[PKMN FULL] (IC) Crossroads ; A Johto Story - ACT I

Aberdeen
chapter 2 : Route 31

For having been one of the last trainers to enter the pokémon center last night, Aberdeen woke up at an ungodly hour. The sun was just up and the cafeteria downstairs was just starting to brew some coffee. The 14 year old boy waited rather impatiently for a hot cup to be served to him while he ate some breakfast in the still rather empty area. As he chugged the black liquid gold down, he bought some cans of food that was more suitable for pokémon wanting to grow healthy and strong than Ab's lunch sandwiches. It was also a lot more economically sustainable, even though he now had quite a lot of cash packed in his bag.

Leaving the pokémon center and walking west felt amazing. The morning sun on the back of his head, glimmering fields with flowers, corn and wheat in front of him. He hadn't felt this refreshed in a long time. His pokémon were soon let out of their pokéballs, so that they could experience the fresh morning as well.

But someone else thought it was a bad idea.

"Hey, would you calm down?" someone hissed to Aberdeen from the ditch beside the road all of a sudden, making the boy leap up in surprise. "The way you and your clumsy pokémon are bounding up and down is chasing away the morning bugs!"

"Sorry," Ab muttered, and looked closer. There was a middle aged woman with brown hair in a pony tail sitting there, staring into the field next to them, as if she was intently searching for a glimpse of something. In her hands she held two odd pokéballs, it looked like they were decorated with a net pattern.

"So, what are you doing?" Ab asked and sat down beside her, trying to sound friendly.

The woman looked back at him as if he was stupid. "Catching morning bugs!"

"And what are those?"

"Bugs that are most active in the morning!"

"Such as?"

"Would you- oh!"

She flung a hand over his chest as to make him stay down. As he looked up, he saw a lone butterfly flutter up from the field, just a few meters away. Although its silhouette was blackened in Ab's eyes from the sun being behind it, he could spot that it was pink and had big, glittering eyes.


"Cute..." Ab mumbled interestingly and let his pokédex take its reading. The patterns on this Pokémon's wings depend on the climate and topography of its habitat. It scatters colorful scales.

"Don't you dare," the woman whispered. Then she threw one of the pokéballs up into the air. "Taillow, Quick Attack!"

A blue and red little bird erupted from the pokéball and shot towards the bug, hitting it before it even saw it coming.

"Sort of unfair, no?" Ab said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's called strategy, you should learn it," the woman snapped while Vivillon flapped its wings harder and sprayed some kind of power towards the bird. "Taillow, fly up!"

Taillow avoided the powder and swiftly took position above the butterfly. "Now, Peck!"

Vivillon wasn't at all as quick as Taillow, and was hurt hard by the pecks from the beak above. It began to lose altitude.

"Now," the woman said in low tone, smiling. "Netball, go!" She threw the blue ball and hit the Vivillon skillfully in midair. Taillow zoomed down to pick the ball up from the field and return it to its trainer.

"Whoa, that was pretty cool! You're a good trainer, aren't you?" Aberdeen said, clapping his hands in praise.

"Shut up!" the woman said angrily, making Ab's smile falter. "You're still an annoying kid who scares away bugs! I am a bug catcher and I know how to catch pokémon in smart ways. You know nothing, obviously."

"That's harsh," Ab said, scratching his cheek. "I know some things. I'm a trainer too."

"A nooby one. Go home before you get into trouble," the bug catcher said, putting her new pokéball in a pouch on her belt before making Taillow sit on her shoulder.

Aberdeen wouldn't mope. He wasn't the one to mope; after Anabel's death he had done enough of that for a lifetime. Nowadays, he took risks and was a fool. On purpose.

"You're not really a good bug trainer either," he said, arms crossed, as the woman began walking away with her back to him. "If you need a Flying type to capture them. That's cheating."

The bug catcher stopped. Taillow stared with narrowing eyes back at the boy. "Say that again if you dare, ****."

"You're a fake. Fake!" Aberdeen cried, spurred on by adrenaline from wondering what would happen next. Would they battle it out?

"I'll have to teach you a lesson." The bug catcher turned around while picking up her recently used pokéball again. She let Vivillon out, quickly pet it to calm it down, and sprayed it with a Potion from her bag.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen's hand came to rest on the three occupied pokéballs on his belt. He had a team. He could fight. They would battle it out.


((OOC: will be continued shortly, in the same post unless someone posted in between that.))
​

Christina yawned, rubbing the last bit of sleep out of her eyes before raising the glass of juice in front of her to her lips to take a little sip of it. She and Sindy were currently seated in a little area of the center with a couple chairs and tables, where you could either eat food you had brought with you, or a light breakfast the center offered the travelling trainers. Chris' was in the middle of a few slices of buttered bread, and Sindy was sitting next to the table, happily nibbling away on some dry-food for Pokémon, which she was absolutely in love with.

Looking to her companion, Christina gave the Cyndaquil a smile, lifting her gloved hand to gently scritch the Cyndaquil at the neck-area. "Don't eat too much, or you're going to get tired. It's still a pretty long way to Violet and we need to keep up a good pace." The Cyndaquil raised her head a little, squinting, as usual, up at the girl before nodding lightly, taking in her words, before going back to her breakfast.

Morning for Melody had come a bit earlier than the trainer would have liked. After her battle with the boy and his Ledyba, the lack of sleep from the night before she started her journey had finally started rear its ugly head. Since it had been a rather busy and eventful day, Melody decided that stopping her journey for that day at the Pokemon Center was probably for the best. Thankfully, this was one of the branches that had a place for trainers to rest with some small bedrooms... and thankfully this time Melody did not have any issues falling asleep.

"Now I think it's time that both of us grabbed something to eat this morning. Wha'cha think about that, Blossom?" Melody asked with a yawn, glancing down at the small Chikorita that was bouncing along happily behind her. The Chikorita let out a rather loud, happy chirp in agreement for her size, causing Melody to giggle at the sight. "Well, I guess one of us is a morning person."

