.Episode//ONE​

-BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP-

Angie groaned. She hated early mornings. Sticking out her arm from underneath the covers, she smacked the air until she found the snooze button on her alarm clock. She was tempted to go back to sleep, but knowing too well the alarm would just go off once more, she dragged herself out of bed.

After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she picked up her phone and checked what date it was. September 2nd, the day she finally got to leave home and train Pokemon. Summer seemed to last forever, and now the day she had been anticipating the whole time had arrived. She should have felt excited, but it was too early in the morning for her tastes. "Why couldn't that old man ask us to come at a more reasonable time, like noon or something?"

It wasn't long before she was dressed, packed and ready to go. She picked up her backpack and walked to the kitchen, where her mother was cooking some pancakes. "Oh hello sweetie, glad to see you up so early." Her mother smiled cheerfully. "Breakfast will be done in just a minute."

"What are you talking about? The last time you made pancakes the house nearly burned down." Angie remarked caustically.

"It was just a little smoke, that's all!" Her mother pouted. "Besides, I can't just let your father cook all the time."

Despite Angie's complaint, the pancakes turned out fine, though they were a bit burnt. Her father joined in for breakfast as well, since he just finished walking the Poochyena. "Angie, don't you think you wear something a bit nicer?" He asked. "You want to make a good impression, don't you?"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with what I'm wearing!" She was wearing a Red Hot Cherri Berries T-shirt and some comfy blue jeans. "It's not like the Professor's going to turn me down for not being fancy. Besides, this is my journey, so I can wear whatever I want." Angie reasoned.

Her father sighed. "I suppose you're right. It's hard to believe you're really going. You're practically an adult now."

After finishing up breakfast and making sure everything was packed, she said goodbye to her family. It wasn't a tearful parting, she was glad to leave, but it was sad to leave Poochyena behind. He wasn't her Pokemon though, he was her father's, so there wasn't anything she could really do about it. She was about to get her very on Pokemon anyways.

The walk from Viridian City to Pallet Town was pretty short, so it didn't take long before she arrived. She walked the familiar path to the academy, only this time she wasn't here for classes. Inside, she made her way to the laboratory wing. She swiped the key card she was given, and the glass doors slid open. She had never seen the inside of the laboratory before, but it didn't seem too different than she pictured it.

She was eagerly greeted by Dr. Oak, who wheeled his way over to the front of the lab. As she followed the elderly professor to his office, she noticed a couple of the other students had arrived. She tried to remember who they were. The boy's name was Riku. He was on some sort of team at the academy, but Angie never payed attention to sports. She found them unbelievably dull. No doubt this guy was a major tool. The girl was Justine. From what Angie could tell, she was some sort of peppy girly-girl, who probably liked boys and fashion and other boring things that Angie couldn't care less about. She was ditching these two as soon as she could.

Cody Willingham- Pallet Town

SMASH!

In a unconscious rage, Cody picked up his demonic alarm clock and chucked it at the nearest wall. Having trained his body to work while half awake it wasn't too hard. Cody lived with family friends, but left him alone to do his own thing. The loud crunch of electronics being plastered against a wall did not startle nor stir them. In fact, it was the fourth time he has done that in the past month. They stopped buying him new ones six months ago, forcing Cody to demand money from his father for "unforeseen complications in alarm clock design." Cody crawled out of bed, despite the soft silk covers yearning for him to return to its sweet embrace. He knew he had to wake up. It was "the day" for his journey to begin and to meet his new "friends" as his host family called them. What were their names again?

Fred Scone? Yeah, he seemed like a decent guy. Cody thought the kid looked like a bit of pushover though. Sadly, though, he was probably the only guy worth hanging out with.

There were the two girls though: Angie Baines and Justine Granger. One was a tall, tomboy like figure. So she was probably bad news already. The other one was the typical dress really fancy and prissy type of girl. In other words, unapproachable for Cody's kind. He was already considered a freak by those types. So the girls were definitely out.

Then there was Riku Kimura. The jock of the group. And probably a self important jerk. Those kind of guys were always like that. Cody was probably going to avoid him. It was the only sane thing to do. So once again, Cody was limited to the people he could stand.

So Fred, hope you don't mind Cody being your new best friend, since there was no way he was walking around Kanto alone. That sounded like a drag. As much as Cody avoided people, he always liked having at least one person to talk to. One person to keep him grounded. One person to remind him that sleeping, a fun as it was, wasn't very productive.

Willing himself to the shower was hard work, but he eventually made it. Cody took a power nap as a the shampoo and soap lathered his body and made the past week's dirty drip into the drainage system. It was refreshing and needed. He probably wouldn't shower for weeks now that he had to travel around the country.

Cody rolled out of the shower and into his typical outfit. Stonewashed, faded, gray jeans, black t-shirt, gray zipped hooded sweatshirt and his favorite new pair of black sneakers. It was best to wear something that would give no remarkable first impression. This was to be an in and out operation. Get Pokemon and get out. If anyone bothered to talk to him, it would because they were genuinely interested in learning about Cody. Not because he was attractive or anything. This was to guarantee they were worthwhile. That is how he made friends before and it worked out pretty well so far.

