PTV: Early Chapter 94

It was a quiet morning even though I was hanging out on the porch watching the road.

Today was the day the annual journey began. When young ten year old trainers headed off into the wilds with nothing but a pokemon and gumption.

It was also something I’d kinda been looking forward to.

See there was another bit of cultural stuff that trainers starting their journey don’t really think about.

All the trainers that had already gone on their journey, all the older trainers that only had their pet pokemon. The wanderers, and even just the Pokemon rangers disguised as normal people would be out there for the first week or so as well, to give the new trainers something to clash against, while also getting to see how the newbies were doing.

And of course protect them if they had to.

There was just one problem.

“Vicky really. No ones going to want to battle you if they see you. So let them have their time.” Mama reminded me as she passed out some cookies to me and Riolu. 

“I know that… But I still want to check on them.” I whined, but I was playing along and as Mama patted me on the head, I began to enact my sinister plan.

Everyone was starting to leave, so I headed towards the back of the house with a backpack and a ring of Pokeballs.

“You ready?” I whispered to Arcany. Who snorted at me, and stood up.

I had to leave Arcanine at the stables, because if she knew what day it was, there was no way she wouldn’t want to battle all the new trainers. 

Then we were off, running off into Viridian forest, along one of the main paths. I passed plenty of trainers that I recognized hanging around waiting, and laughed at the look they gave as an Arcanine blurred by.

But then I found a good spot, and crawled off. “Thanks Arcany. Come pick me up tonight if I’m not already home okay?”

“Arc.” He agreed, our pact long since sealed with secret treats leading to this day.

Then it was time. I walked behind a tree and pulled on my super secret ninja disguise!

No not Nike, she was the protector of the Moon and had no time for this.

“Dang… I bought this wig years ago and it still fits… It must really be stretchy.” I told myself and then I stepped out.

“Mwahaha! Ruby Red has returned!” The red hair and red jacket meant I was a fire type trainer, the perfect challenger for all the kids out here! Then I released Blissey, who popped out and looked around, taking a moment to look at me.

Our eyes met.

She brought a flipper to her mouth and I could see her entire body ripple.

“It’s not that funny.” I informed her, but a moment later it all came out.

“Blis-blisblisblis!” She burst into laughter and all I could do was stare at her pouting. That’s so not fair. She stumbled over and pulled me into a hug and patted my wig still giggling.

“It’s not funny.” I repeated and she just continued laughing. “Whatever! You know what to do!” I demanded and she continued giggling even as she grabbed my bag that I’d left and headed a bit farther into the woods.

Blissey was going to make a camp, so the kids and their pokemon could have a snack once I smacked them around.

Slapping my cheeks a bit to get rid of my irritation I looked around and realized that… I’d be waiting here for a while huh?

I sighed and trudged to follow Blissey and help her get set up. Even if I had to deal with her giggles.

Red hair just didn’t suit me afterall.

—--

“You! Trainer! You come face to face with Ruby Red! Fire Type Expert!” I announced as I jumped down from a tree landing perfectly thanks to my Ninja training and then power stance, into pointed finger!

Perfection.

The boy looked startled, jumped back and even balling his fists at my appearance.

“Wha-”

“Hooohoooohooo!” I laughed as I locked eyes. “Our eyes have met! So a battle must now commence! Release your first Pokemon!”

“Grr! No another brat! What are you waiting for? Send out your Rattata or whatever! Come on Charmander!”

“Char char!” I felt my eyes brighten at seeing my favorite Starter!

“Oh a Charmander! What a delightfully fierce and cutey boy!” I almost broke character and started rushing for a hug but shook it off. 

“Very well! If you face a Fire Type Expert with flame, I will do the same to teach you a lesson! Go Pillow!”

I threw a pokeball and out came Pillow.

“Growlithe?” He asked confused, looking around.

“Cough cough, Pillow we’re doing battles today. Cough Cough.” Pulled it off.

“Growl growlithe.” He grumbled, looking not super pleased, but I pulled out the secret weapon. 

“If you complete this battle, there is a camp that you can rest in on top of my-your favorite pillow.” I explained and Pillow was suddenly all for it.

“Jeez you have to make deals with your own pokemon? Aren’t you too young to be a trainer?”

“I’m eleven! I’ve already gone on my Journey and returned!” I snapped at the brown haired brat that looked like he didn’t believe me. 

“Sure.”

“It matters not, we have a battle! Pillow!”

“Growl!” He jumped up and took a battle stance, and Charmander did the same, the lizard growled cutely!

Aaah! I wanted to hug him!

“Alright Flamethrower!” I called out, and Pillow opened his mouth and a burst of flame and heat erupted.