Turning the corner to where the center set up a small area for trainers and their Pokemon to eat, Melody's eyes widened as she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Blossom seemed to have almost the exact same reaction. The little Chikorita looked at the scene before them, before suddenly letting out another excited chirp and bounding forward. Blossom made a straight beeline towards Sindy, almost running into the Cyndaquil before she managed to stop and chirped happily again.

"Oh my Gawd, Chrissy!" Melody shouted, rather loudly at that for someone being inside a Pokemon Center. The short girl quickly bounded her way towards the redheaded trainer, relief and joy gracing her facial features to see that Christina had managed to make it out of the Spinarak and Ariados chase alive and okay. "I was so worried about you! Are you okay? You didn't get injected with spider venom or stuck in another web or anything did you? What about Blaine, did he and Derpy make it out okay?!"

As Melody and Blossom made it into the room and called out for the two, both Christina and Sindy raised their heads, almost in unison. Sindy looked overjoyed to see Blossom again, abandoning her food, if only temporarily as she ran over to meet her friend with a loud squeak, jumping a little on the spot in front of the Chikorita.

Chris', likewise, looked stunned to see Melody again, a bright smile quickly spreading on her lips as she stood up to meet the girl. "Melody, hey! I'm so glad to see you as well. I'm fine, yeah!" She paused, raising a hand to rub the back of her neck a little. "... I don't know where Blaine and Derpy went, but... Derpy's pretty strong from the look of things, so I'm sure they're fine."

She quickly abandoned the worried expression and instead looked up, smiling brightly at Melody, clapping her hands together. "But you made it here! That's great! Come on, sit down, have some breakfast with us. We were going to head out soon, but I think I can put it off for a bit to chat a little with you." The red-haired girl gave a little grin before nodding at the chair opposite the table while taking a seat again. Sindy meanwhile squeaked something out to Blossom and waddled on over to the foodbowl again, inviting her for a bite of food as well.

Melody nodded, a broad smile gracing her features as she went to fix herself some breakfast. The girl was delighted to see that the Pokemon Center had her absolute favoirte brand of cereal, Frosted Pika-Oh's. Pouring herself a bowl of the ceral, Melody followed it up by adding milk and then cutting up one of the bananas that were offered, before taking a seat to join Christina. Meanwhile, Blossom accepted Sindy's offer to join her. The Chikorita was happily nibbling away along side her friend, squeaking and chirping as she ate in what could only be assumed as the two having a conversation.

Melody smiled as she watched the two, before turning her attention to Christina. "So, what have you been up to? Our departure from each other was sort of sudden, yeah?"

"Heh, yeah, it kind of was." Christina replied, snickering a little as she raised a slice of bread to take a little bite out of it. She then proceeded to tell Melody about her newest capture, making sure to emphasize that she was -not- planning on making the Spinarak a permanent part of her team.

"Oh, speaking of which! I never got to ask you, have you caught any Pokémon on your trip so far?" Chris' suddenly asked, a look of curiosity moving over her expression as she brushed a strand of red hair behind her left ear, her right eye seemingly purposefully somewhat hidden behind her locks.

Melody felt a small blush rise to her cheeks at the question. Slowly, the shorter, brown-haired girl looked away from Christina, absentmindedly stirring her spoon around her cereal bowl. A small, weak sounding giggle escaped her lips as she slowly looked back up at her red-haired friend.

"Um... Well, truth is... N-Not exactly..." Melody finally answered. She glanced down at Blossom, the Chikorita seemingly unaware of the conversation the two girls were having as she continued to eat breakfast with Christina's Cyndaquil. "Blossom's still kinda all I have. I mean, we ran into a few wild Pokemon when we left Cherrygrove, but... She ended up fainting the few we ran into... then the whole Spinarak thing happened... and then we battled a trainer and his Ledyba, so... Um... No."

"Awh, you fought a trainer?" Chris' replied, her brows raising. "I haven't found one to fight yet. I fought a bunch of wild Pokémon, but Sindy's pretty strong." She glanced down at the two Pokémon on the floor, who were happily murmuring away with one another while eating and Chris' had the distinct feeling they were talking about their trainers. Shaking her head a little, she looked back up at Melody. "Myself, I caught that... spider-thing, and earlier, we had a really tough fight with a... Buizel, I think it was, and I caught it. But... it seemed a bit... rough. I don't think I'll be keeping it on my team. I might just let it go." She raised a hand to tug a little at the scarf around her neck before reaching down into her bag sitting on the floor besides her, to pull out her Pokédex, opening the page for Buizel, which she then showed to Melody. "There it is. It attacked with some kind of... blast of air, but it's definitely a water type."

"Ooooh..." Melody replied, her mouth unfortunately full of crucnched up banana and cereal at the time. Swallowing what was inside, the girl nodded at her friend and smiled. "I dunno, Chrissy. A water type sounds like it'd be a good balance to a fire one, you know? Plus, I bet he's probably a pretty speedy and durable guy!"

Snickering a little at her friend's ignoring of general manners, Christina shrugged a little. "Yeah, I guess so, but... I just don't want a Pokémon on our team that doesn't really... fit, you know? Besides, it's... well, I dunno." She shrugged, raising a hand to rub the back of her neck, looking off to the side with a distinct look of uncomfort in her expression. "... I still think I'll let him go."

"Can... I see him?" Melody asked. "I haven't even seen one yet... You know, just out of curiosity?"

"Huh? Oh, uhm... yeah, I suppose so." Chris' reached into her bag and pulled out the Buizel's Pokéball. Aside from healing him up and made sure it got fed, she hadn't really... done anything with him, so she was unsure of what was going to happen. Looking thoughtful for a moment longer, she aimed the ball at the floor besides the table, opposite of the two chattering 'mons, she opened the ball, sending out a beam of light, which quickly formed into the Buizel, blinking his eyes a little as he was finally out of the ball.

