First Steps into a Johto Journey

Avaritia looked around. So this is where the professor gives you a Pokemon she thought, as she stood outside the lab.

"Cladis, how would you like a partner?" she asked her Absol, it's mood felt excited, so she assumed that he was fine with this option. With little hesitation, she entered the lab with her friend and partner at her side. Her Pokemon journey started here, at a lab in the middle of an unfamiliar region.

"Is anybody there?" She called into the building," I'm here to recieve a Pokemon."

The room seemed empty until a loud crash was heard directly following a loud "Woah!" Many papers could be heard along with some metal clinking as the Professor scurried to try picking up the research papers he'd dropped when he fell from a ladder toward the back of the room. "Uh, yes? Hello?" he asked, as he came into view with his hands full of unorganized papers, hair in disarray. He quickly shuffled across the room to the girl, looking her up and down.

"What's this? You aren't on my roster. Are you sure you're supposed to be picking up a Pokemon today?" He asked, before looking over to the Absol beside the girl. "Ah here, you have a Pokemon, correct? I can tell, because it's very attached to you. The Pokemon here are for new trainers who have yet to obtain their first Pokemon. Perhaps you should check out on the route west of here, plenty of wild Pokemon are out there that can be captured?" Professor Elm suggested, a Cyndaquil, Totodile, and Chikorita appearing on his shoulder, and to either side of him.

"Okay, I will. Thanks," She replied, picking up the remaining papers. She gave a small wave, and left the lab.

Outside, she headed west with Cladis by her side. He had a feeling of anticipation, and she gave him a reassuring touch. "Don't worry," she said,"This is what we wanted, our adventure begins now." They headed into the route, taking their first step together.

That first step was all Avaritia would be able to take, for before she knew it a flurry of purple and brown bodies rushed by her, tripping up her footing. If one looked carefully, they'd be able to tell they had been four or five Sentret and Rattata running by. However, this was rather odd behavior, and odds were they were running away from something. Surely enough, a rather mean looking Pidgey was nearby. It was rather large for a pidgey, and had a scar on one of his eyes. For an experienced trainer, they might estimate it to be about level 7. It was more powerful than most Pokémon in the area, which would explain why the others were fleeing. It would probably be best to remove it from the environment, perhaps it would make a good addition to the team?

She smiled, and looked at Cladis. She knew little about flying types, but she wasn't about to let that stop them. With only 5 Pokeballs, she had to make them count.

"Cladis we're about to get another member of our team," she tried to sense the mood of the Pidgey, but couldn't get a clear feeling. "Use Flamethrower to weaken it," she ordered, and fire formed in Cladis's mouth. Once it was fully formed, it shot out at the Pidgey.

Pidgey saw the fire begin to form in the Absol's mouth, and opened his wings. When the burst came, he flapped his wings hard to kick up dirt with a Sand Attack, suffocating the flames. It seemed to be rather intelligent as well as powerful. Then again, some might say that the two are not such different characteristics. "Dgee," The pidgey said, huffing and spitting a bit off to the site with a bit of a cocky attitude.

"It's pretty smart," Avaritia observed with a sly smile. We can't let it do that again, Cladis use taunt!"

Her Pokemon complied, and atempted to taunt the Pidgey.

The Pidgey puffed his chest up, huffing and scratching at the ground with his talons. Enraged by the Taunt, it ran toward the Absol, taking flight to swoop down and attempt a Tackle attack on it!

Cladis tensed, ready to dodge. "Wait," Avaritia commanded, "Wait untill it's about to hit you, then use flamethrower, that way it will be harder to dodge." Cladis complied, and when the Pidgey was about to strike, he launched another flamethrower at it.

Pidgey didn't have a chance to react. He rushed right through the Flamethrower attack, taking the damage. However, since he'd already been injured from it he didn't see the point in stopping, and continued on with his tackle attack, swooping up and looping around to go in for another Tackle! Seems the Taunt was working, as Pidgey was only using its damage dealing attacks. It could also be seen from the singed feathers that the Pidgey had taken some damage.

"Cladis!"Avaritia yelled, trying to warn him of the attack. The tackle, however, was too fast, and it hit him head on. Avaritia held a Pokeball in her hand, and hoped that Cladis knew her enough to know what she was planning. He did, and while he recovered from the attack, he reached out and attempted to hold the Pidgey still while she threw her first Pokeball.

The Pidgey was pinned and squirmed a bit, before seeing the red and white object flying at it from the corner of its eye. Its good eye widened just a bit when it was pelted by the object, a red beam absorbing the Pokemon into it. The ball began to shake and light up vigorously. Once, twice, then a third time before finally coming to rest with a light *bing* noise. Pidgey had been captured! Would you like to give a nickname to your newly captured Pokemon?

(could you please put a link to your trainer in your signature?)

(I just added it, thanks for reminding me :D)

"I'll call you Cicatrix!" Avaritia pronounced, letting him out of his Pokeball. He was radiating superiority, and he hovered over Cladis.

"Sol," Cladis said, as he tried to swat Cicatrix away from his face, but he just hovered out of his reach.