Putting on his accessories was not too hard and it reminded him to make a bag of supplies. Grabbing his backpack, Cody stuffed some clothes, a first aid pack, matches, sleeping bag, survival pack with a multipurpose tool and flashlight. He stuffed some food and water in there too. Cody packed his pockets with his wallet, phone, another multipurpose tool and a lighter. Eventually a fire type Pokemon would remedy the need for fire starting tools.

Cody walked down the stairs at a snail's place with his host family waiting at the bottom.

"All set?" his host father said.

"Got any breakfast?" Cody said with his eyes lacking any spark of interest in answering the question.

"Uh…yeah."

Cody dropped his bag with a thud at the door, and followed them to the kitchen. On the table was their typical breakfast buffet filled with every decent breakfast dish you could find. The host mother was churning out eggs for her large family that wasn't quite up yet, so Cody took the opportunity to fill up on eggs, toast, bacon, and some fruit. He ate more than he usually did, mostly because he knew the rest of his meals would be lackluster. Living alone did that kind of thing.

"Thanks for the meal. I'll get out of your hair now," Cody said as he slipped out of his seat.

"Now, now," his host mother said running over to him. "Don't act like you were total bother. Your family here."

Cody gawked at the comment and shook his head. "Heh, thanks."

His host mother hugged him tight before letting go. He glared at Cody's unsettled brown hair and played with it before giving it some sense of style. "Don't look like a slob. At least not on your first day."

"Keep it touch," his host father said. "The girls will miss you."

"Yeah. I'll send a postcard or something," Cody said with a weak smile. He made his way to door, picking up his tightly packed bag, made a half wave and walked out of the door. He passed the point of no return.

****************

The Academy was a fair length of a walk, but nothing Cody couldn't manage. He could make the trek in his sleep. In fact, he probably did once or twice. The heavy bag made drifting into slumber impossible though. He wasn't used to carrying anything of substantial weight. Cody rarely read the books for class anyway and frequently came to the Academy unprepared.

Cody knew where the laboratory wing was, having wandered the school several times when he cut classes but he never actually entered it. Students were not allowed to, and it was the first time just an arbitrary rule stopped him. Those damn key coded doors were a real pain, and Cody was not exactly an expert level hacker. But the pass key he was given certainly made that little problem disappear. Without as much as a second though, Cody swiped the key card and entered through the glass doors. Simple. He wondered if anyone had trouble with such an easy task. Some kid was bound to have second thoughts. If Cody had to take a guess it would of been Riku or Justine. Justine seemed like such a girly girly that the idea of being alone in the world probably scared her. And Riku was likely some kid with deeper issues that would attack his own sense of self worth.

Cody was greeted by Prof. Oak in some Pokemon wheelchair (how cliche) and was guided to the office. He was not the first to arrive, but at least he wasn't last. Riku, Justine, and Angie were all there. Of course, the three people that Cody did not want to be locked in a room with right now.

Hopefully this wouldn't last long.

Cody Willingham- Pallet Town

"I'm here!"

Flash.

Ow.

"SORRY!"

As Cody's eyes watered from the sudden bright light, Cody was able to piece together two things: 1. Whoever took his picture was Fred, since he was only expecting one other person to show up and Fred was the last of the trainsers. 2. Fred got a crappy picture because Cody was in it. He wasn't exactly photogenic.

Oak wheeled himself towards the large brown round table that sat next to a giant map of the Kanto region that hung on the wall. The whole set up reminded Cody of a classroom, which made him groan audibly. More work. I thought this was going to be quick. I don't need another orientation, Cody complained to himself. Really? More lectures? Come on. This was supposed to be easy. Get Pokemon. Get Pokedex. Get out. Humoring Oak would be easy though, Cody plopped into a chair and stared at the container, placing music in his head until he heard anything that was important.

Well now, this is exciting. THIS," Oak turned to show off the Kanto map, "Is the Kanto Region. You will be traveling for about a year, collecting the special badges from the certified League gyms. Now, since the Association changed up the league a few years back - there are some changes. Every official gym now comes with a puzzle, or a trial of sorts for incoming trainers. These will be done in groups, as will the gym battles themselves. Every gym leader will have the number of Pokémon needed to battle each of you. So for example," Oak used a laser pointer and directed it on Pewter City. "Pewter Gym, leader Brock here will use five Pokémon to accommodation a one on one battle with each of you. That is, given you past the trial."

Cody sighed. Everything sounded like a lot of work, even though he only really picked up: travel, year, gym, puzzle (yay fun), trial (boo work), battle. This sounded like the adventure he found himself in. Nothing out of the ordinary yet.

"What will these trials be exactly?" Riku questioned.

Noob.

"They vary from gym to gym, but most will require team work with both your fellow trainers and your Pokémon. But I'll tell you this now, they are dangerous."

Duh.

Oak said grimly, Riku's eyes narrowed and he nodded a bit. This would be VERY interesting. "These five Pokéballs here, each hold one of your Starter Pokémon. Now, you'll get to choose according to the order in which you-"

Another flash. Just when Cody was about ready to select his Pokemon. He was pretty sure he was first. Then again, maybe he was third. He definitely wasn't last. At least, he didn't remember being last.