Melody glanced down at the otter-like Pokemon. She could not help, but smile as she watched Blossom glance up from the bowl she was sharing with Sindy, giving the Buizel a curious glance as she let out a curious sounding chirp to follow. Slowly, the Chikorita made her way over towards Buizel, before walking around him as if she was inspecting him for some sort of defect or something of the like. Following the Chikorita, Sindy made her way over to the Buizel as well, though she let her friend inspect this new Pokémon, staying a little over to the side.

"Does he have a name?" Melody asked, still staring and smiling at the Buizel.

"Oh, uhm... no, he doesn't. I mean, I haven't given him one, at least." Chris' replied, watching the two 'mon moving closer to the Buizel. The otter glanced up at Chris' and narrowed his eyes, letting out a little snort before turning his gaze to Sindy. A small amount of time went by before he gave a respectful, if reluctant little nod, as if acknowledging her fighting abilities, which only made Sindy squirm a little around on the spot embarrassedly. He looked surprised as Blossom began circling around him, his tails giving an agitated little flick, though instead of initiating anything, he simply folded his arms across his chest, unimpressed and uninterested in the Chikorita.

Christina looked back up at Melody, sending her a small smile. "What do you think we should name him?"

Melody looked thoughtful as she watched the Buizel's interactions with the two Pokemon. The Chikorita let out a small chirp of annoyance at the Buizel, one that reminded the girl of when her Chikorita had first met Sindy. Blossom jumped in place real quick, letting out another series of annoyed chirps before glancing away with a proud smirk on her mouth. The little leaf on her head spun around, as if it was hair she was swinging around in the process. Suddenly, Melody's eyes lit up.

"I know, let's call him Napoleon!" she exclaimed, with no real reason behind the name at all.

"Napoleon? Hmh..." Chris' mused as she looked back down at the Pokémon again. After Blossom's little tirade, the Buizel got an annoyed look on his face, tails raising up as if about to attack Blossom, but Sindy quickly moved in between them, raising up on her hind legs while squeaking out desperately to the Buizel, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. The otter gave the Chikorita another little glare, but lowered his tails while huffing again.

"... You know, I think that could work." Chris' said, smiling to Melody, before her smile was replaced with a thoughtful look. "Though it's a bit of a shame to name him, only for me to just let him go." Pausing for a moment, her eyes slowly moved up to Melody, Chris' lips twitching into a wry smile. "Say, since you don't have any other Pokémon with you... would you like to bring along Napoleon? He's -really- tough, I can tell you that for a fact."

Melody's eyes widened at the question. She slowly glanced away from the Buizel, staring at Christina as if she had just shot fireworks out of her fingertips or something of the sort. The smaller of the two girls bit her lip, seeming somewhat hesitant to reply.

"W-Well... I mean, I couldn't possibly... I mean, it'd be really cool, but..." she stammered, not sure of just how to reply.

Christina shook her head, smiling warmly. "No no, it'd be perfect! I mean, I would just go ahead and release him, but if you accept it, you'll both get a tough team-mate and... well, we'd prove to the world that we're friends, right?" The red-haired girl smiled brightly as she picked up a piece of toast and gave it a little bite. "But, you know, it's not like you have to accept him if you don't want him."

Melody nodded her head. "Yes, yes!" she exclaimed. Another blush climbed up to her cheeks, she noticed that several trainers at this point were looking at the two girls and their Pokemon, causing her to glance back down at the Buizel and smile softly. "I mean... I would like that... Friends and stuff."

Sindy lowered herself down onto all four again as the Buizel was pacified, letting out a little sigh as she stepped back again, moving over to the little bowl of food the two had been sharing, where she picked up a few bites, walking over to offer them to the newly named Napoleon. He glanced down at the Cyndaquil, looking just about ready to turn away and huff, but instead sat down and took the food in his arms, giving a solemn nod to Sindy as he started eating.

Smiling warmly once more, Chris' nodded, the excitement clear in her eyes. She really wanted to help out Melody, she didn't want to just leave Napoleon to his own devices in the wild after going through the trouble of capturing him, and finally, she was starting to like Melody more and more and was thrilled at the idea of having a friend out on the road with her, even if they wouldn't be travelling together all the time. "Mmmh. Friends." She nodded, looking down at the Pokéball in her grasp before extending it to Melody, holding it in her palm. "Here you go, then. From one friend, to another. Take good care of him, yeah?"

"Of course!" Melody said with delight evident in her voice. She took the Pokeball from Christina's hand, holding it close as if it was the most important thing she had ever received. Thanking Christina, she smiled down at Napoleon and Blossom. The Chikorita was not oblivious to this, her eyes watching Melody carefully. "Guess what, Blossom? We have a new friend that's gonna be going with us! Welcome to the team, Napoleon!"

Blossom's eyes widened at this. A small, worried chirp escaped her mouth as she glanced over at the Buizel, before shaking her head and jumping up and down furiously. Sindy raised one of her little arms to scratch the back of her head and you could almost see the sweatdrop moving down her head. After a moment, she waddled over to Blossom, squeaking out softly while waving her little arms around, trying to calm down the Chikorita and reassure her that Napoleon, who was blatantly ignoring all of them in favor of his food, wasn't such a bad guy.

Blossom sighed, slowly lowering her head in defeat. It did not take long for the little Chikorita to realize that her trainer was not going to be changing her mind about the Buizel coming with them, despite how fact she pleaded against it. Blossom slowly looked back over at Napoleon, letting out a small, sigh-like chirp. Melody returned her attention to Christina, smiling as she took another bite of her cereal.

"So... What do you have planned after this? Still heading for Violet City, right? We should totally get each other's Pokegear numbers so we can keep in contact with each other, right?" she inquired. Not even waiting for the red-haired girl to reply, Melody reached into her backpack. After a few seconds of digging about, the shorter girl pulled out her phone and flipped it open, smiling warmly at her friend. "What's your number, Chrissy?"