"Stop it you two!" Avaritia laughed, and they continued their travel along the path.

Before Avaritia got much further, a shout could be heard from behind her. "Hey! Wait up!" It was a man's voice, and upon closer inspection, Professor Elm could be seen running toward Avaritia. He must have followed her out this way. "I just thought of something!" he said, finally reaching her. He took a moment to rest and catch his breath, leaning against his own knees as he bent over. Looking back up after a few moments, he began again, "I'm doing some research, and you would be a perfect candidate. I heard some strange noises coming from a small burrow around this area the other night. I've never heard such a noise from any of the usual native Pokemon to the area. As a capable Pokemon trainer, you would be able to handle the situation easily, no doubt!" He continued, talking about a rather dangerous sounding situation. "I'll even let you choose one of the Pokemon back at my lab if you're successful. Just make sure you capture whatever it is, and bring it back for me to see," The professor said, not even giving Avaritia a chance to respond before he ran off again, waving his hand. "I'm counting on you!" The burrow must be nearby...

"Sounds like fun," Avaritia replied to the empty space where the professor was. "Cladis, could you try to sniff that burrow out?"

"Sol," he replied with a mood of confidence.

"Pid," Cicatrix said, eager to help. He launched into the air, and atempted to seek out the burrow by air.

"They have a lot of a better chanse of finding it than I do," Avaritia said to no one in particular. She leaned against a tree, awaiting the return of her Pokemon.

It didn't take long for the Absol to smell something odd in the area. It wasn't like the usual Rattata or Sentret burrow, and the den was surprisingly well hidden among many tall, thick bushes. It would be difficult, but Avaritia would need to crawl through them in order to not disturb the local habitat by removing them. It wouldn't be the easiest thing she'd done today, but that starter Pokemon was just waiting for her back at the Professor's lab, and surely it was worth that.

Cladis returned to Avaritia, showing her the way to the burrow. She let out a long whistle, and Cicatrix flew back to them, and landed on Cladis's horn. Cladis was not amused, and he tried to shake the fearless Pidgey off, but his grip was too tight.

"Sorry guys, but I doubt we can all crawl through there," Avaritia said, returning her Pokemon into their Pokeballs. With a sigh, she started to crawl into the burrow.

The branches hooked and scratched at Avaritia, tearing small holes in her clothes and leaving abrasions on her skin. However, it wasn't in vain as Avaritia pushed through the last bit of brush, tumbling into a small clearing. It seemed different than the other area she'd been in previously but the gps on her pokedex insisted she was still on the proper route. Eyes like twinkling stars stared at her from the trees and bushes, watching and waiting silently.

Avaritia ignored the pain as she let out her two Pokemon. Cladis's eyes immediately met the eyes of the Pokemon concealed in the trees. Cicatrix puffed out his feathers, making him look double his size.

Like in the battle with Cicatrix, she could not feel the emotions of the Pokemon. "Please come out," she said, taking a non threatning approach, and hoping the Pokemon would act just as calm. Silense ensued, as she waited to see how the Pokemon would react.

The little eyes shifted about amongst the tree branches, a few small noises heard as they conversed amongst themselves. After a few moments, the brightest set of eyes popped out, dangling its purple body from the lower branch. It had large ears, and a hand on its tail. A pokedex would identify it as an Aipom, which weren't known for inhabiting the current route or its immidiatevsurrounding areas for the matter. Perhaps these were the strange Pokémon that the Professor was talking about?

"The professor needed me to catch it," Avaritia said to herself, a habit that seems to be becoming more frequent. Cladis tensed, ready to help, but she stopped him. "Cicatrix, let's see what you can do," she said. Annoyance radiated off of Cladis, and Cicatrix became smug, as he launched himself at the Aipom, using tackle.

"Aipom?" the creature questioned, watching Ava and her two Pokémon as she spoke. However, when the Pidgey launched its attack, the Aipom panicked. "aipom pom pom!" it cried out, quickly pulling itself up out of the way of the tackle attack. It did a quick backflip out of the tree, landing between the bird and his trainer. It seemed to be about level 5, and a female at that. She waited for the pidgey to look, then wagged its tail innocently in attempt to lower his defenses. Wild Aipom used Tail Whip!

Cicatrix's defense fell, but he didn't seem to mind. As he swooped for another attack, he wipped up a cloud of dust instead, and used Sand Attack on the Aipom. He quickly flew out of her reach before she could react with an attack of her own.

Seeing the flurry of dirt, Aipom did a backflip off her tail, sending a rush of dirt at the first. Aipom used Sand Attack! She landed on her arms, then sprung to an upright position and began looking around frantically for the Pidgey in the sky. She'd gotten a small amount of the backblow of the sand in her eyes, but not so much to cause severe irritation just yet.

"Fly so your back is to the sun, that way, you will be hard to see!" Avaritia yelled up to Cicatrix, and he complied. Assuming that the Aipom was blinded by the light of the sun, he flew at her with another Tackle, while Avaritia hoped that she couldn't see him enough to dodge.