Riku was off yelling at Fred for something till the sound of a Pidgeot broke the sound barrier and Cody was distracted. It didn't sound like cries of joy…more like pain. What the hell was going on? Thick smog filled the air, but Cody was able to follow the sound of voices until he was reunited with the group, covering his mouth with his hoodie in order to breath. Oak, seeming to understand the situation, urged them to take some Pokeballs to fight back but his voice was replaced with the sound of Pokeballs crashing to the floor. Cody had a theory of what was happening, but he didn't like the idea of it.

"We are going to have to-"

"Target acquired!"

"Do something." The room was suddenly clear of smoke and group of adults wearing masks with golden eyes eyed down the teenagers. The scientists were routed with ooze on their face and Oak was perched on a man's shoulder. So Oak was being kidnapped. What would a group want with a handicapped old man? Wouldn't stealing Pokemon be more profitable?

"You kids are lucky, our missions are usually pulled of flawlessly and we're never seen. It's a shame, he wanted you five unharmed. But unfortunately I'm calling the shots here. Fire at will." The Blitz members fanned out into an orderly line, each one lining across from one of them. Cody crouched down and picked up a Pokeball. There was no way he could take on an adult in a fist fight. Well actually, maybe he could. But a Pokemon, any Pokemon really, would be less work on his delicate frame.

Without as much as word, the member threw his Pokeball and through the flashing lights (luckily not as piercing as the earlier flash attack) was a Houndour. Cody, aware of the traditions of battle, dropped his to the ground. Out from his ball was a Pikachu. A pleasant surprise. Pikachu was his second choice. Eevee being his first.

"Houndour. Fire and Dark type. Principal weaknesses are water, ground, and fighting types. I don't have a type advantage unfortunately, but I give a 0% of beating me anyway."

"Big words coming from some kid," the grunt barked, almost insulted. "What makes you so confident? Have you even battled before, punk?"

"I have run enough simulations to know what I am doing. Also, I am assuming you are an idiot."

"WHAT?! YOU LITTLE SH*T! HOUNDOUR, USE EMBER!" The grunt roared in anger and his Pokemon channeled his master's rage into a fiery blitz of an attack, the sparks of fire flying towards Cody and Pikachu. Cody leaned out of the way, avoiding the bad aim. Pikachu, seemingly already in sync with Cody, nimbly dodged the attack as well, leaping to the side and gearing up for his own attack.

"Pikachu. Use Thundershock," Cody said with half wave of interest. He ran through enough battles in his head that the whole allure of the thing was already gone. Pikachu charged up a jolt of electricity and launched the bolt of energy directly at his opponent, frying the Houndour and nearly tuckering the Pokemon out. Must of been a critical hit.

The grunt spat. "Looks like the kid can back up this talk," he said under his breath. "Fine then. Houndour, use leer." With a strong glare, the Houndour tried to stir some fear in Pikachu, who was preparing another Thundershock to follow up the last one, as if knowing Cody was to order that anyway. Pikachu halted the attack, frightening by the sharp eyes of Houndour. "Now scorch the little mouse with ember!" The grunt ordered. Pikachu, still intimidated failed to dodge the move, and was surrounded and seared by the flames. Pikachu crawled out of the attack, wincing and crying in pain.

"Roll on the ground!" Cody said, remembering his basic lessons on putting out fires. Pikachu internally shrugged his shoulders and rolled on the ground, suffocating the flames. The Houndour tried to launch another batch of ember, loading up the flames in his mouth. "Pikachu, fire a quick Thundershock." Charged up, Pikachu fired the Thundershock directly into the mouth of his opponent, hitting home launching the Houndour back to its owner. More cooked than a well done piece of meat, the Houndour laid on the ground twitching in defeat.

The grunt shallowed his pride and recalled the Pokemon. "Looks like I need to find myself some less useless Pokemon."

"Looks like you need to find a better line of work. Maybe something with a less ridiculous uniform."

Shortly after arriving, two more teens followed. First there was Cody, who had absolutely nothing interesting about him. He was just plain boring. Afterwards, there was Fred, who looked like a spineless ninny. He was holding a camera, and took a picture without warning. The unexpected flash hurt Angie's eyes. Who even has flash on indoors? The boy apologized immediately, looking flustered, and moved over to where the others were.

With everyone present and accounted for, Oak wheeled over to a large map of Kanto and began briefing everyone of what they were to do. They had to travel around the region and collecting badges from Gyms, which was a no brainier. However, the gyms had to be done in groups, which made Angie grimace. She couldn't just ditch these losers and do what she wanted. What a pain.

After explaining the gym trials, Oak wheeled over to the container holding five Poke Balls. Now this was the good part. She really wanted the Eevee, but she was probably last in line. She just had to hope something would happen, and no one else picked it.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, something did happen. There was another flash, this time not from Fred's camera, and Oak's Pidgeot cried out in pain. Quickly, a thick purple smog filled the room. Angie coughed and wheezed from the smoke, and she pulled her T-shirt up to cover her nose and mouth. She tried looking around, but she couldn't see anything. She could hear a lot of commotion though. Oak's wheelchair and the Poke Ball container crashed to the floor.

