Episode
2:
Let the Training Begin!
The late afternoon sunlight shone
down through the leaves as the two companions walked through the woods. After
walking out on his parents, Nick met up with Adam at the southern gate of
Spring City. South of the city was Bug Bay, a popular destination for people to
spend the day swimming or holding pokemon battles. Most of the trainers here
were young or inexperienced and resided in Spring City. The road to the bay,
aptly named Bug Bay Road, was a dirt road just wide enough for two cars,
however it was rare that anyone drove down here. On both sides of the road was
woodlands, which teemed with nearly every kind of bug pokemon in existence, as
well as a healthy amount of bird and small mammalian pokemon as well. To the
two new trainers, this was the perfect spot to start their training.
When they finally got to a clearing,
Nick stopped and stared around. “Well Adam, I think we found the only spot in
the woods big enough for your Rhyhorn to battle.”
Nick laughed as Adam shot him a
dirty look. “You’re just jealous I’ve got a powerhouse for my first and all
you’ve got is a lil poisonous bunny. No offense, Nid.”
Nidoran squeaked and growled to show
Adam he was ready for a fight. Nick chuckled, “Calm down, Nidoran. We’re here
to fight bugs, not Adam.”
“At least not yet!” Adam yelled,
throwing his pokeball out. After a quick two seconds, the pokeball opened,
releasing a flash of bright red light. Before their eyes, the light formed into
the solid mass of Rhyhorn. With a roar Rhyhorn stomped his foot, sending birds
flying off in all directions. “I will never get used to that,” Adam laughed,
throwing up his hands in excitement. “Look at the size of him!”
“He’s very impressive, but how are
you going to catch the wild pokemon to battle them?”
Just then, a rustle was heard behind
them. They all turned to see a Rattata emerge from a bush, its tail held high
and a high squeal coming from its mouth. It was only about eight inches tall
and a foot long, but its large front teeth could be very dangerous if someone
wasn’t careful. There were enough stories about Rattatas attacking people who
inadvertently angered the aggressive rodents.
“Looks like I won’t need to run
after them. I got this,” Adam said, putting a hand on Rhyhorn’s back. “I mean,
we got this.” Rhyhorn tossed his head and snorted, obviously not threatened by
the tiny creature.
“That poor Rattata,” Nick said as he
and Nidoran stood back, giving Rhyhorn room. Nick cared for pokemon and didn’t
like to see them get unnecessarily hurt, and from what he could tell, this
Rattata was way out of its league.
“Alright Rhyhorn get ready to use
your tackle!” Rhyhorn pawed the ground and lowered its head, ready to throw its
body forward at its opponent. However the Rattata was much quicker than
Rhyhorn, and leaped out the rock pokemon. The Rattata bit into Rhyhorn’s frill,
but was visibly stunned when its teeth did nothing to the rocky exterior.
Rattata fell to the ground, and before Rhyhorn could do anything, the Rattata
disappeared into the woods.
“Umm…I guess that counts as a win,
right?” Adam sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.
Nick couldn’t stop laughing. “Yeah,
we’ll count it. If anyone asks, Rhyhorn sent the Rattata flying off into the
distance.”
Adam laughed, but was obviously disappointed
by his first wild encounter.
“Don’t sweat it, Adam. Battling in
the middle of the woods just isn’t Rhyhorn’s style. You should be out on the
main road battling other trainers.”
“True,” Adam snickered pulling
something out of his pocket, “or I could just catch another pokemon!” Adam
flashed the empty pokeball at Nick, smiling at his friend’s expression.
“When did you have time to go buy
those?” Nick exclaimed.
“I ran to the pokemart while you
were arguing with your parents. I figured since we’re going out I might as well
stock up. You looked like I punched you in the gut, are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Nick said, looking down at
Nidoran. “It’s just that, well you’re so much more prepared and ready for this
than me. I thought I’d have the upper hand, being that my dad’s a gym leader
and all.”
“Aww come on, don’t be like that. I’m
ready for this because I’m more excited than you, and I have my father’s
blessing. I’m sure you’d be lugging a huge bag of pokeballs and potions and who
knows what else around if your dad gave you the a-okay for this.”
“I have no idea why he’s acting like
this,” Nick said crouching down to pet Nidoran. “You’d think he’d be proud that
I finally want to follow in his footsteps. Instead he’s acting like I just
tried out for the all girl’s ballet team.”
Adam snorted, “From the way you talk
I think he’d be happier with ballet than pokemon training. You’re right, it
doesn’t make any sense, but he’s gotta have a good reason. I mean, he’s your
dad. He wants what’s best for you.”
