Erika's Nuzlocke Run, RPed

First, the rules, for my own reference:

1. The first pokemon in each new route must be caught, and no others. If it faints or flees, too bad, you must move on to the next route.

2. If any of your pokemon faints, it must be released, treated as dead.

3. Set Battle Style.

4. There are no exceptions to the above rules - if you end up stuck without a pokemon able to use a needed HM move... game over.

5. No Master Balls, no abusing Repels, and no overkill training.

So be played in Pokemon Emerald.

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And so begins the adventures of Aimi... a future Pokemon Master, or perhaps doomed from the start?

Originally, Episode 01 was supposed to go until the start of the 'journey', but I got a bit tired, and cut it off early. Anyway, it will likely be a rusty start as far as the RP writing goes, so bear with me if you please.

So, off we go, into the Nuzlocke Challenge... or we will once I get pokeballs >.>

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“…huh?”

The girl awoke slowly, as her transportation – and temporary sleeping chamber – ground to a sudden and uncomfortable halt. Roused from her slumber, she rose, brushing her short brunette hair out of her eyes as the back of the moving van was pulled open, the rattling of the rusted hatch grating on her ears.

“You said this trip was gonna take four hours, tops,” she groaned, climbing out the back of the truck. Her whole body ached, which wasn’t saying a lot considering she was just shy of 5 feet tall, and had almost no chest to speak of – something that perpetually annoyed her. It put her squarely in the petite market of women which, at age 17, meant that, while she had a pretty face and a good figure for her proportions, she didn’t often attract much attention back home. Well, back in the old home anyway.

“Now Aimi, if you think back, I said it would take at least four hours. There’s no accounting for traffic or construction detours, after all,” said an older woman, with an impossibly large smile, who approached from within the house the moving van had parked in front of. “I’m sorry you had to ride in the back of the moving van, but there wasn’t any other room.” Aimi sighed. There was no point in complaining; they were here now, which meant her mother would just tune out the rest anyway.

“Well… welcome to Littleroot town, Aimi! What do you think? It’s our new home!” Aimi grumbled. ‘Littleroot’, as it was called, was already worse off, with her mother’s overwhelming cheer added to it. “It has a quaint feel, but it seems to be an easy place to live, don’t you think?” For a moment, she paused, remembering something. Then, as if it were possible, she became even more cheerful. “And, you get your own room, Aimi! Let’s go inside!”

The prospect of finally having a room of her own seemed enough of a consolation for Aimi. If nothing else, unpacking and organizing all her things would keep her away from her mother for a while. Ignoring her mother while she continued on about how nice and wonderful the new house was, and how helpful the movers’ pokemon were, Aimi headed up the stairs towards the room she would call her own.

“Oh, what the hell?” It seemed the movers had, somehow, already been here. When she wasn’t looking, they had managed to move all of her possessions into her room and unpacked them from the van she had been riding in. Figuring she must have simply spaced out at some point, Aimi let out an annoyed grunt and turned towards the clock on her wall – the one she didn’t have back in their old home. Sticking to the front of it, there was a note, which read simply enough: “Love, Dad”. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen fit to set it to the right time. Aimi could hear her mother’s words in her mind…

“The clock isn’t set. Better set it to the right time!” Reaching up, Aimi fiddled with the knob on the side until she had it set to the correct time. Before she had even pulled away, she felt a chill go down her spine and, a moment later, her mother barged into the room.

“Aimi, how do you like your new room? Oh good, everything’s put away neatly!” She clasped her hands together, clearly pleased.

“Yeah… thanks to the moving crew. I’m gonna have to rearrange half the stuff in here, and it’ll take twice as much time too…”

“They finished moving the downstairs furniture too!” Her mother seemed to be completely ignoring her, so Aimi simply stopped talking. “Pokemon movers are so convenient! Oh, you should make sure everything’s all there on your desk.” Aimi blinked. Why would her mother mention that? Did she perhaps suspect the movers were stealing things? Hurriedly, Aimi headed over to check, just as was suggested. There, on the desk, were three things: a computer, a notebook, and a backpack – it was all there. A rather pathetic spread, Aimi thought. Shouldering her bag, she took one last look around, before heading for the stairs once more, after her mother. There was no point in changing out of her favoured green and orange outfit, since she had put it on just earlier that day. Since she had already packed her backpack with the appropriate gear, she headed out to explore the town of Littleroot.