"Oh, it's, uhm... 2-3-3-6-8-7." She replied after a moment of thought, smiling as she took a bite of her bread, afterwards placing it down while quickly reaching into the right pocket of her shorts, pulling out her flip-phone-like gear, which she opened, swallowing down the bite of breakfast. "What's yours? Oh, and, yeah, still heading for Violet! We'll probably be taking seperate paths there, but that'll give us that much more to chat about next time we meet!"

"Mine is 3-4-9-0-2-6," Melody replied to Christina after entering the redhead's number. Listening to her speak about her plans, a small, thoughtful look entered Melody's eyes. Messing with her phone, she flipped it sideways and opened up the map application. "Hmm... You're right. It looks like there's a fork in the road just ahead, both lead to Violet City though."

Chris' nodded and gave a bright smile, putting away her phone after having put in Melody's number. "Well, in that case, let's each take a different road. I'm already excited to hear what kind of adventure you got up to on your path!" Raising her arms, she stretched out and let out another yawn, rolling her head on her shoulder. "Mmh... anyways, I think it's about time Sindy and I get on the road. It was great seeing you again though!"

"Oh, yeah! It was... And thanks again for Napoleon. I promise, I'll take real good care of him," Melody replied. She glanced down at the Buizel as she spoke, who seemed to glance back up at her in the process. A rather neutral expression was on the Buizel's face. He was clearly not too sure just yet what to think of his new trainer. Smiling back up at Christina, Melody gave her a small nod. "Take care out there, okay Chrissy?"

The red-headed girl nodded with a warm smile as she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, getting out of her seat. "Definitely. And you too! Can't wait to meet with you again!" Giving a bright grin at her friend, she looked down at the Cyndaquil and gave her a little wave. "Come on Sindy, let's get going! We've got lots to explore today!" The little Cyndaquil looked up at her trainer, then turned to Blossom and Napoleon, raising one of her paws to give a little wave, along with a squeak, waddling after Christina, whom gave Melody another wave before heading out of the center.

Heh, I hope Melody knows what she's getting into with Napoleon. Picking out her pokégear from her pocket, she opened it and looked at her 'Contacts'. Aside from her mother, father and brother, she now had Melody in there. Just the fact that her new friend's name was in her gear made her steps along the sun-beaten road all the more uplifting. Finally, she closed the gear, tucked it back into her pocket and smiled brightly down at Sindy. "Ready for second part of our adventure, girl?" The Cyndaquil responded with a cheerful squeak and did a little jump, causing Chris' to giggle. "That's what I like to hear!"

​

Aberdeen
chapter 2 : Route 31

"Vivillon, go!" the bug catcher said, and the pokémon, who seemed to trust her already, took flight.

Awesome, Aberdeen thought, completely fired up now. This would actually be his first trainer battle. "I choose you, Pidgey!" he cried and released his own bird into the sky. She flapped her wings hard a few times, stretching them out after a good night's rest. She was so ready for battle.

"You think you can win just because you have a bird? You know nothing," the woman said darkly. "Gust!"

Vivillon whipped up a wind that caught Pidgey off balance and sent her tumbling downwards. Aberdeen ran and only just caught her, softly. "You okay?" he asked. Pidgey seemed embarrassed.

"A bird who can't even handle gusts of wind. What are you even doing away from your mother's watchful gaze?" the woman teased.

"Don't listen to her. You're the best bird there is. Okay?" Aberdeen said and looked intensively into Pidgey's eyes. After a second, the bird chirped in agreement and flew up from his arms. "Okay! Show them your Tackle!"

Pidgey dodged another Gust successfully and Tackled the bug without problem. It wasn't enough to win though.

"Vivillon, Stun Spore!"

A yellowish powder filled the air beneath Vivillon and reached a flustered Pidgey. But Ab's brain was fast enough. "Fly up above your opponent!"

Pidgey looped and ended up above the bug in the air, where she could shake off what little spores had set themselves on her wings.

"Now, Tackle!" Ab shouted determinedly. The bug was hit even though it dodged out of being critically so, and Pidgey ended up below it again.

"Trying to use my own tricks against me? Sleep Powder, quickly!" the bug catcher cried. A blue-green powder was let out from the scales of its wings this time.

Pidgey had learned even before Ab's command came now, though. Being a quick, airborne pokémon let it evade the powders of bugs and grass types much more easily than a pokémon forced to walk the earth could. Within a second, the bird was above Vivillon again.

"Won't work this time. Gust!" the woman called triumphantly. Vivillon blew a gust of wind upwards, once again making Pidgey lose balance. As she fell, she flew into the cloud of blue-green powder that was still there.

"No! Sand-attack!" Ab shouted, in an attempt to try another strategy. Pidgey's eyelids fell from the force of the Sleep Powder, but she managed to whirl up a minor sandstorm before she hit the ground, and she actually stayed airborne from performing it. The rest of the powdercloud was doused by the sand.

"Tackle! Tackle!" Aberdeen was on his toes now.

"Tackle!" the bug catcher shouted too, and the two pokémon crashed into each other. The result was that both ended up on the ground, Pidgey as good as sleeping and Vivillion properly knocked out at last.

Ab ran up to his pokémon and lifted her in his arms, brushing away some powder from her feathers. She blinked sleepily at him. "Haha, you're okay! Does that mean I won?"

"Not yet, punk," the woman grunted and called back Vivillon to its pokéball. "Taillow, go!" Her other pokémon flew up from her shoulder, a cold glare in its tiny eyes.

"Really?" Aberdeen asked in disbelief. "Well, Pidgey needs to rest. I'll use Whismur instead!" With that, he sent the bird back inside her pokéball and instead sent out the bunny-like creature. He seemed a bit nervous to battle, but at least didn't try to hide behind his trainer or anything.

"Nooby," the bug catcher said and shook her head. "But they can pack a punch, I guess. Let's remedy that with Growl!"

Taillow chirped in a darkly tone towards its opponent, even making Aberdeen take a step back in horror... But Whismur didn't move an inch. Not even a facial expression.

"Haha, Whismur may be a newbie, but certainly not a whimp!" Aberdeen laughed. "Show 'em with Uproar!"