"Target acquired!" Angie heard the voice clearly. It sounded like a woman, and not one she had met before. A gust of wind blew away the fog, and standing in front of them were several soldiers. The professor, along with his aides, were all tied up. One of the men was carrying Oak over his shoulder. These people were probably the new criminal gang she had heard about. All she knew for sure is that they meant business.

With the smog cleared, Angie spotted the Poke Balls scattered on the floor. She instinctively grabbed the one closest to her. One of the man started to speak. He had a deep and gravely voice. "You kids are lucky, our missions are usually pulled of flawlessly and we're never seen. It's a shame, he wanted you five unharmed. But unfortunately I'm calling the shots here. Fire at will." The soldiers lined up into formation. There were five grunts, one for each of the trainers. How convenient.

Angie tossed her Poke Ball, and out came an Eevee. She grinned. Just the Pokemon she wanted. The grunt across from her did the same, and a Bellsprout emerged from his Poke Ball. Neither of them had a type advantage, but she was perfectly fine with that. It would just be a good old-fashioned brawl.

Taking the initiative, Angie made the first move. "Eevee, use Tackle!" the Eevee charged at the Bellsprout, barreling into it with full force.

The grunt retaliated. "Vine Whip!" The Bellsprout used one of it's Vines to grab hold of the Eevee, so it couldn't escape. Then, it used the other vine to smack at him.

"Quick, use Tail Whip!" Eevee wagged his tail back and forth, attempting to free himself from the vine. His tail ended up tickling the Bellsprout, which loosened it's grip and allowed him to escape.

The grunt looked annoyed. "Use Growth!" The Bellsprout began focusing it's energy, and it's vines began to grow in size. They appeared even more powerful.

"Sand Attack, Eevee!" Even though they were inside a building, Eevee somehow managed to kick up dirt into the Bellsprout's face. The soldiers must have brought in dirt from their shoes, because the floor was pretty clean before. It was probably best not to question it and just move on.

In a rage, the Bellsprout used another Vine Whip, but ended up missing Eevee with it's impaired vision. "Didn't anyone tell you that it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it?" She taunted the grunt.

"F*ck you, b*tch!" He shouted angrily.

"Ooh, swearing, how original." Angie smirked. "Now let's finish this guy off with another Tackle!" Eevee ran at the Bellsprout once more and tackled it into the ground. It passed out from exhaustion.

The grunt spat in disgust and recalled the Pokemon. "What a sh*tty Pokemon. Why did I have to get stuck with it?"

"There's nothing ****** about that Pokemon." She protested. "You're just a sh*tty trainer!"

"Well you're damn lucky that we're not supposed to kill you. If it wasn't for that, you'd be dead on the spot."

"I'd like to see you try."

Justine Granger

Day 1: Episode 1
"Fun with Chemicals."

​

Justine jumped when a click and flash started out of nowhere. She looked behind her and saw the curly-blonde hair and lean face of Fred Sone. He had a camera and his hands and blush soon came to his face. He apologized, but Justine only half noticed. Her mind had just gotten a serious jolt. Sh*t! She forgot to do the one thing her parents had been reminding her to do for the past months. Take pictures on her camera and send them when she could. How could she already forget!? She could have gotten a picture with the doctor and maybe one or two of the lab. Luckily, her opportunity wasn't missed, she could take pictures after, and with her Pokemon next to her.

"Oh, you're fine," she responded to Fred in contrast to Riku's more sarcastic one. She smiled and turned her attention from him to the doctor, making a quick note in her mind to remember about her camera. It was somewhere in her over-stuffed backpack. Dr. Oak wheeled himself to a map of Kanto and began to explain their journey enthusiastically. They'd be gone for a year, training to become champions. It turned out that not all of this would be individual. Team challenges would come up every now and again. Justine took a quick look at everyone from her seat, wondering how easy or hard that would be. Fred and Cody seemed like they would be manageable and Riku still made her wary of his personality. Angie, she didn't know that much about her. She was iffy. Not to mention giant. Teamwork would be key since the trials to even get to the gyms were dangerous. She wondered why. Wouldn't it just be easier to battle? Possibly harming yourself and your Pokemon just to get to an already difficult battle with the gym leader seemed a little... Unfair? Yes, that may be the word she was looking for. She wasn't sure if being badly injured or dead or something was worth one gym battle. She supposed she'd have to see.

Justine grinned as the part she was waiting for came. The choosing of the Pokemon. As Dr. Oak explained, another flash from behind came out from nowhere. Riku immediately got angry, which Justine didn't get unless he really didn't like pictures. Anyways, it didn't make sense to her, the chair in the office were all seated next to each other. How could it be--? Before she could finish her thoughts or possibly put them forth, the pained call of a Pidgeot sounded from the laboratory. Justine's head snapped back in that direction, startled by the terrible cry. Dr. Oak, forgetting his speech, wheeled out into the laboratory with as much speed as his wheelchair could muster with Riku following behind. Justine stood out of her chair, took a glance at the other students, and followed after at a hurried pace with question marks over her head. She wished she'd walked because she headed straight into purple miasma. Instantly blinded, Justine ran into Dr. Oak's wheelchair, hitting one of the handles with her upper thigh.

