Chapter 1 - No Rest for the Lazy
Slub stepped off the air-balloon style basket that was strapped to the Skarmory's legs.
He walked out onto the parking lot. A woosh, followed by the cry of "Eeeeee" behind him meant he was on his own, with no way back… For now, at least.
There were definitely some deserted highway vibes in the air. Warm asphalt and dust as far as the eyes could see. Slub was standing on a row of nearly empty parking lots and noticed a distinct lack of anything resembling even the most crude facsimile of a welcoming party. Not that he was particularly fond of parties of any sort, but he was less a fan of being stranded roadside with no idea where to go.
"Why did he drop me off here, or all places?" Slub wondered, pondered and then briefly considered.
There must have been spots for hundreds of cars at some point, but only a few were parked there now. On one side was the old abandoned highway with a bus stop. On the other side of the parking lot was what appeared to be an ancient strip mall. The shops all looked rather dilapidated, although some were open and had signboards outside flopping back and forth in the wind. Slub noticed some seedy characters moving between the shops and their old gasoline automobiles. He began trudging along to ask for directions to Thaddeus', but he had barely taken a step before he spotted a ball of brown dusty branches rolling towards him at a tremendous speed before crashing into, and latching on to, his leg.
"Ow," Slub said, as the ball grasped his lower leg. Even with trousers covering it, the thorny branches still hurt a lot.
"Ku-Saaaaah," the ball of twigs moaned in a peculiar voice.
"That doesn't feel right..." Slub said. He looked down at the bush that had struck and was now stuck on him. It almost seemed… alive.
Suddenly, the ball of twigs spun around, lashing out at Slub's leg with thorny branches. In an instant his trouser leg was shredded and he yelped in pain. He tried to kick it off, but it clung on stubbornly. He grabbed his suitcase and swung it down with all his might, but the twigs only dug in deeper.
"Help! I'm being accosted by twigs!" he shouted, flopping onto his back and kicking wildly.
He tried pulling it off, only to get stung. He tried to crawl away but it was totally stuck and now his knees were ravaged by the asphalt.
"Help!" Slub shouted again as he flopped over on his back and tried to drag the thing off himself. Even as he was crawling to get some distance by scraping it off via the road surface it wouldn't get go. Any attempt at dislodging it, seemed to just dig in even harder.
"Go! Away! Go…" He shouted.
Suddenly, a red flash shot from his chest area and Magmar appeared before him, having leapt from its Poké Ball.
"Boooo-Baaaah!", it cried. Magmar looked on to the scene of Slub on the ground, his leg being enveloped by thick living branches. It squinted, trying to make sense of the scenario that was playing out on the ground.
"Bo?" it quacked and scratched its beak.
"I don't know, just do something!" Slub screamed.
Magmar cracked its knuckles, did a little hop and struck the twiggy ball with what Slub assumed was a Fire Punch, being that it used its hands, or fists, to throw a punch, and Magmar being Magmar, the fire part was par for the course. The ball of twigs, which Slub only just now realized had a pair of floating eyes inside it, which wasn't ominous at all, flopped away like someone had lit a beach ball on fire and it began rolling in circles, trying to put itself out, again as if said beach ball was now caught in a small whirlwind.
"What IS that?" Slub said but before he was able to get a closer look, or even get up, he heard a vaguely familiar voice shout something.
"Catch!" someone said, as a blue Poké Ball hit Slub square in the forehead.
"Ow!" Slub said, as was quickly becoming a thing.
He picked up the orb. It was blue with red stripes on each side. The red bits looked raised, but were actually just a slightly different texture. While the catching and training of Pokémon had never interested Slub, he wasn't stupid. Merely, somewhat inept at worst. He knew it was a Great Ball. Formerly known as a Super Ball, but they weren't allowed to call them that anymore after the lawsuit.
"Throw it, nephew. It's wide open!" the voice yelled, breaking Slub's trance like state.
His eyes went to the Great Ball, and then to Magmar with its intense pink flames flaring nearly twice as tall as usual as it stood before its, also burning, foe.
"Alrighty then," Slub said, got to his feet and threw the Great Ball in the general direction of where there was a lot of fire and branches.
The Great Ball flew through the air and as it hit the pile of burning twigs, the fire went out as any solid bits shrunk down to be encapsulated by the orb. The ball fell to the ground and began shaking intensely for about five seconds before making a satisfying thunk, the button on the ball went from red to white and it lay there.
"Congrats, Slub, you just caught yourself a Bramblin!"
An older middle aged man with a lot of denim on denim, a black shirt with what looked like a fossilized skull and a headband holding up a long silver gray mullet gave Slub a pat on the back.
"That, nephew, has got to be the single worst successful capture of a Pokémon I have ever seen in my life. And I once saw a man try and hunt for a shiny Feebas on Route 119 for a solid two weeks way back when."
"Yeah, I don't know what that means," Slub said, trying to assess the damage to his person, clothing and luggage. It was, in order, painful, notable and catastrophic.
"Ahh, you'll get there before you know it," the man whom Slub recognized as Uncle Thaddeus said.
"I'd rather not actually, if that's OK," Slub replied absent mindedly as he began picking thorns out of his knees.
"Ow… Ow…" The thorns were not only painful, but seemed to carry a sort of ominous energy within, leaving purple and black marks where he'd been stung. Was he poisoned? Was he going to succumb once his health ran out?
"Do I need to get this looked at?" Slub asked looking at the purple sores on his hands from trying to pull Bramblin off of his leg.
"Ahhh, it's fine. I probably have something in my 'cabinet of fun'." Thaddeus muttered.
"Goodie…" Slub sighed, scratching his skin feverishly.
Slub assembled the luggage that had violently left his suitcase in the scuffle, including his now obliterated laptop. Magmar went back to its ball and also, albeit reluctantly, Slub picked up the Great Ball and handed it to Thaddeus who pushed it back onto Slub's bandolier.
"Sorry if I'm being reluctant towards keeping the twig creature that attempted to consume my flesh, on my person, Thaddeus," Slub said, trying to walk and talk without inadvertently triggering the Bramblin to leave its round abode.
"Nah," said Thaddeus. That Great Ball will keep it locked away until you're ready to train it. Make sure you train it in a safe place though, don't go unleashing it in the middle of the street," Thaddeus laughed. Slub didn't.
"You got yourself some nice coverage already. Magmar's a robust Fire Type and Bramblin there's a Grass/Ghost type. You can do some serious damage with them. If nothing else, you just need a Water Type Pokémon to round out the trifecta."
Slub considered replying, but couldn't be bothered. Also, he wouldn't have known what to say.
Thaddeus began explaining a long-winded train of thoughts.
"There's a lot of ground, water and poison types around here. Alongside their starters, most kids usually catch a Wingull or a Zigzagoon or a Sandshrew as their first 'mons so if you manage to snag yourself a flying or a ground type you can probably make quite a name for yourself in the battles around here. That Bramblin's a really good place to start."
"Uhuh…" Slub mumbled, barely paying attention.
"Even a low level Pokémon can knock out an opposing Pokémon with sufficient type advantages," Thaddeus continued.
"Yes, isn't that always the way, what a concept," Slub groaned.
He didn't feel like arguing anymore, so he let Thaddeus hold his lecture as they trekked to his shop which doubled as Slub's new home.
This fact hadn't sunk entirely in before he stood before the shoddy brown building with broken windows, and an intense smell of what could generously be described as, 'herbal'.
"Oh no…"