He had spent some time reading up on the attacks of his pokémon this morning, and realized that the horrible sound Whismur had been doing yesterday was actually a move. So now he put his own hands over his ears as the attack started. Whismur began crying in a high-pitched, pulsating manner that visibly disturbed the bird and made flapping its wings feel like a pain. It tumbled down onto the ground with a pained grimace. The bug catcher clapped her hands over her ears too.

"Quick Attack!" she called out despite that.

Taillow managed to hop half up into the air and shoot into the Whismur in a quick tackle. Whismur tumbled backwards but didn't stop crying out, and also immediately jumped back up and attacked Taillow with Pound before it could become airborne again. Confused, the bird hopped backwards and finally flew up into the sky again. But Whismur kept running its Uproar attack and it seemed to be too much for the tiny bird. Suddenly, it fainted in mid-air and fell down into its trainer's arms.

"What? How..."

"This attack is super special!" Aberdeen said gleefully. "You have to find a quick way to stop the noise, or your pokémon will be exhausted really quickly. Cool, isn't it? Sound-type!"

"I never heard of a sound-type..." the bug catcher said with a raised eyebrow.

"See? Some things I do know!" Aberdeen laughed, picking up the finally quiet Whismur in his arms. He knew very well that there was no such thing as a sound type. But details, details.

The bug catcher didn't really admit defeat in words; she just handed over some prize money to Aberdeen before turning around and hoping she'd never see the boy again. Ab was super happy - winning battles earned you money! This was a way to make a living. And it wasn't even hard to do!

If only he knew that bug catchers generally weren't as good at battling as they were at catching bugs... He'd face much stronger adversaries in the future. But for now, he was in bliss.

As he kept walking, Whismur back in his ball and instead Chespin walking by his side, something pink suddenly flew up from a bush beside him. Another Vivillon!

"Oh yeah! This one will totally be my own. Ready Chespin?"

The rodent smiled big and dorkily, and followed his trainer in a mad chase into a tree grove after a swift, pink butterfly...
​

Blossom the Chikorita
Female - Level 8
Tackle/Growl/Refresh/Razor Leaf/-/-

Napoleon the Buizel
Male - Level 6
Sonic Boom/Growl/-/-/-/-

(none)

(none)

(none)

(none)

​

"Come on, Chespin, it's getting away!"

Aberdeen and his pokémon were running between trees and jumping over bushes to try and keep up with the Vivillon who actually floated forward pretty lazily; it just hadn't noticed the frantic trainer behind it.

"Grab it with your Vine Whip!"

Chespin jumped over a log and fired its vines to ensnare its opponent - but the butterfly sensed the vibrations in the air. In the nick of time, it dodged, and was now painstakingly aware of that it was being chased by a boy and his pet. Silly imbeciles. The butterfly merely sighed mentally, turned around and rose higher up into the sky where they, hopefully, couldn't disturb it.

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily!" Aberdeen said and quickly began climbing the tree closest to the rising bug. Chespin followed suit, passed his trainer easily with the help of his vines in the climbing and skittled out onto a tree branch that sat just where Vivillon was passing by, believing that it had shaken the followers off its tail.

Chespin jumped, remembering how it had surprised Pidgey from above yesterday, hoping for a reprise of his success. Alas, again the Vivillon was too aware of the vibrations in the air around it, and dodged just in the nick of time. Chespin fell down and landed in a flowery bush near the road. Vivillon laughed at the sillyness, not bothering to rise or fly away for a moment.

That was the moment Aberdeen needed.

"AHA!" he cried as he leaped out from the same tree branch as Chespin had, arms spread wide and his lips wearing a huge smile of triumph. Why throw a pokéball from which an unharmed pokémon could escape, when you could throw yourself and grasp your victim tightly?

Clearly, Ab had learned nothing over the past few minutes. This Vivillon couldn't be attacked physically easy. A little flutter to the right, and Aberdeen fell just as helplessly as his starter pokémon down towards the ground below. The difference now was that there wasn't a bush on the road where he landed. Instead, there was a girl.

---------------​

Approximately five minutes earlier, Chris had been wandering along the road with her hands folded up behind her, humming out a tune while glancing left and right for signs of any Pokémon or, hopefully, trainers to battle. Sindy waddled along happily next to her, seemingly making a lot of little noises herself, quite content with the bright sun shining down on them.

"After that talk with Melody, I really feel like we should get another team mate..." Sindy glanced up at Chris, causing the girl to blink a little before smiling, waving her hand dismissively. "It's not like I don't think you're great, Sindy, because you are. But... we need some other types on our team, you know? Plus, making more friends never hurt anyone." The Cyndaquil gave out a little squeak and nodded, seemingly not having taken offense from Chris' comment. "We need to be sure they'd be a good addition to the team, though. Can't just have any old Pidgey joining us, you know? And we need to grow stronger too, so maybe we should get fighting against some trainers before we reach Violet..."

The trees had started thinning out a bit, giving way for farmland, fields of flowers and generally flat land. Christina had just come to the edge of a slightly forested area, on the border of a farmer's field, when she heard a quiet little bleating off to the right. Coming to a stop, Chris turned to blink lightly at a small Skiddo laying in the shade of a large tree by the road, next to a bush. It was laying on top of its legs, looking up at Sindy and Chris rather calmly.

"... Aaawh, look, it's a little Skiddo!" A bright smile quickly adorned the girl's lips as she took a few steps closer and knelt down, holding her hand out for the little goat to sniff. It was completely unafraid, which made her think that it probably belonged to the farmer that lived nearby. Sindy waddled a little closer and had a sniff of it as well, and the Skiddo was soon being happily petted by Chris, bleating out again.

"Well, as adorable as you are, probably a good idea not to try and catch a Pokémon owned by someone already." She gave a little grin and gave the goat a final little pat on the head before standing up. "Alright Sindy, let-" Christina was suddenly cut off as... something came flying from the tree's branches above her, landing in the bush next to the Skiddo, who promptly lept to her feet and bounced away into the field behind her.

