A sea of Green

[malcolm]

Andy was trembling with nervous excitement as he and Aquamarine first set eyes on the Verdant Highlands. As green as it looked, it also appeared as if a war zone ended sometime ago. Even the brilliance of the sun shining across the grass couldn’t hide the evident fact that something massive occurred. “Woah” Andy exclaims, mouth agape, followed by Aquamarine squeaking “Marrrill” with the same surprised expression while perched on his right shoulder. Both take in all the sights they can for now, too bad its mainly lots of grass with some plants scattered here and there, it may as well have been a sea of green.


The majesty of the field of green soon fades however, as Andy begins thinking more about the pokémon present in this area. “I really hope to have my first capture soon, it would be awesome!” he shouts, then a worried look comes over him as he gazes to the little mouse“ but at the same time I hope Aquamarine can handle the Pokémon that does come up, after all she hasn’t had any practice at all, and neither have I”. Aquamarine sees the now worried Andy and squeaks rather softly, almost to the point of cooing, as if to say “don’t worry about it Andy we can get through whatever happens”. Of course, the new trainer can’t understand what his Marill meant by the soft squeaking but nevertheless took some comfort in that replying with a “Thanks, I needed that” and a smile.

After walking for what seemed like forever to Andy, the scene changes to feature more blooming flowers, and a lone tree that looks…bizarre among the grasslands. Suddenly a rustling among the flowers, “It’s a pokémon!” quips Andy “Aquamarine lets go”, the mouse hops off its perch and assume a battle pose, only to have the rustling stop a few seconds later, “Ril?” wonders Marill, trying to pick up the sound's source.

another rustle in the thick grass.

This time Aquamarine picks up on it on its own and tries running towards when Andy stops her “ Shhhhh” Andy whispers, don’t make too much noise or it will run away again “Mar” she squeaks quietly and tries to sneak up on the hopefully easy to handle noise maker. The unknown pokémon however, took notice of her due to Aquamarine stepping on a rotted branch from that bizarre looking tree which breaks with a snap! It now turns to face her and Andy’s first wild pokémon battle begins.

[malcolm]

Andy runs up to Aquamarine and the unknown foe, pokedéx in hand, the dex identifies it as a Skiddo. “A Skiddo?! And it’s a grass type too, hopefully it at least hasn’t learned any grass moves yet “ wonders Andy, more worried for Aquamarine’s sake. The Skiddo readies a tackle attack which knocks the mouse back a bit . “Ril” squeaks Marill to Andy who snaps to attention upon hearing her. “Okay then Aquamarine use Bubble” she lets loose a thin stream of bubbles at the Mount Pokemon; they barely cause it to so much as wince, instead being more of an annoyance and making it rather enraged. “Skiddo!” shouts the goat and charges at Marill again, Aquamarine is hit once again, knocked back farther and almost tips over. “Aquamarine are you all right”? he asks worriedly, the only response being a pained, and tired squeak from the mouse.



Feeling confident about the current situation, the Skiddo backs off a bit and begins prancing around the pair looking very high and mighty, even growling occasionally to taunt them, this got Andy and Aquamarine riled up. She stands up trying to look brave but clearly under some stress after being repeatedly being rammed by the goat, He didn’t want to run now; seeing the Skiddo give him and his poké-partner the brush off just made him more determined to catch him. The repeated tackle attacks took its toll on the kid as well, it may have had the upper hoof in the battle currently but it was getting tired as well, perhaps one good crash into something hard would cause it to faint. “Man both pokémon are tired, I could try catching it now but it still looks like it would break out of it and cause more problems” then he sees the same bizarre looking tree from earlier “ Wait, that’s it!” Andy runs behind the tree and waits. Seeing the mouse standing, Skiddo is steamed again, wanting to to end to battle and get back to its territory, it tries a 3rd tackle attack, from the tree Andy calls out “Use bubble and aim for its eyes!” The Marill lets loose another stream of bubbles, most of them hitting the goats eyes. Skiddo swerves away from Aquamarine blinded by her bubbles, Andy at that moment, whistles twice from the tree while making absolutely sure to stay hidden while the goat follows the sound purely on instinct. It keeps running till… CRASH! The Skiddo goes face first into the tree and tumbles over “Skiiidoo” it mumbles dazedly, looking like it took a dizzy punch to the face as it lays there now way too exhausted to put up much resistance. Andy takes out one of his poke balls, “Yes, now you mine” he triumphantly says as he tosses it at the dazed kid, a red aura envelops the pokémon and the ball begins its capture process, Andy’s face showing a mixture of determination , excitement and concern for his aqua mouse , who had just now caught up to the commotion, all the while.