"Ow!" She gasped, grasping the thigh with her hand and gritting her teeth. D*mn why did that have to hurt so bad? And... Ugh. Justine shuddered as nausea instantly hit her. Whatever this gas was, she was realizing it wasn't exactly safe. Inhaling a mouthful wasn't exactly going to help her. Not only that, but she got a mouthful of this unknown, nauseating stench. She austomatically grimaced, plugging her nose in an attempt to rid the smell. What was that? Other than the doctor, Riku was near her and he heard his voice clearly in the fog. Unfortunately she couldn't bring herself to do much other than groan. She felt like she was going to barf all over the floor. She hoped not, that wouldn't exactly help the situation. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her nose, just like she learned from every TV show and from a few informational meetings, to filter the air in hopes of something she could breathe. As Cody began to speak a feminine voice interrupted him, making clear the capture of their apparent target. Target? What tar--... Oh. The target became clear when Justine felt that Oak was no longer with them. She braced herself to run forward, maybe she could find him if she went up there? She didn't get much of a chance to act before something shot out into the darkness and wrapped around her wrist. She shrieked, startled by what grabbed her. Her imagination immediately created the image of her being dragged into the fog and stolen away like the Doctor and an icy vein of fear grabbed onto her heart. She was lucky though, she guessed. It was that same injured Pidgeot that saved her.

The smoke cleared as it weakly blew away the poisonous fog, revealing five masked people and two Pokemon, a Bellsprout and a Grimer. The Bellsprout had three vines coming from its body. Two from behind its leaf arms and one straight from its mouth. Justine pulled against the vine from its mouth, now both afraid of capture and disgusted by the origin of this appendage. Dr. Oak and the other scientists around were immobilized and gunk that resembled the body of the Grimer was stuck over their eyes. It had to have been responsible for the gas and... And the smell. It was practically a Grimer's trademark. A smell that could knock out and elephant and kill dogs. It wasn't exactly one you could get used to very quickly either. The five masked intruders stood in a row, the tallest with Oak thrown over his shoulder, the others ready for battle, all somehow unaffected by the smell. At the end, one of the intruders were short and wearing what seemed like combat boots. She, being the only girl, must have been the one who called out earlier.

Some of the fog still lingered but enough was gone for a clear view. Justine looked at the ground, five balls fallen onto the ground in an almost hazardous fashion. She grabbed the one behind her, eyes stuck on the five people and the Bellsprout. When she grabbed her ball and the others as well, it was clear that this moment would not go by without a battle. The Bellsprout retracted its vines and nimbly went back to its trainers side. Dropping the Dr. Oak, the tallest of the five went through his own little pre-battle spiel.

"You kids are lucky, our missions are usually pulled of flawlessly and we're never seen. It's a shame, he wanted you five unharmed. But unfortunately I'm calling the shots here. Fire at will." Just as he finished, the other three tossed their Pokeballs into the air, releasing what they had hidden until now. The man directly in front of Justine released a Klink. The gear Pokemon rotated left and right, eyes narrowed, before it came to a stop.

Justine pressed the middle button of the Pokeball, enlarging it, and tossed it forward. Just as she released the grunt called an attack.

"Klink, Vice Grip!" The Pokemon reacted immediately, gears rotating as it zoomed forward, straight at the Pokeball Justine just threw. The ball opened, releasing in a white light the Pokemon it held inside. Before it had a chance to close, the Klink reached it, catching it by the top between two gears. The Klink made a noise that sounded like metal hitting metal and its gears suddenly began to move at an incredible speed, pulling the Pokeball between both gear-bodies and crushing it. The ball exploded into bits of plastic, glass, and metal, becoming nothing in seconds. Justine's jaw dropped. It was like watching someone run over your brand new, 64-gig iPod. Only this was much more expensive and much cooler than an iPod. Small pieces of the Pokeball sat stuck between the Klink's gears and it rotated again at the same speed, this time backwards, sending the pieces flying into random directions. "D*mn," the grunt said behind the Pokemon, a grin coming to his face, "just a little too late."

If it weren't for his statement, Justine may never have broken out of her daze. She closed her mouth, immediately frowning. Oh, this guy was an a*shole. But he wouldn't be grinning for very long. Not after she got through with him using her.... Squirtle? She looked down at the water-pokemon. Its hands were up to its nose, sheilding the stench, but his eyes were locked on the Klink, wide and red and fearful. He must have seen what had happened to that Pokeball. His body trembled visibly.

"Squir-squiirrr...!" He managed to say shakily. Justine took her eyes away from the Pokemon when laughter began to start. She narrowed her eyes at the grunt. Yeah, this a*shole was going to get it.

"Come on, Squirtle. You got to help me out on this one!" Squirtle didn't respond, he probably didn't hear her. The Klink made a malevolent grin at the young Pokemon and loudly, it suddenly let forth a yell of its name, its voice harsh, robotic, and deep. What sounded like a scream came out of Squirtle's lungs and he ran over to Justine, being the only safe looking person in range of him. He grabbed the leg of her pants, burying his face into her in an attempt to hide. She bent down quickly, grabbing him into her arms and holding him against her. This wasn't good. Not at all. She didn't know how to handle this. There weren't a lot of classes in this academy that went over comforting a Pokemon in the middle of a crucial battle. Squirtle's actions only made the grunt laugh harder, having to hold his stomach to contain it all. That was really pissing her off.