"AHA!" was the only words she heard before she managed to glance upwards, startled as she saw a boy flying towards her. Unable to do anything to react, he slammed straight into her, sending the both of them to the ground with a loud "OOF!" of surprise and pain.

After a bit of tumbling off the road and into the field, further startling the Skiddo, they came to a stop. Christina let out a quiet groan of pain after the rough tumble, slowly raising a hand to rub the top of her chest with a wince and her eyes shut tight. "Nngh... ow... what the hell was...?"

Ab got up on his elbows and blinked. It took about two seconds of staring before his eyes widened and he realized what position they were in. Aberdeen practically laying on top of Christina, little straws of grass raining down on her face from his roughed up hair.
She paused, suddenly feeling the added weight on top of her as she opened her eyes, blinking up at the boy laying on top of her, staring straight back at her.

"Oops," was all Ab could think to say, and no reflexes made him immediately move.

It took a few moments to register what had actually happened, from the crash, to the fall, to the tumble, to now laying there. Christina's face quickly grew red and her expression rapidly changed from confusion and pain, to shock, to anger, bordering on fury.

"W... what the hell do you think you're doing?! G-get off of me!"

"Wah! Sorry!" Aberdeen said, crawling back fast as lightning to sit on his butt in front of her instead. "I meant to catch a pokémon, not a girl. Eeeh, I mean, not that I'm trying to catch you, I just mean that I would never do it on purpose. Ah, no, I mean, not that you're ugly or anything, I just mean-!" He spoke very rapidly until the girl cut him short.

"Shut up!" Christina shouted as she shuffled a little back, moving to sit up as well, with her hands resting on the ground behind her, her expression a mixture of anger and embarrassment. her face completely reddened by now. "What do you think you're doing, crashing into people like that?! Do I look like a Pokémon to you? I should- rrgh! What's wrong with you?!"

"No, I just said I didn't mean to! I tried to catch... Oh no, it's gotten away," Aberdeen said with a sad face as the Vivillon just fluttered by them out over the field, many meters above their heads. "Pity."

He got back up on his feet and reached out a hand to help the bothered girl up. "I'm really sorry, okay?" he added with what he hoped was an apologetic smile.

Sending the guy another annoyed glare as he went on about something else, staring off into the distance, Chris was just about ready to go on another tirade, before his last comment, which visibly eased her up, if only a little bit, although she still looked rather angry.

"... Fine." She took his hand and pulled herself to her feet, but quickly pulled her hand back as she began dusting herself off, making sure everything was as it should be in her bag and nothing had flown out during their tumble. "Just... be more careful about where you leap from, okay? I could've gotten really hurt! What -were- you doing up there anyway?"

"I've told you, I was trying to catch a pokémon. But I guess I'll do without it." Ab suddenly leaned his head to the side and eyed Christina a bit more closely. "Say, you don't happen to be a trainer too, do you?"

"... You were trying to catch a Pokémon -with your hands-?" Christina asked, a brow quirked and her arms folded across her chest, looking rather skeptical of his methods. "As a matter of fact, I am! Just started on m-" Suddenly, her face lit up in realization and she spun around, peering up the hill they had tumbled down, sighing in relief as she saw the Cyndaquil peeking down at the two of them with... some kind of rodent right next to her, his mouth open in a sort of O-shape with one, big tooth in the middle of the hole. "And... I'm guessing that's your Pokémon?"

"Ah! Chespin! There you are," Ab laughed.

"And another thing-" The voice of an old man echoed from a farmhouse directly North about 50 yards away from the two trainers. From out of the house, a teen stumbled backwards out the door, his Fennekin following similarly.

Following him was a man in his late 40s or early 50s. He was bald except for some blonde hair on the sides of his head. He stood about 5 and a half feet tall. A Herdier was barking at the teen from the farmer's heels, and a Taillow on the farmer's shoulder glared ahead.

As he waved his straw hat around at the teen, the farmer was yelling something about his crops and his property. The teen turned his head, then turned back to the farmer, then quickly back to Aberdeen, whose eyes and smile widened.

"Hey, isn't that Nate?" he said, 48% to Chespin, 50% himself, and maybe 2 rather weird % to Christina.

"How should I know...?" Christina muttered to herself as she watched the farmer dragging the other boy out from the house. Seemed to her like the both of them were as much trouble as the other.

Nate had a look of shock on his face as he recognized the trainer he's just seen the day before. He showed an embarrassed smile before he turned back to the man that was scolding him. However, the farmer was silenced when he saw the other two trainers. The Herdier continued its barking, however.

"My berries!" He yelled. Along the hill that the two trainers had just tumbled down, there were multiple young bushes that had been flattened. "Those were my Starf bushes ya little creeps! That was the only crop I planted! Now I've got to go out and get more Starf berries. Do ya have any idea how hard they are to get in your own hands? Pretty hard!"

Chris blinked softly at the accusation, turning around to look at the devastated bushes along the hillside and around where Aberdeen and she were standing. Her eyes widened a little as she realized just how badly the crops had been trampled, quickly turning back to the farmer, calling out to him. "H-hey, no, it wasn't my fault! It was-" But she was cut off by the man.

Nate was trying to back away, but the farmer noticed him. "You! Sit on the ground!" the man shouted. Nate obeyed. The farmer turned back to the two other trainers. "What's gonna happen now, hm? I've got a hill full of flattened berry bushes and no way to restock for at least a week!"

"Maybe you can try eating something else for a while?" Aberdeen suggested with a huge, innocent smile, promptly landing him an elbow in his side from Christina, followed by a 'Not helping!' look.

The face of the farmer turned redder, and Chespin facepalmed with Sindy shaking her head besides him.

"You godawful rascals! I oughta let my pokémon whip the guts out of you!" he growled as the Herdier continued its yapping.

"H-hey, look, there isn't any need for that!" Christina pleaded, sending the farmer an apologetic smile. "Maybe we can... uhm, work out some sort of deal? We could... I dunno, pay for the damages?"

