Episode Two: Getting To Know The Fish [Mod]

Gareth glanced down at the sleek, red, pokédex he was holding within one hand.  It beeped as he swiped the screen with his finger and moved from screen to screen.  Ultimately, he landed on the page he was looking for and began to take in all of the information about his starter Pokémon Mudkip.  It was, indeed, a fish Pokémon.  To be more accurate it was apparently a ‘Mud Fish’.

It’s type was water.  Oh, look at that; it was a male.  Gareth paused to glance down at his little guy and raise both of his eyebrows in further approval.  And then he glanced back to the dex and read over the statistics of his Mudkip’s power, health, defense, and ect.  Briefly, Gareth glanced over the information regarding the Mudkip species and learned that it had lots of fins, yadda, yadda.

Aha!  There it was.  Mudkip’s current attacks: Tackle, Growl, Mud-Slap, Water Gun, Bide, and Foresight.  Gareth proceeded to go into the information about the attacks he was less familiar with.  And then, finally, he was proceeding to make his way out of Oldale and through Route 102.

“I think my first goal is to earn enough money to purchase a PokéNav,” He told his mud fish and briefly glanced down at it as it walked alongside him.  It seemed to be—er… he…seemed to be interested in his surroundings and Gareth realized that there was a pond over to the right.  Gareth wasn’t as interested in the pond as his Mudkip and, instead, began to glance around as he pushed his hands into the front pocket of his jacket.

“Hmm, wonder if I’ll be able to catch a trainer out here,” He murmured and then glanced forward and unconsciously found himself following his Pokémon as it headed toward the pond.  “Eh, but, it’d probably be better to battle wild Pokémon first.  Get the hang of things… has been four years…,” He muttered to himself.

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MUDKIP ♂ LV.19
Torrent Ability - Ups water moves in a pinch.
Moveset
[Tackle] [Growl] [Mud-Slap] [Water Gun]
[Mud Bomb] [Bide] [Foresight]
Exp: 8 out of 19

Without any warning at all, Gareth found himself being sprayed in the face with a stream of cold water. He sputtered and hollared, immediately bringing both of his hands up to guard against the unexpected drowning of his face. And as soon as he was able to see again, his silver gaze instantly moved to his Mudkip a few feet away.

"What the hell was that for!" He blamed his fish, 100% certain it had been the dratted thing who had sprayed him.

Mudkip was giving him that look again, that infuriating look, and Gareth had to restrain himself from going over to it and snatching it up into the air to show it who was truly the 'master' here. Hint: It wasn't the Mudkip!

His blue mud fish proceeded to just outright ignore him and continue waddling its way forward and toward the lake where Gareth had yet to notice the playful, young, Lotad floating about.

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MUDKIP ♂ LV.19
Torrent Ability - Ups water moves in a pinch.
Moveset
[Tackle] [Growl] [Mud-Slap] [Water Gun]
[Mud Bomb] [Bide] [Foresight]
Exp: 8 out of 19

That was, until the eighteen year old ended up getting sprayed at a second time.  Gareth saw the stream of water and which direction it originated from (more importantly that it wasn't his Mudkip who was spraying him).  But, he wasn't responsive enough in time and ended up getting sprayed again.  He hollered and moved his hands up, the brunt of the playful attack hitting his outstretched palm.

"What the—!" Gareth began and instantly began to storm his way over toward the pond, the green leaf and blue gooey blob seen underneath.  It was the most ugliest pokémon he had ever laid eyes on.  If the thing could even be called a pokémon.

He quickly pulled out his Pokédex to scan the creature and indeed confirm that it was one.  Apparently it was called a Lotad, male, and it was only Level 5.  Just as quickly as the dex had been dawned it disappeared back into his bag.

"Hey you—Lotad—listen up!" He hollered at it, speaking over any sort of conversation it could have with his water-fish-thing.  "Water Gun is meant for battling not spraying trainers in the face.  I demand more respect than that."