"Klink!" He had to force out, "Vice Grip a-again!" The Klink rotated itself again and went towards Justine and Squirtle. Not wanting to end up like the Pokeball she ran out of the way. As fast as the Klink could move, it turned slowly, having to reduce its speed before it could make an accurate turn. It came after them again, Justine once again dodging out of the way. Justine didn't think she could keep this running around up and the Klink didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. It was about two tries after that it made contact. As Justine moved to get out of the way again, she tripped, stumbling backwards. By the time she gained her footing the Klink was too close to evade and in a second it caught Squritle's tail between two gears.

"Squirt-Squirtle!" Immediately her little Pokemon began to panic, kicking and flailing in Justine's arms. He moved so furiously that she couldn't keep hold of him and half let go, half dropped him on the ground. Squirtle ran about on the ground, trying to escape from the Klink. He ran into lab tables, knocking his tail against them to try and force the Klink loose, but it held tight and was mostly unaffected. The grunt had calmed down, but Squirtle's new attempt excited a new round within him. Justine couldn't find the hilarity in it herself. When the Klink finally removed itself, Squirtle immediately retracted his body into his shell as tightly as he possibly could, trembling within it. The Klink began to roar with what seemed like uncontrolled laughter. Its voice was ugly and near grating and its noise caused its trainer to accompany it with his own. Justine ran to Squirtle and picked him up, holding him close to her chest and looking angry and their two opponents. She didn't recall when this had turned into a Funny Fest and this was starting to get extremely annoying. She didn't want anything more than just to... To... She looked down at Squirtle, cowering in his shell and then back at the grunt. Yeah...

"Sorry about this, Squirtle," she whispered to him. She grabbed his shell in both hands and yelled at the grunt. "Hey, Jackass!" She lifted her hand and tossed her Squirtle directly at him. "Laugh at this!" The shell flew sideways through the air, hitting the grunt straight in the face just as he looked.

"F*ck!" The grunt put his hands over his nose and continuing his curses out loud. The Klink made an angry sound and rotated at her threateningly, approaching slowly. Squirtle, peeked outside of his shell, still shaking. Across the room he could see Dr. Oak on the ground. He exited his shell and got to his feet, but before he could run to the fallen man, he was snatched up by the back of his shell by an angry hand. He kicked and flailed in a futile attempt to escape the clutches of his bleeding captor. "Quit that, you little sh*t," the grunt growled, but it did very little to stop Squirtle. The grunt only became more irritated when Squirtle began to shoot bubbles in his face. The grunt shook him again and began to handle him roughly, holding him in a restraining way. Justine regretting using her own Pokemon as a weapon. "Alright, Klink," the grunt said, holding Squirtle's chin up to expose his neck. "Just like with the Pokeball."

The Klink made a deep and malevolent laugh, rotating itself to charge for the attack. Justine hoped that what was going to happen was just some stupid thought she made up on her own, but she didn't have the time to wait and see. She had to act quickly before something terrible happened. She looked left and right. All that was around her were the other battles and lab tables with test tubes and whatever else. She grabbed the first thing she could see, an entire test tube wrack of assorted chemicals. She threw the entire wrack, test tubes and all, at the readying Klink. It hit the Pokemon straight on and it seemed like two and a half second pause before it reacted. Screaming a terrible Pokemon scream, the Klink went erratic, throwing itself this way and that in an attempt to get the liquids off of its body. It rotated its gears and shook itself, but that only succeeded in getting more spread on its body. The sound made a chill go through Justine and the grunt himself gaped. Justine though he may have even looked a little pale. Hands to her face, Justine couldn't believe what she'd done. She didn't mean to, she didn't want to! Not like that anyways. All she was trying to do was protect her Squirtle, no harm in that, right? Apparently harm had been caused, definitely.

As the Klink hollared and ran the edges of its steel body seemed to change color, but Justine could hardly get a good look before the pain crazed Pokemon shot out the window, forcing itself through the glass pane into somewhere else it could find relief. The grunt dropped Squirtle and ran to the window, eyes wide and in as much disbelief as Justine was. He stared out the window for a few moments before turning his eyes to Justine, a frown coming to his face.

"You..." The grunt went from the window and approached her slowly, shaking with anger. "You little b*tch!" Justine took a step back, realizing now she may have had more than a Pokemon problem.

.Episode//TWO​

"Now that was an ordeal." Angie thought to herself as she left the academy. "First we get attacked by some weirdos, they take the old man, then this Dragonite guy busts in. Come to think of it, he did look familiar. Was he famous or something?" She pushed aside these thoughts. Right now, it was time to focus on her journey.

Even though the gyms had to be done in groups, that didn't mean she had to travel with the others. She planned to just deal with them during the gym trials, and travel alone the rest of the way. There was no way she was going to spend all of her time hanging around those losers. Besides, she had to do things at her own pace. They would just hold her back.