The farmer's face seemed to continue to grow redder by the minute, opening his mouth to shout out something at the three again as a voice was heard behind him. "Are you bullying some kids again? Oh Harold, I really don't know what to do with you."

Out from behind the farm house, a short, somewhat stout little woman came walking up to the scene while the farmer flailed his arms, gesturing at the three. "They ruined our crops, Magda! I can't just let them walk off without some kind of punishment!" His wife smiled as she stepped up besides him, placing a hand on his arm to try to calm him a little down before looking to the kids. "Only a few of the bushes are gone as far as I can see. And, well, maybe we'll take the young lady up on her offer and make a deal of some kind. I'm sure you could use a farmhand or three for a couple of hours?"

"Yeah, we can find new berries for you!" Aberdeen suggested eagerly. "If we find and pick berries from the same number of bushes we, uh, squashed, it should be okay, right?"

"You think it's easy to find these berries out here?" the farmer grunted. "There's a reason we're growing them with care! And you, ya little creep," He turned to Nate, who was obediently sitting on the ground, with Fang-Lin in the same position. "Those berries are going to cost you too! And don't you say you'll just give them back; you got your grubby little paws on them already."

"There, there," Magda said, pulling his arm a bit again, managing to pacify the farmer before he reddened up again. "There are some rare, odd, edible berries in the hills to the north where we don't really bother venturing too often. They would make up for the loss of Starf. The other can help them to make up as well."

Nate nodded quickly. Fang-Lin nodded in sync as well. The farmer mumbled in agreement. Nate stood up and walked over to the two trainers.

"There, now you three get to work, you hear? Herdy here will be watching you. Same with Low." She gestured towards the Herdier, then the Taillow. She then turned and nudged her husband to follow her into the house.
​

Melody and Hien
Chapter 2: Route 31​

Taillow flew down from above, to Tackle Chespin, sending the rodent tumbling ahead of the running boy. Aberdeen grabbed Chespin's tail and just picked the pokémon up while he kept running.

"That was unecessary!" he shouted back to his followers. "I said I'm sorry! We'll get your berries, okay?"

The bird rose again, thankfully, but Herdier barked and didn't stop.

"Chris! Nate!" Ab called, hoping that he was running towards the center of the field, where he had seen Nate go earlier.

Nate turned toward the sound of Ab's voice as he heard his name. "What's going on?" He could see Harold's Taillow flying in and out of the crops as he heard the sound of barking. Both the bird and the bird and the noise were heading towards Nathan.

"We might have to do some battling here..." Nate mumbled to Fang-Lin, who was looking up to him with curious eyes. "You probably shouldn't fight, buddy. We don't want to accidentally start a fire with these crops."

Nate returned Fang-Lin to his Pokeball and called out Poliwag. "Better get ready to use Bubble." The tadpole nodded joyfully in return.

Sindy pulled her head out of one of the bushes at the sound of the barking and Ab's cry for help, Christina looking down as she was in the middle of standing on her tip-toes with a stick in an attempt at poking at a berry that for some reason had grown on a tree. "... That sounded like Deen, didn't it?"

Sindy gave a little nod, followed by Chris sighing, tossing away the stick. "What's he gotten himself into now...?" She looked down at the Cyndaquil who was already on her way towards the sound of the barking, causing a smile to light up her face for a moment before she grasped her bag's strap in order to keep it from flying all over the place, as she set off in a run, quickly followed by Sindy.

Aberdeen kept running until he thought he saw bushes moving in front of him. Nate and Chris suddenly both turned up into the little clearing in the field, pokémon ready in front of them.

"What should we do? I made Herdier angry!" he called out and finally came to a stop, panting. Chespin was still in his arms, but breathed quickly all the same.

The dog jumped out into the clearing where Ab was standing, and growled menacingly before jumping towards him, teeth bared. A Bite attack! Aberdeen tossed Chespin one way and jumped the other way himself, and the Herdier landed in between them, chomping thin air instead.

Just then, Christina came rushing out of the undergrowth between a couple of bushes, quickly followed by Sindy. Noticing Ab and Chespin lying on the ground and the Herdier turning around, growling angrily, Chris managed to quickly put together what the problem was. "Quick Sindy, try to calm down Herdier!"

The Cyndaquil didn't look excited at the prospect of standing between Ab and an angry Pokémon, but she quickly ran over to stand in front of the downed Aberdeen, just as Herdier was ready to attack again. Sindy rose up on her hind legs, squeaking out while waving her arms all over the place in an attempt at calming down the dog, whom had stopped right in front of her, still growling angrily.

As this was going on, Christina had been rummaging through her pack and managed to fish out the berries she and Sindy had found not long ago. Running up to the side of Herdier, she stopped a little ways away from him, kneeling down and holding out the berries in her palms, smiling. "Hey Herdier! Look what we found for your master!"

Following Christina, Nate quickly rummaged through his backpack and then his pockets to find all of his Lansat Berries. One, two, three... four? He didn't realize that he had found so many. He held them out for the Herdier to see as well.

The dog sniffed a bit, picking up the clear, sugary scent from the rare berries. It then backed down, finally, away from Sindy, and merely let out a huffing noise. Taillow came down from above and perched itself on Herdier's back.

"They've calmed down..." Ab breathed. "So berries. Great. Can we go back now?"

Taillow chirped with dark eyes and flapped its wings sort of menacingly towards the talking boy. As menacingly as swallow wings can flap, at least.

"Okay, so that's a no then. More berries? How many did you guys find?" he asked, turning back to Christina and Nate. "I didn't find any yet... Hm."

Suddenly, a squeak came from Chespin, making Ab spin around. His pokémon was pointing excitedly into a thick grove of bushes. Without another word, Aberdeen darted after the rodent, before Taillow or Herdier could understand what was going on.

It turned out they had been running right past a bush with two large, colorful berries growing on them. They sure didn't match the rest of the berries growing in the field.