No sooner had she arrived downstairs, than her mother called her over, pointing excitedly at the television.

“Look! It’s Petalburg Gym!” she exclaimed. Aimi dreaded what would come next. “Maybe Dad will be on!” Having been shoved in front of the television, she didn’t have much choice but to watch. Fortunately, the interview was already over, saving Aimi the torture of having to watch her father bask in the glory of the press.

“Oh, it’s over,” her mother said with a disappointed sigh. “I think Dad was on, but we missed him. Oh, yes. One of Dad’s friends lives in town! Professor Birch is his name!” The way she said his name alone made Aimi cringe. It was almost as if she felt there was someone else as impossibly cheery as her around. “He lives right next door, so you should go over and introduce yourself.”

“…Seems like a good place to start I suppose,” Aimi agreed. There really was no point in arguing with her. Without even a parting wave, Aimi headed out the door in search of this ‘Birch’ person. Once through the portal, Aimi took a moment to adjust to the sunlight, before taking a look around. Littleroot certainly was true to its name – it was very little. Surrounded on all sides by trees except for one, which was taken up by an ocean, the small town of three buildings seemed like nothing more than an insignificant pebble. Or, as the name implied, a root. Since she lived in one of the three buildings, and one of the other two was a laboratory of some kind, Aimi deduced that this was logically the best place to find Professor Birch.

Aimi was wrong.

“Professor Birch? He isn’t here right now,” replied a young looking lab technician. Aimi’s deepening facial expression was enough encouragement to get him to explain himself further. “Oh, he’s not one for doing desk work. He’s the type of person who would rather go outside and experience things than read about them here.”

“So he’s in the field?” The technician nodded. “And that’s the best you can do?” He nodded again. With disgruntled sigh, Aimi headed out again. Stepping out of the laboratory, Aimi cast her eyes on the last building of Littleroot. She had to find Professor Birch, as he was the only name she knew at the moment, but since it was the last building, she might as well take a look there on the way out of town.

“Anybody home?” Aimi said, peeking her head in through the unlocked door. It seemed people here had an open door policy with neighbours.

“Oh, hello. And you are?” asked a woman about the age of Aimi’s own mother.

“Aimi. From the moving van.”

“Oh, you’re our new next-door neighbour! Hi!” Aimi sighed inwardly – so far, it seemed everyone in this town was impossibly cheery. Things were going to hell very quickly, and she hadn’t even been here for an hour. “We have a son about the same age as you! He was excited about making a new friend. He’s upstairs, I think.”

A son? Maybe things were about to pick up. If he was good looking, and not as horridly cheerful as everyone else in this place – her own mother included. Her hoped raised ever so slightly, Aimi headed up the stairs towards this son’s room. Stepping into what appeared to be a mirrored version of her own room, she looked around… and found no one. Apparently the son was not home. Perhaps now was a good time to get to know him, without having to deal with the awkwardness of social interaction? Grinning, Aimi took a look around.

“Well, what have we here…” The first – and only – thing that drew her eye was something sitting in the center of the floor. A red and white ball. A pokeball. Presumably with a pokemon inside. “Interesting…” Aimi walked over to it, and took another quick look around. The son was nowhere to be found. Perhaps this was the right time for her to finally acquire one of those fabled beasts, and begin this ‘journey’ her mother had rambled on about that her father had gone on years back. Aimi simply viewed it as a way out. Between her and that way out… was the simple hurdle of committing the felony of stealing. Fortunately for Aimi, that was something she had no problem with doing…

“Hey, you!” A sudden male voice from the stairwell froze her in place, just before reaching out to the ball. “Who are you? Oh, you’re Aimi, aren’t you? Moved in next door?” It seemed that this boy was fairly normal, which was a relief. He was happy, sure, but he wasn’t stupidly cheery like everyone else here. That much was enough. “I didn’t know that you’re a girl.”