“Charmander!” The trainer shrieked, not ready for such a powerful attack and instead of doing anything useful Charmander was soon dodging jumping back and forth into the grass to avoid the attack…

“E-Ember! Use Ember!”

I blinked. Oh right. This was a normal trainer's first day. Flamethrower would be too much huh? Too bad though.

I would use this as a learning experience!

“HooHooohooo!” I cackled as the ember hit Pillow and suddenly his aura emerged, as he appeared as if he was on fire.

“What!?”

“Silly trainer! Did you not make sure to figure out your pokemons weaknesses to the common Pokemon of Kanto?”

“Weakness!? It’s a fire type!”

“That’s right! But do you know Growlithe’s two common abilities?” I asked, and suddenly right then the boy reached into his backpack.

Ah, deja vu, but Ruby Red would allow it! She was a magnanimous Fire Type Expert!

Soon the boy was flipping through the pokedex, and Charmander was looking really worried as he looked from Growlithe, to his trainer.

I threw the poor thing a wink when it looked back, and to my surprise it actually seemed to relax a little from what it thought was a more serious battle.

“Aha! Growlithe! The Puppy Pokemon! Fire type… Ability! Intimidate? No wait! Flash Fire! Immune to fire moves!” He yelped in shock and I once more broke into laughter.

“Hoohooohooo! You see! Your Ember attack did nothing but power up my Pillows incredibly powerful flames! What will you do now Trainer? Now that you have discovered your error?”

“C-charmander! Don’t use Ember again, instead charge in, and use Scratch!”

“Pillow, Use Ember! Show them how it’s done!” Pillow opened wide and out came embers of flame that Charmander winced as he charged through before getting up close, and scratching Pillow across the nose.

“Growl!” He whined as he winced at the attack.

Unfortunately for Charmander, Pillow might be a lazy house dog now, but he used to be a wild pack dog. Even if Papa and I didn’t train them for battles often, we still gave them training to protect the house.

Pillow played gently with the Charmander, but unfortunately after the first Tackle back, Charmander started already flagging. Although I did my best to mitigate it, Charmander simply couldn’t overcome Pillow's energy.

It fell with a whine and the boy slumped.

“But…”

“Aha! A loss, perhaps your first?” I called out and the boy looked up, he wasn’t looking great. Like he was ready to start crying, but that was what I was here to stop! “Not to worry! All trainers lose! It’s about what you learn from your loss that matters! Come, let me show you a trick!” I waved the trainer to follow and he returned Charmander and did so, right into the little medical camp that Blissey and I had set up.

“Wha?”

“Blissey we have our first customer!” I called out and the Goddess looked up from stirring a stew and waved a greeting. Her peaceful bearing made even the boy relax and soon he was sitting on a camping chair next to Charmander who was being healed, as both of them ate a warm meal.

“But I lost.” He finally managed to say and I scoffed. 

“So? Everyone loses. You just started. I told you I’ve been a trainer for a year right?” I reminded him, and then I pulled out a plastic bag. 

“Here.”

“What is. Oh!”

“Consider it an emergency kit. A potion, an Ether, and two extra pokeballs. I know how quick they run out. Don’t forget. Today isn’t the day you have to win every battle. Today is the day you start the path that leads to that!” I said smiling happily, and the boy looked much happier as he pulled out the medical stuff and pokeballs and put them in his bag.

Blissey gave me a nod, and I nodded back.

“Well once you’ve finished eating, your journey is still waiting for you! Don’t forget to take breaks to give Charmander a break. Back to back battles are no good!” I informed him, and then headed back to the path to wait for the next challenger.

Today was going to be fun!

—--

“W-what is it!?”

“Ah, it’s a rare pokemon from far away, not one a trainer will find information for in just any Pokedex!” I called out and then once more laughed. 

“Hooohooohoo!”

“But, what’s the point of the Pokedex then?”

“Ah Trainer, you think everything in this world has been discovered?” I looked at the battlefield where Jangmo-o was absolutely loving it, facing the girl's Squirtle. She had instantly pulled out a Pokdex when I released him and was now freaking out at not knowing what to do.

“No! But it should have them all!”

“You will run into many pokemon on your journey you won’t recognize! You may even one day face an opponent at a tournament without knowing your opponent's Pokemon type or weakness! But is that it? If you don’t know something do you just give up? No! You decide the best course of action, and battle through it!” I called out and Jangmo-o barked along with me.

“Grrr! Fine! Squirtle! We won’t let this weird Pokemon win!” Which was a bit rude, Jangmo-o was cute you know? “Bubble!” 

“Squirt! Squirtle!”

“Jangmo-o! Dragon Claw the bubbles!”

“D-dragon Claw!?”