One shake…..



Two shakes…



Three shakes… The button on the pokéball goes from red to white signifying a successful first capture for the up- and- comer. Both trainer and Pokémon finally relax with Andy plopping himself on the grass and Aquamarine trying to rest in Andy’s arms clearly in need of a nap, its eyes half closed and chest heaving from the now captured Skiddo, which he spontaneously names Billy. Luckily for Andy’s nerves, it didn’t appear to be too badly hurt from the encounter, just tired. “Nice going Aquamarine you did well” says Andy softly as she drifts off to sleep, while Andy rests near the trunk of the tree Skiddo crashed into.

SPOILER: Click to show

Skiddo uses tackle

Aquamarine (Marill) uses bubble

Skiddo uses tackle(critical hit)

Skiddo begins prancing around growling in a taunting fashion

Andy hides behind a tree

Skiddo tries a 3rd tackle attack

Marill uses bubble again, with the bubbles hitting Skiddo's eyes

Skiddo is blinded by the bubbles causing him to miss Marill

Andy whistles from behind the tree

Skiddo runs toward the whistles, while still blinded, slamming head first into the tree

Andy uses a Pokéball

Andy catches the Skiddo

An hour later Andy wakes up, grabs his backpack and resumes his trek through Verdant Highlands. “Well I'm glad you made it through your first battle “ Andy happily cheers while Marill just smiles, “Speaking of which come on out Skiddo” the poke ball opens and the the red light turns to form the goat, who is now dejected over losing in a battle. The Skiddo is still tired, so it takes a rest in the all too abundant grass, never once looking at its new trainer, which Andy figures is out of disdain.

[malcolm]

SPOILER: Click to show

Pokemon
Skiddo Caught at Level 5 Nickname: Billy Gender: Male Type: Grass Ability: Sap Sipper Height: 3' 0'' Weight: 68.3 Lbs Health: Intermediate EXP Rate: Medium Fast EXP Gauge: 7/9 EXP Gained: 0 Level: 5 Division: D8 Total Stats: 55 Attack: 13 (25%) Defense: 8 Sp. Attack: 11 (20%) Sp. Defense: 8 Speed: 15 Vitamins Used: None	Moveset: 1. Tackle 1.Growth Unique Moves: - - - - Item:

“Well he clearly doesn’t like me right now, if only I had some berries “. The Skiddo heard the word “berries” and ran to Andy hoping for one, busy trying to put on a cute facade “Sorry I don’t have any right now, I can get some at the next city” his face turns a mix of pouting and angry as the goat takes off again “Oh no your not getting away again” Andy thought and took off after it. It was trying to get back to that little cluster of land that doesn’t grow anything too bad when it did get back there it just was scooped up by Andy while still kicking and bleating, of course now Andy had an even longer trek ahead of him now thanks to Billy trying to run off, the Marill just sighs as if to say “he’s being a handful” as Andy is thinking the same thing, “but still with what went on here I can’t blame him for being like that”. With all the kicking and bleating from the goat Andy may as well be caring for a cranky , fussy baby. He wanted to bond with this pokémon by any means necessary and if that meant carrying him around that was fine with him. Billy tires himself out yet again and dozes off with Andy still holding it and stroking its pelt gently while it sleeps “Well looks like he calmed down” he said “I really hope he isn’t always like this“. Marill , on the other hand, is wide awake sitting on her perch on the trainers right shoulder.