“No, he wants what’s best for my
future as he sees it.”
Adam sighed and leaned against Rhyhorn. “You
know, seeing as I never really had a dad, maybe I’m just more optimistic. But
your dad has always been the easy-going cool guy. Remember when he used to let
us watch his gym battles when we were little kids?”
Nick smiled fondly at the happy
memories. “Yeah, those were great times. He hasn’t let us do that in awhile.”
“And why do you think that is? Maybe it’s
because he knew one day you would go out and train your own team. Then you two
would have to battle, and one of you would lose. Your whole life, hell our
whole lives, your dad has tried so hard to help us become winners. But now he
might have to beat you. Can’t be easy on the guy.”
Nick sat quietly for a moment. “Adam,
that was…really well thought out. Did you just come up with that?”
“Yeah, I don’t know, just being outside,
finally with a pokemon of my own, it’s making me see things clearer.” Adam
paused for a second, gathering his thoughts. “Or maybe it was just a fluke. I
don’t feel any smarter now that I think about it.”
They both laughed. “I guess it’s just
easier to see what’s really going on from the outside,” Nick said standing back
up. “Come on, let’s keep on training. If what you say is true, then I need to
make sure my dad doesn’t have a chance to beat me.”
“That’s the spirit!” Adam said clapping
his hands together. “Now let’s go find a pokemon for Nidoran to beat!”
“How bout that one?” Adam whispered to
Nick as they peered through a bush. Six feet in front of them was a Caterpie,
munching on some leaves. It was roughly one foot in length, was green with a white
underbelly, and had a red antennae in the shape of the letter Y on its
forehead.
“It looks so peaceful, I don’t want to
disturb it.”
Adam looked at Nick like he was crazy. “Dude,
we’re pokemon trainers now. Battling wild pokemon is part of the job.”
“Yeah, but I want to do it on their
terms. That Rattata challenged you.”
From next to Nick, Nidoran gave a low
growl, looking behind the trainers. They turned around a saw a strange looking
bug pokemon staring intently at them. It was about a foot and a half tall,
standing on two legs, with most of its body was covered in a body hard-looking
shell. On the top of its head was a horn that split and rounded into two
points, resembling the letter U. Its face and limbs were black with a patch of
teal on its forehead. Its underbelly and eyes were yellow, and its orange
pupils flickered back and forth between Nidoran and the two trainers. When it
opened its mouth to cry out at them they saw it had two fangs for teeth.
“What is that?” Adam asked, slowly
reaching for his pokeball with Rhyhorn in it.
“I recognize it, but I can’t remember its
name. Karra-something. It’s not poisonous, I know that.”
“Well are you going to battle it? It
looks like its issuing a challenge.”
Nick looked down at Nidoran. “You ready?”
Nidoran barked a challenge and walked out to meet the attacker. “Alright let’s
do this then.”
Nick and Adam stood up and Adam leaned
back against a tree. “This shouldn’t be too difficult for Nidoran. Even if we
don’t know what this pokemon can do.”
“Yeah,” Nick smiled as he looked at
Nidoran pawing the ground anticipation. “He’s got this. Nidoran! Start with a tackle
attack!”
Nidoran charged at the bug and collided
headfirst with it. The pokemon fell backwards but recovered quickly. It ran
towards Nidoran and swiped at him with its horn. Nidoran cried out, but held
its ground.
“This pokemon’s got a lot of defense,”
Nick muttered to himself. “Nidoran use leer! Lower his defense!” Nidoran gave
the bug a hard look, and it took a step back. But instead of attacking, the bug
braced itself, readying for the next attack.
“Nidoran, use your horn attack!” Nidoran
charged at the bug again, this time keeping its head down. The horn collided
with the soft underbelly of the pokemon, knocking it back. Nick held his
breath, not sure it the pokemon was down. But slowly it crawled back up to its
two feet.
“It looks really weak,” Adam said from
behind Nick.
Nick stopped himself from issuing the
last command. “Adam, you have a spare pokeball. Do you want him?”
Adam was shocked. “Oh no, he’s all yours
Nick! I’ll catch my own.”
Nick shrugged. “Suit yourself. Nidoran,
finish the poor guy off with a tackle attack!” Nidoran leaped and struck,
sending the bug pokemon sprawling out and fainted
Nidoran began jumping around for joy,
and Adam patted Nick on the back. “Great job on your first battle, buddy.”
Nick picked Nidoran up and laughed. “And
many more to come!”
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