Jangmo-o blocked most of the bubbles but a few got through, which actually meant this was good training! He tanked the rest with his crest and shook off the hit after.

“Does it matter? No type is better than the others! Just battle!”

“Fine!”

And then I smiled as the girl got into it. She even used a Tail Whip to weaken Jangmo-o’s defense! Smart!

But Dragon Claw was enough after a few hits to knock out Squirtle. I was about to recall Jangmo-o when the trainer grabbed another pokeball! Awesome!

“Go!” She called out and released something I didn’t expect.

“Nid! Nidoran!” It growled, noticing Jangmo-o. Nidoran♀ huh? Well good for her! She was already a better trainer than Charmander boy!

Considering Jangmo-o's defense was weakened, I wasn’t actually surprised when Poison Sting actually caused Jangmo-o to slump a bit after a nasty hit.

“Very well!” I returned Jangmo-o and smiled at the girl that looked like she’d just gone into a Tournament match with how tired she looked. “Well fought!”

“Finally.” She mumbled slumping and her Nidoran ran up and nuzzled at her.

“C’mon, I have a camp nearby.” I told her, and while she did narrow her eyes at me, she did follow to experience the grace of divinity.

—--

Arcany ended up interrupting a late match as the sun had already long set, and the poor boy with a Bulbasaur wasn’t up for the rest of his battle against Brave.

That’s fine. I had a feeling she was getting close to just dropping Draco Meteor. Too much dragon in that one.

I ended up healing him up, packing up the camp, but leaving the fire and campsite for him to rest in, as I jumped back on Arcany and headed home.

I only barely remembered to take off the wig and jacket and stuff them into my bag as I got home, and as I entered inside Papa was already there waiting for me. 

He took a moment to look at me, and then smiled. “Tell me how your day went.”

“Hehe! They were so fun to mess with!” I gushed and soon I was on the living room couch explaining the battles I’d given, and I’d lost more than I’d won. 

“Gonna go out tomorrow?”

“Probably not. I passed out all the care bags I intended on.”

“You’re sweet.” Mama said fluffing my hair. “I’m shocked anyone wanted to fight you at all. Didn’t they recognize you?”

“I’m a master of disguise!” I assured both parents, and the look they shared told me they didn’t believe me which was a bit rude.

“Well good… We’ve been looking into things, and if you’re up for it, we’re thinking of going on that family vacation.”

“Wait… You mean it? Alola?” I asked perking up as the conversation shifted from what I was expecting.

“Yep.” Papa confirmed. “It’s getting cold here, and your mother and I both think a nice tropical vacation would be perfect.” Papa said, turning to Mama, and there might have been some eye waggle. She slapped his shoulder, but then looked at me. 

“We know you’ve had all sorts of plans with Professor Cerise, so we haven’t locked anything in yet, but we wanted to offer the idea for sure. We’ve been looking into the tickets, and this time of year it’s not too bad. A lot of families don’t want to vacation just as the Journey starts in case of any… Issues. So the flight to Alola isn’t too expensive, and-”

“I want to.” I said, but not super excited, but instead serious. “I really do need to go to Alola for Jangmo-o, and… I wanted to go there anyway.” I admitted because Z moves were… Big. “But what about?”

“Nothing to worry about. We have a Clan now.” Papa said and looked actually pleased. “Leo has already spoken to Cousin Shino, he’ll house sit while we’re gone, feed Arcany and the Pack, and of course look after the Milotic.”

“Great… Then I just need to figure out who's coming? I’ll need Jangmo-o obviously, and Dragonite can come! She can watch over the flight even, or-”

“Vicky. There are a lot of restrictions on what Pokemon that Alola will accept. Before you make plans, let’s go down to the vacation planner and they’ll help us answer all those questions.” Mama offered a bit overly kindly.

I didn’t want to leave my friends here though!

I shook it off and sighed. “Okay. We’ll figure it out. I want to go, stupid restrictions.”

“Vicky. Your Gyarados, won’t be allowed to come.” Papa said, and I looked up in surprise as Papa was blunt.

“Victor, I was trying to be gentle about it.”

“You know how she is.” Papa said with a smile that he offered me. “You’ll need to plan for that, okay?”

“Right… Right Blue Heart can’t come.” I mumbled, and that… Tore out my heart a little.

He’d be so lonely without me!

“I’ll go talk to him.” I decided and stood up and before anyone could say anything I headed outside. 

It was chilly, and there was still snow all over, but as I walked over to the water. I didn’t care. Blue Heart slipped his big derpy head out of the water to greet me, and I just fell against him in a big hug.

I hadn’t really imagined an Alola adventure without Blue Heart, and Milotic. Without Dragonite, or Arcanine. Without… Any of my friends.