Skiddo wakes up 5 minutes later and looks up at Andy ,who is still petting him, with a less angry expression and no fussing unlike before. “Skiddo Skid” he protests, wanting to be put down, “Nope you will just dart off again” Andy retorts which brings more fussing, angry protests from Billy, a VERY exasperated Andy, and an equally annoyed Aquamarine, busy trying to cover her ears to avoid hearing the nonstop whining. Andy sighs, “Maybe you just want to prove yourself huh Billy? Lets see how you do in a battle of your own” Billy responds with a “Skiddo” and a determined gaze out towards the grass, now he needed to find a pokémon. “Marill” Aquamarine whispers as she picks up a faint noise from the grass “Sounds like…flapping wings? Well that should work” thought Andy, apparently forgetting the troubles his blue mouse had the battle before. The green goat jumps out of Andy’s arms into the grass and scampers off towards the flapping “Skiddo wait!” Andy calls, but he is already out of his sight. Thanks to Billy’s grass pelt he virtually blends in with the grass, Andy breaks off into a run trying to hear the rustling of grass at the same time, he cannot keep up with it though and soon the rustling sounds stop. “Billy!” Andy worriedly calls but receives no response,


Billy meanwhile, has caught up to the bird and begins trying to battle it by using tackle attacks which this bird easily dodges by taking to the air. The miffed bird, convinced its found its culprit for the deaths of her babies, begins flying circles around the poor kid, pelting it with Quick Attacks before he even can react, sending him flying several feet away.

[malcolm]

Hearing the flapping, and the birds piercing cry, Andy and Aquamarine arrive a few seconds later. Andy uses the pokédex to identify it as a Pidgeotto, “Billy where are you?” very scared for him now, Skiddo is able to stand again and bleat out a weak “Skid-” getting cut off by the mother pigeon using another quick attack, yet again knocking him away and leaving him virtually fainted, if not worse. Andy runs over to the exhausted goat and tries to run away with him in his arms with Aquamarine trying to distract it with bubbles, the Pidgeotto isn’t having any of that though, looses another squawk and takes off after Andy and Skiddo leaving her in its wake. The bird uses a gust attack to blow Andy off his feet. Followed by a whirlwind to blow Skiddo back to its pokéball. Now the Pidgeotto turns its attack to the Aqua Mouse that interfered with it earlier , it uses a Tackle attack which knocks Aquamarine away, Andy does instruct her to “use bubble” but she’s so terrified after seeing how quickly Billy went down that nothing happens, leading to her being hit by 1 more quick attack. Marill is barely able to stand after that, fainting 2 seconds later; the Pidgeotto is now panting for breath through its beak clearly tired now.

SPOILER: Click to show

Billy (Skiddo) uses tackle on the Pidgeotto but misses

Pidgeotto uses Quick Attack

Billy gets distracted by hearing Andy's voice

Pidgeotto uses Quick Attack again on Skiddo, Skiddo faints

Andy tries to run away holding the Skiddo, while Aquamarine (Marill) uses Bubble as a distraction but Andy cannot flee the battle

Pidgeotto chases down Andy, uses gust to blow him off his feet, followed by whirlwind to send Skiddo back to its pokéball

Pidgeotto uses Tackle on Aquamarine

Aquamarine tries to use bubble, but is too scared to move

Pidgeotto uses a 3rd Quick Attack,Aquamarine faints

Pidgeotto is too tired to continue with the battle and goes back to it's nest

“Wow what ruffled this birds feathers”? The bird saunters away back to the remains of its nest, its head hanging down in mourning. Andy follows the bird back to what’s left of the nest, alone now due to both pokémon of his being fainted. “So this was your nest?” pointing to the little clumps of soil and tiny bits of what looked to be branches from a tree above. “You thought that my Skiddo destroyed it?” to which the mother bird squawks and nods affirmatively. Feeling sorry for the Pidgeotto, he begins looking for more rotted branches for her to use rebuild its nest, mainly from the few trees present in this war stained grassland.