"Great find, Chespin!" Ab said happily and picked the fruits hastily, barely managing to not squash them. Just a minute after dashing off, he arrived back at the scene, where Herdier had begun to growl at Chris and Nate again.

"Here! This should be enough, no? Look, they're huge!" Ab said and held out the two new berries.

Nate gestured towards Ab with a thumbs up as he grasped his berries with the other hand. "These will make a great replacement for the lost berries." Nate said to Harold's Pokemon.

Taillow and Herdier shared a glance, then looked back at the kids and nodded. Then, they turned around and started walking out from the field again, Taillow perched on the back of the dog still.

"Phew," Ab let out. "Pure luck. And a great nose," he added and gave Chespin a pet on the head. "You guys okay?" he asked the other two.

Christina let out a sigh of relief as the wardens began heading back towards the farm, nodding her head lightly. Nate nodded as well. "Phew... yeah, I'm alright." Christina said. She then sent Ab a little semi-glare and raised her hand to punch his shoulder. "How in the world did you manage to piss off the Herdier?"

"I, uh... Well, nevermind, we better hurry back, yeah?" Deen said with an overly excited voice and started walking briskly out from the field again.

A while later, the three trainers and their guards were back at Harold's farm. They could hear some swearing from the barn and glanced at each other as to try to decide who would want to apprehend the grumpy man. Luckily, the wife emerged from the Torchichouse before anything was said.

"Oh, that's lovely! Even Harold will smile at this," she said in delight as the trainers handed over the large berries. "Off you go," she added to Herdier and Taillow, who gave the troublemakers one last glance before running off to the barn at last.

Magda glanced after the two Pokémon hurrying off to their master and gave a light smile before looking back to the kids. "I think it might be best if you kids just give me the berries. Harold's been in a foul mood all day." She held out a basket she was carrying for the three teens to put the berries into.

After the basket was filled by the berries, Magda gave the three a bright smile. "Such helpful youngsters. It's nice to see young people actually taking responsibility for their actions. I think that deserves an extra reward." She rummaged around in the basket once again and after a short while, she pulled out three yellow-y crystal-shaped items and offered it to the three of them. "There you go kids, as a show of good faith. Keep your noses clean from now on, okay?" She added with a knowing smile and a wink.

Christina's eyes widened as she took one of the small crystal-shaped items into her hands. "W... wow! This is a revive!" She looked from the item to the other two standing besides her, before smiling up at the woman. "This is a really rare item! Thank you ma'am!"

Aberdeen's eyes glimmered as he looked at the item in his hand. "Revive," he tried the word. "Sounds useful. I'm gonna save it for some important situation. Thanks ma'am!"

Turning her head to Aberdeen, Christina gave him another '-Really-?' look, though it was by far more overbearing than most of her other glances his direction. "It's an item you can use in combat on a fainted Pokémon, Deen. It'll give them another fighting chance."

Nate looked down at the familiar item in his hand. "Yeah, thanks a lot. This will help in the future." Nate pocketed the healing item. His mind went back to the Exeggcute, though. I still need to find the other four eggs. I can't just leave these two here...

As Magda went back to her farm business, Aberdeen turned to face his fellow trainers. "So what now?" he asked, cheerfully. "Violet City's pretty close, right?"

Nate pulled the Exeggcute out of his pockets, kneeled down, and placed it on the grass. "I should look around the farm; the other four eggs should be around here somewhere. I can't leave this guy alone in this state." Nate stood back up. "You two should continue on while I'm here. We'll probably meet again somewhere along our journeys." Poliwag nodded agreeingly.

Christina turned to Nate and offered him a smile, nodding her head. "Awh, that's really nice of you. I guess we might as well head to Violet together if we're both headed that way anyways." She added, glancing briefly at Aberdeen before turning back to Nathan. "See you around, Nate! And good luck!"

"Yeah, that's really nice, Nate. Good luck!" Aberdeen said and then leaned his head a bit, studying Christina briefly while she was turned away.

She reminded him of someone. Oh, she reminded him of Rachel. Or rather, how Rachel used to be like... When his sister, Anabel, was alive. Nowadays, Rachel was different. Christina still had her spirits up. If Ab couldn't travel with Rachel on this pokémon journey, Christina wasn't a bad second choice. Maybe she wouldn't even be a second choice, if he had that choice. Wait, what was he thinking now? And why was he even thinking? He didn't want to be the pondering kid anymore. He was a doer, not a dreamer. Now.

Throwing all norms out the window, Ab reached out an open hand towards the girl standing beside him, as if urging her to take it.

"Let's go, then?" he said with a bright smile.

Christina turned to Aberdeen after Nate had left, looking a little surprised at him holding his hand out towards her, as if he was expecting her to walk hand in hand with him to Violet. Her cheeks flared a little up and she had a look of confusion in her eyes for a few moments, until she seemed to soften a little up and sent him a wry little smile. "... Alright. Let's do this, Deen." She reached out and took his hand, quickly focusing her direction down the road. Chespin and Sindy had already began walking ahead, seemingly getting along well, as Chris raised her left hand to point ahead of them, smiling brightly as she exclaimed.

"To Violet!"

​

Blossom the Chikorita
Female - Level 8
Tackle/Growl/Refresh/Razor Leaf/-/-

Napoleon the Buizel
Male - Level 6
Sonic Boom/Growl/-/-/-/-

(none)

(none)

(none)

(none)

Blossom the Chikorita
Female - Level 8
Tackle/Growl/Refresh/Razor Leaf/-/-

Napoleon the Buizel
Male - Level 6
Sonic Boom/Growl/-/-/-/-

(none)

(none)

(none)

(none)

​

Blossom the Chikorita
Female - Level 9
Tackle/Growl/Refresh/Razor Leaf/Poison Powder/-

Napoleon the Buizel
Male - Level 8
Sonic Boom/Growl/Water Sport/-/-/-

Hawk the Taillow
Male - Level 8
Peck/Growl/Focus Energy/Quick Attack/Steel Wing/-

(none)

(none)

(none)

​