room number was 205. He opened the door to see someone already occupying one of the beds. "Skyla?"

The girl spun around, long hair flowing with the action. Her eyes were widened in surprise. "Blue!"

He chuckled as he walked up to her and they hugged briefly. "Nice to see you again."

"You too." Skyla sat down back on her bed while Blue moved to the one not far from it. "I was worried when Nurse Joy called and informed me that I was getting a roommate but I'm glad it's someone I recognize." She picked back up her pen and notebook. "Are your friends here with you?"

Blue nodded. "Yeah. Red's in 115 and Yellow's right beside him. I drew the short end of the stick and ended up here."

Skyla nodded. He caught sight of bright green peeking out of the sheets. "Is that a Pokémon?"

"Oh, Chespin?" Skyla nodded and lifted the blanket a little. It revealed a small Pokémon who shifted uncomfortably at the loss of warmth, reaching blindly for the blanket. Skyla giggled and rested it back down. "Chespin's my starter."

"How'd you get a Chespin though?" Blue asked another question. He should be getting ready for bed but was too curious to stop. "They're rare enough in their native region alone."

"Oh, it wasn't caught here." Skyla explained. "Chespin was given to me as a gift from my father. But I still couldn't battle as the age restriction in Kalos is 14 and over. Dad knew I wanted to pursue battling so when my aunt came to visit he said move here in Kanto with her so I could start earlier."

Blue nodded slowly. "That's why you said you were a trainer for a month. I was confused since the season just started."

Skyla giggled. "Sorry."

The comfortable silence with the exception of Chespin's snoring continued.

"So..battling. You had your first gym challenge yet?"

Skyla's eyes seemed to darken and her smile dropped a little. "Yeah, didn't go too well. We were completely crushed by Brock even with the type advantage."

Blue winced. "Planning on trying again?"

Skyla chuckled wryly. "Not anytime soon." She shook her head slowly. "You should have seen it Blue. We were like flies to him. He swatted us away like something to be forgotten." She covered her face. "It was so humiliating. I feel sorry for anyone who challenges him."

Blue only chuckled awkwardly.