Ten minutes pass before that little clump of soil actually starts looking like a nest once again, while grateful, the Pidgeotto is still grief-stricken over the loss of its two baby pidgeys “I really hope that those eggs weren’t crushed, I’ll at least try to find them” Andy says. Pidgeotto has a little sparkle of of hope in its eyes as Andy begin searching for the eggs “A Item Finder would be soooo useful right now, oh well, if Billy did scatter those eggs they couldn’t have gone that far, assuming that this happened recently.” At this point Andy sighs, remembering just how vast Verdant Highlands is, “May as well search the soil for odd patches, it’s a long shot but I’ve got nothing else to go on. I’m going to need a way to check under the soil.” “May I borrow some twigs from your nest please ?” Andy asks the Pidgeotto, “Pidgeotto” she squawks, he takes a few of the longer ones to poke into odd patches he happens to see. “There were a few patches back at the land that doesn’t grow anything, I should start there”. The infertile land area had some small mound shaped areas in it, maybe one of the eggs were in the mounds. “Time to start searching” Andy then uses the twigs he borrowed to carefully push aside some loose soil …



First mound … … … “Nope nothing here”



Second mound … … … “Huh? What in the world is this?” looking at a white disc in the soil, “who in the world buried this odd thing in the dirt, well guess I can use it, who knows maybe will help out somehow“.



Third mound … … … he sees something that blends in with the soil color-wise, but is more solid, “Hmm is this a Pidgey egg?” Andy wonders. “Better see what the Pidgeotto says” Andy soon returns with what he thinks is a Pidgey egg. “Excuse me is this one of your eggs?” he shows her the brown and yellow egg and the mother bird lights up and takes it in its wing, Andy smiles at this and takes off back to that piece of land to find the other egg.

[malcolm]

Fourth mound … … … “Nope”

Final mound … … … “Nope”

“Hmm, maybe by the tree where I caught Billy is where the other one is”. Back at the bizarre tree that Billy ran his head into, Andy looks for any odd patches around the tree, which there are none then he trips “Darn branches” he says in disgust looking at the branch he tripped over “Huh, what’s this?” referring to a brown dot under the branch. He moves the branch to see it’s actually brown and yellow “The other Pidgey egg!” Andy happily says “Whew thank gosh I didn’t crush it , the Pidgeotto should be happy now”.


He returns with a smile to the mother bird who lights up again and lets out a happy “Pidgeotto!” even given him a hug with its wings, which Andy for some reason, blushes at, possibly out of embarrassment at what is going on. “Well I gotta go now” Andy says walking away, hearing another “Geotto” along with her waving her wings at him in thanks. “Darn Billy is such a prankster, but at least that mother is happy.” “Now I got to get to a Pokemon Center “ Andy says with a tremendous amount of worry for his two pokémon “and maybe Billy will at least listen to me next time”. Andy soon sees the silhouettes of the brick buildings of Cascadia City, “What a a first adventure I had today, I even caught my first pokémon today ,recalling the capture of the Skiddo, even though he is being annoying, he should warm up to me with time. Then there is the Pidegotto I was able to help with its babies, thank gosh Billy didn’t crush them, and I was able to find them in those mounds, hopefully those birds will grow up without too much issues. Next time I really need to plan my trip out and pack some darn potions and berries” mentally smacking himself for not doing so before entering this deceptively calm looking grassland, now more annoyed with himself “ both my friends are in real trouble thanks to my inexperience *sigh* hope they will be ok once I get to a pokémon center” An hour later, Andy can begin to better see those silhouettes of buildings “I’m so excited to show Billy to my parents as my first capture, as long as he doesn’t start rampaging all over the place” shuddering at the mere thought of that possibility “and that’s only my first one, out of many, many more”. 30 minutes later and the grassland starts giving way to paved roads, freshwater canals brick buildings and the smell of fish. Another 15 minutes and he would be back in Cascadia City and near his house to show his parents, and anyone else that happens to ask, his new pokémon, “Gosh it feels good to finally see something other then green grass for miles and miles on end”. As he continues on one thought is in his mind as he arrives in Cascadia, “Raising pokémon sure is harder then it looks”.