His silver gaze turned down toward his Mudkip and he was soon ordering it around as well: "And you, come on, we're going to go battle a bug I saw over by that tree."

Mudkip looked toward a tree neighboring the pond and could see a Wurmple against the trunk resting.  Gareth positioned himself and motioned for his fish to hop on forward into place a few feet forward.

"Okay, Water Gun," He commanded and didn't even bother or care to look up the information on the bug.  How hard could it be?  What was more important to him right now was seeing, first hand, Mudkip's ability in an actual battle against something other than a tree.

Mudkip stood roughly a few feet away from the tree and the Wumple and blasted a Water Gun directly at it to alert it of the wild pokémon battle.

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MUDKIP ♂ LV.19
Torrent Ability - Ups water moves in a pinch.
Moveset
[Tackle] [Growl] [Mud-Slap] [Water Gun]
[Mud Bomb] [Bide] [Foresight]
Exp: 8 out of 19

Battle Info
Mudkip uses Water Gun on Wurmple.

".............."

For once in his life Gareth was speechless.  The look of incredulous astonishment was quite humorous.  But the silence only lasted a fraction of a moment before he was speaking up again:  "What the—heck?!"

Mudkip stood his ground as well and watched as the Wurmple fell to the ground and laid there motionless like it was dead.

"Uh, well... that was... interesting," Gareth mumbled out and began to reach for his bag when he was suddenly sprayed with cold water somewhere right in between his legs.  He instantly responded, hollering with shock, and tripping forward a couple of steps before jerking around in order to glare daggers of hatred at the ugly blue jelly thing bouncing its way through the grass.

"All right, that's it, I've had enough of you.  Mudkip—Tackle!"

Mudkip hesitated for a moment as it clearly heard as well as sensed the level difference between himself and the Lotad.  But, he held no connection with any of these wild pokémon.  He had been raised within human captivity.  He had been raised with his brothers and sisters.  They had all been fed, groomed, and taught by the humans.  He had known from a very young age that this was his destiny—his purpose.  It was bred into him, genes built into his DNA.

Mudkip moved forward to Tackle the Lotad.

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MUDKIP ♂ LV.19
Torrent Ability - Ups water moves in a pinch.
Moveset
[Tackle] [Growl] [Mud-Slap] [Water Gun]
[Mud Bomb] [Bide] [Foresight]
Exp: 11 out of 19

Battle Info
Mudkip KO'd Lv.3 Wurmple and gained 3 exp.
Mudkip uses Tackle on the Lv.5 Lotad.

Mudkip watched, expression rather indifferent, as the lily pad wearing pokémon flew backward and into the little pond from whence it had come.  The mud fish stood his ground and remained alert, ready for the next order from his trainer.

But the Lotad was surfacing from the water with a splash and immediately launching an attack of Absorb, draining a small chunk of Mudkip's health and returning it to the water weed pokémon.  The prideful growl also effected him but he stubbornly stood his ground to observe what his trainer's tactics would be (if any).  He had his doubts.

Gareth recalled the information given to him from the pokédex and the fact that Lotad was a water and grass type pokémon.  Split second thinking told him quite simply that Lotad would be strong against water and grass type moves—the latter Mudkip didn't even possess anyway.

But, little other thought registered because Gareth, to put it quite simply, was just angry at the thing for repeatedly splashing him in the face and so he ordered another attack:

"Tackle again," He ordered and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the battle.

Mudkip wasn't too impressed but launched forward, toward the Lotad, in order to tackle it deep into the water of the pond.

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( ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♡ ♡ )
MUDKIP ♂ LV.19
Torrent Ability - Ups water moves in a pinch.
Moveset
[Tackle] [Growl] [Mud-Slap] [Water Gun]
[Mud Bomb] [Bide] [Foresight]
Exp: 11 out of 19

Battle Info
** Mudkip's Attack is currently [-1]
Lotad hit Mudkip with Absorb.
Lotad hit Mudkip with Growl
Mudkip is attempting to Tackle Lotad.