Once getting to Route One, she let her newly acquired Eevee out of his Poke Ball. Even after that hectic situation, he looked cheerful. She picked him up to get a better look at him. "Now what am I going to call you?" She thought of a couple names in her head, and eventually settled on one. "How about Dante?" He seemed pleased by the choice. "Good. Dante it is." She grinned and put him back down on the ground. "Alright, let's get some training done so you can be tough for the first gym."

As they were walking the route, searching for Pokemon, a familiar bark stopped Angie in her tracks. She turned in the direction of the sound, and saw her beloved pet Poochyena. "Yena, what are you doing here?" She asked. "Did you want to see me?" There was a note attached to his collar. "Yena was really upset after you left. He's more attached to you than he is to me, so I decided to release him into the wild so you could catch him yourself. I'm sure he would love joining you on your journey. –Dad" She beamed. "Great! Now you can come with me, too!" Yena yapped in happiness.

Seeing the excitement, Dante bounded towards them. He greeted Yena cheerfully. Yena, being faced with an unfamiliar Pokemon, took up a defensive stance and growled at the Eevee. "Oh relax, Yena. This is Dante, my starter Pokemon that I got from the lab. He's perfectly friendly." Yena wasn't convinced, and he eyed Dante suspiciously.

The Eevee, completely oblivious to Yena's cold attitude, tried having a conversation with him. <Hi! I'm Dante, It's super nice to meet you, buddy!> Yena continued to glare at him. <I don't trust you. Get away from Angie.> He responded. Dante looked confused. <Why? She's my trainer, so I have to stay with her.> Yena growled at him angrily. <I was her Pokemon before you! Don't try to replace me!> He lunged at the Eevee and tackled him to the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Angie looked confused. "Why are you attacking him?" She threw a Poke Ball at Yena,, trying to stop him, but he smacked it aside with his tail. She sighed. "I guess I gotta make Dante fight back. I really hate to do this, but Yena is as stubborn as they come." The Eevee got back up from the attack. He was still a bit tired from the first battle, but still had some fight in him.

"Dante, use Tackle!" He ran at the Poochyena and tackled him with great force. Yena cringed. He could tell that Dante's Tackles were stronger than his. Trying to increase his power, he let out a loud Howl. Knowing that Dante probably last long, as she forgot to heal him after the previous battle, decided to just focus on offense. "Tackle again!" Once more, he dashed towards Yena and used Tackle. However, he managed to avoid the attack, and quickly countered with another Tackle of his own. Dante took the full brunt of the attack, and fell over in pain.

"Dante!" She ran over to him, concerned with his health. "Are you alright?" Slowly, Dante pushed himself up from the ground. He hadn't given up yet. "Thank goodness. Are you sure you still want to fight?" He nodded his head. Yena watched all of this, and started to have conflicting feelings. Maybe he shouldn't have started fighting. Angie genuinely cared about the other Pokemon, yet he wanted her attention all to himself.

"Alright, try one more Tackle!" Gathering up his strength, Dante sprinted at Yena. This time, he didn't try to dodge. He willingly took the attack. The force of the Tackle was strong, so he was knocked onto his back. He didn't try to get up though. He wanted to be captured now. Besides, even if he didn't, he didn't have much strength left, as the attack winded him. Seeing this as an opportunity, Angie once again threw a Poke Ball at him. It absorbed the Poocheyena, and began to rock back and forth.

The air here was cool and the path luckily straight. Justine walked with her Squirtle held in her arms, having no others means since the destruction of his Pokeball. The previous time had been both frightening and ominous, but in some way they managed to survive them. News of the events was spreading, and fast. It didn't take long for her best friend, Mia, to find out. She just hoped the news would be slow reaching her parents. She traveled now with Cody, having asked him to travel with her. Everyone else had decided to go the journey alone. She had a number of reasons for wanting to travel in a group, for one, there was safety in numbers. Two, walking alone, to her, just seemed boring.

Cody led the way, with Pikachu perched on his shoulder. It was bonding exercise as Pokemon supposedly were more effective the more they trusted their trainer. At least that is what he read on the internet. He didn't mind really. Pikachu, so far, was a decent companion, if a bit too energetic for Cody's taste. Maybe his next Pokemon would be more relaxed. At least he hoped so. Cody picked up the pace, hoping to lose Justine slowly. He shrugged his shoulders in apathy when they established their little "friendship" but she didn't get the "Cody doesn't care" message which usually deters people until they prove to be interesting.

"How long do you planning on following me?" He turned and asked.

"Until north becomes south and the sun sets in the east." Justine picked up her pace, going into a short little trot until she walked next to Cody instead of behind him. "Why? I'm not killing you, am I?" She asked with an amused smile.

"I suppose not. Whatever then. I won't make any promises to be that exciting though. I don't have that youthful energy of the others. So if you expecting parties every day, don't. Figured I should warn you now," Cody said with a little sigh, with Pikachu staring at the Squirtle that she carried around with her.

"Yeah, I kind of figured there was no hidden dragon last year, sport." A moderate laugh came out of Justine. There were a lot of people who were well acquainted with the idea of "the kid who didn't do anything". "I think I can handle you, Cody." The Squirtle in her arms busied himself with staring at the grass on the ground or the flowers near by, still shaken, but recovering, from the lab's ordeal. His countenance was not sad, but neither was it happy or all together neutral. He simply tried to preoccupy his mind with things he'd never seen before.