But if I wanted to cross regions… There would be rules.

“Hello my Heart.” I whispered to him, and he rumbled in return. 

I know he’d be lonely, but he had made friends among the Milotic, and he’d have my other pokemon.

But still… I didn’t want to leave him behind. I took a breath and started explaining what was going to happen.

—--

“You sure  you don’t want to come Gram Gram?” I asked, and my grandmother just gave me a look. “Pfeh! Me head to some silly island? Hmph!”

“They have Dark Type Meowth there. The Persians have silly faces.” I teased.

“I’m aware child.” Gram Gram grumbled. “A proper Persian should look fierce and strong! Not… That.”

I couldn’t help but giggle as Gram Gram complained about Alolan Persian. He was so derpy! But it was cute!

“Maybe I should catch one?” I asked to the air and I could see the physical pain Gram Gram took at the fact I was actually saying I would catch a cat, but that I would catch that cat?

“I know you're teasing me, Grandchild, but it still pains me.” She muttered, reaching out and ruffling my hair. 

“If it helps. Alola also have Litten.”

“That…” She made a sigh and grumbled all at once. “They won’t let you, believe me.” She decided to say and I couldn’t help but laugh at that. 

“It’s okay. I don’t think I’d want an Incineroar anyways. Arcanine would either love it, or hate it.” I decided and Gram Gram chuckled. She took a bite of her snacks as she turned back to the tv show that was on.

Pokemon TV was weird. Soap opera’s with pokemon were like at least 80% better than Earth soap operas. 

If only because they had these really well groomed Pokemon strutting around looking pretty. 

Of course Gram Gram was only watching because one of the Pokemon that the bad guy had was one of our Persians.

His sinister face was so cute, especially since I could tell with the way his tail twitched that he was actually one second away from rolling over and demanding belly rubs.

“You be careful. Traveling that far. I don’t like all of you being in a plane, but that son of mine is confident.” Gram Gram mumbled, and I felt a sense that… 

“Gram Gram?”

“It’s nothing, child.” She mumbled as she pulled me into a side hug.

“I was really tempted to have Dragonite fly along with us, but apparently the rangers would flip out.” I added because I wasn’t entirely comfortable leaving my safety in the hands of others when I had a perfectly good jet bomber Pokemon.

“Heh. No, it’s safer now. There haven't been any accidents in years. Us old people are just… Still wary.” Her face looked from me to the show, but then to the corner of the room.

Where pictures of the family were stacked up. There were plenty of faces in those pictures that I’d never met.

People that no one spoke about on how they died.

Did… Someone die in an airplane?

Instead of asking, instead of opening old wounds I just snuggled in. “Look, Persian is half a second from mauling that guy.”

“Hmph? Hah! So he is. Would serve that fool right!” Gram Gram called out as the man on the show was talking about how weak Persian was. 

Even if it was for a TV show, I doubt that Persian liked that guy much after this scene.

—--

I went over my Journey bag again. Thankfully it was the only luggage I needed, but I still didn’t want to miss anything.

I looked up and Pillow opened his eyes and yawned at me before going to sleep.

It was early, the sun not even up yet, which actually didn’t mean much considering it was winter, but still.

“Sleep well Pillow.” I called out as I threw the bag on my shoulder and walked out. I was in my winter clothes for now, but I had a quick swap gear for warmer weather ready.

Mama and Papa were the same and we all smiled. As we met up. There was thankfully no vacation rush. We’d packed and prepared well the night before.

“Alright. Let’s go.” Papa turned and smiled brightly as Lucario did the same. 

As she disappeared into his pokeball.

“UUUGH!” I groaned loudly as I bent back my neck and stared at the ceiling. Papa laughed as he reached over and pulled me into a side hug. 

“Thank you Vicky.”

“It’s FINE.” I grumbled, I could only have six pokemon with me, and there were a ton of restrictions.

In the end I decided on the baby team, since the only adult that I could bring with was Milotic, and… That sucked, because we’d have to leave Dragonite behind, and I’d made a promise.

So instead. I had Gible, so I could help her relax. Mimikyu, which was restricted everywhere, but Alola funnily enough. Jangmo-o obviously. Brave, and Dratini, I’d go swimming with him instead of his papa. Then I was bringing Riolu because Lucario was coming.

Originally Papa and Mama had wanted Lucario on my team, but obviously, my limit was an issue, so…

Papa was now the proud trainer of Lucario. It sucked, but… Well it was going to happen, I knew. Lucario just… Fit in with Mama and Papa more. Especially since she’d been going with him to train Growlithe, and had taken a liking to the police training.

I let it go, and turned to the door. 

Time to go on a new adventure.