"I am surprised you noticed anything about me. I tried to avoid developing any sort of reputation. Shame," Cody said with disappointment. "Well, since we are here we may as well catch or train some Pokemon. What do you say about splitting up for a bit and encounter some Pokemon on our own and meet up near the end of Route 1?"

"Split up? So you can collapse on the ground and fall asleep when you don't find anything? Staying together is better," and tons more fun at that. "And I might leave you behind, too."

"Damn. I really wanted a nap too..." Cody moaned. "Fine, I'll guess we'll stick together. Let's go look for some Pokemon then." Cody needed to build his team up. No way he could beat Pokemon trainers regularly with just a Pikachu, as much as he rather would. Less work to train one Pokemon than 6 or more. "Ready to go hunting? Or do you need to pretty yourself up a bit more?"

"Please, Cody," Justine grinned. "You can't get prettier than this."

Cody Willingham- Route One

Mental note: Justine has something resembling either comparable wit to my own, ignorant bliss, or a developing ego. Requires more research to confirm. Could led to a desertion operation. Leaning towards to desertion operation #37A. Though #17C is a viable contingency plan should all else fail. Or effort will made to weather the storm and deal with humanoid presence in lieu of limited social interaction with speakers of same language. Language barriers are boundless and annoying.


Cody lost himself in his thoughts, jotting mental notes in his head as he walked along on the path of Route One, paying little attention to Justine behind him, the Pikachu cuddling in his hair or the world around him. Route One was far from interesting, with notable details worth mentioning. At least from Cody's perspective. But to be fair, he would say that about a lot of things. He would need something truly note worthing to grab his attention for more than a few moments. Reaching into his back pocket, Cody decided to play with his Pokedex acquired from the lab. Maybe it would be more useful than anticipated, Cody hoped. When it came to textbook knowledge on Pokemon and their growth, Cody was a borderline genius. He knew about most of what he could classify as a "good" Pokemon, paying little attention to what he deemed weak. Why? Easy answer: they don't interest him. The Pokemon challenge was something Cody wanted to win and you were going to do that with a poorly constructed team of near-useless Pokemon, unless of course they had potential. This inhibited Cody from catching Pokemon left and right, however. This would prove troublesome, especially in the beginning.

Cody pointed the Pokedex at Pikachu and got a basic profile on his Pokemon. Pikachu was level 9. Good. Early progress. Basic moves were learned and Pikachu seemed to have solid stats. Pikachu would be a good leader on his team…which needed to grow. Now.

Cody stopped abruptly on the path and looked around. He wasn't going to find a Pokemon sticking to the paths. Few Pokemon veered away from the natural fields, grass and wildlife of Route One. Sadly, Cody had to adventure out of his comfort zone of tranquility. With a sigh, Cody slid off the road into the grass, not caring if Justine was following or not. Cody perched himself on a low tree branch, possibly shocking Justine with his climbing ability, as given Cody's build any athletic ability was no doubt surprising. "I really wish I had binoculars," he mumbled to himself as he surveyed the area from his vantage point. Grass types would be impossible to see from here, but any other types would be easier…unless they adapted to the environment. "Nothing can be seen from there," Cody said with a grunt, as he seemingly fell to the ground. "I guess will have to move-" An angry bird descend from the brush of the tree, wailing on Cody's head like an intruder at a birthday party. While he did not scream, he did he moan and curse as the bird wailed on the hapless trainer.

With a growl, Pikachu scared the attacker away for a moment allowing Cody to catch his breath and Pikachu to prepare for another engagement. Cooler heads prevailing, Cody analyzed the situation not taking much time to figure out that the bird that attacked him was none other than a Pidgey and Cody may have disturbed a nest or a resting place of a very angry little Pidgey. Probably a younger one based on its aggressiveness. Didn't matter really. Cody found a solid addition to his team.

"Pikachu, use Thundershock," Cody ordered and without much hesitation, Pikachu charged up and fired a bolt of electricity at the bird Pokemon, that barely managed to fly out of the way in time to avoid the attack. The Pidgey replied with a sand attack, indefinitely prolonging the engagement. Tactical enough to realize Pikachu would miss his next attack because of the blinding dust storm, Cody advised his strategy a bit. "Pikachu, use Tail Whip to soften him up a bit." Pikachu leapt out of the sand attack and into the air, slapping the Pidgey with his tail bringing the flying type crashing to the ground.

Now as angry as ever, the Pidgey flew forth with a tackle, striking Pikachu squarely in the torso sending the Pikachu to the ground. "Heh, perfect. Static will kick in now." Pidgey was paralyzed and unable to move, making it easy pickings now. "Pikachu, use Thundershock again." Pikachu smiled as well, in sync with Cody's confidence. Firing another electric attack with glee, the Pidgey was fired to a crisp, severely weakened and paralyzed from the attack. Removing an empty ball from his bag, Cody tossed the Pokeball at the bird Pokemon, watching the ball shake on the ground, confident than he succeeded in his capture.