Scratch that. He wasn’t worth the time if he couldn’t figure out that Aimi was a girl’s name.

“My dad, Professor Birch, said that our new next-door neighbour is a Gym Leader’s kid, so I assumed you’d be a guy.” This was one of the other reasons Aimi was for going on a journey – many people looked down on her for being a woman, and especially for being small. Becoming a Gym Leader like her father – no, even better, the Champion – would certainly show them. All in due time. “My name’s Brendan. So, hi, neighbour!”

“Yeah… Brendan…” Aimi said, speaking her first words of the encounter. She then glanced back at the ground behind her. “So… that’s your pokemon, I take it?”

“What, you don’t have one?” Aimi shrugged. “Do you want me to go catch you one?” Before Aimi could even consider the possibility of having this boy do all the work for her, he retracted his offer. “Oh, damn, I forgot. I’m supposed to go help my dad catch some wild pokemon. Maybe some other time, kay?” With that, Brendan turned and left – leaving his pokeball right where it was. Unfortunately, now that they had met in person, Aimi could not take the ball. Why? Because it was incredibly easy to trace the crime back to her. With another shrug, Aimi headed off, passing Brendan on her way out the front door of his home, as he spoke with his mother.

With the last building in Littleroot explored, the only place left to go was the path leading out of town. It was the only likely place to find Professor Birch, so Aimi headed out. Unfortunately, the path was not without its perils, as she found out immediately after starting down it…

“Um, hi! There are scary pokemon outside! I can hear their cries!” Aimi rolled her eyes. If there were pokemon out there, they certainly weren’t scary. If anything, they should be scared of her – soon, anyway, once she had some spare pokeballs. “I want to go see what’s going on, but I don’t have any prokemon…” Aimi gave the young girl – less than half her age – a wicked grin.

“Girl, really… if you’re gonna be scared of something, be scared of me, not the pokemon that will become mine,” Aimi said, before trudging off. Scarring the youth of a child… it had a certain charm to it that always picked up her mood. It wasn’t long though before Aimi heard a startled yelp from further up the path. Even so, she took her time getting there.

“H-help me!” When she arrived at the ‘scene’, she found none other than Professor Birch being chased around by a… Zigzagoon. “Hello! You over there! Please! Help!” Aimi gave him a wry look.

“You can’t be serious. That thing’s just a pup!” The man let out another yelp as the pup nipped at his ankle.

“Please! In my bag, there’s a pokeball!” Aimi brightened up. This, she could get behind – the opportunity to get her hands on a pokemon, whatever the opportunity might be. Jogging over to the fallen bag, Aimi found not one but three pokeballs. She picked up each one in turn, feeling the weight and looking for some sign of what was inside. Unfortunately, there were no markings whatsoever, so she was forced to simply go with her gut instinct. Plucking the middle pokeball from the Professor’s bag, Aimi stepped forward.

“Hey, rodent! Try this on for size!” With the Zigzagoon’s attention drawn, Aimi tossed out the pokeball, eager to see what was inside. From within the ball, bathed in a red glow… came a small Torchic, smaller even than the Zigzagoon. Aimi let out a disappointed huff, before crossing her arms after picking up the pokeball that had rolled back to her.

“Fine, well… show me what you can do!” she yelled, in a distinctly commanding tone. The Torchic, clearly understanding who its master was, launched itself at the Zigzagoon. As she had previously thought, the rodent was but a pup, felled with just two swipes of the Torchic’s surprisingly sharp claws. Only mildly impressed, Aimi raised the pokeball, calling the tiny pokemon back into its cozy home. Shrinking the ball down, she then hooked it to her waist as Professor Birch approached, wiping sweat from his brow.

“Whew… I was studying wild pokemon in the tall grass when I was jumped. You saved me – thanks a lot!” Aimi couldn’t help but grin triumphantly.

“And does this deed come with a reward…?” she asked, clearly expecting some form of compensation. Based on her placement of the Professor’s pokeball, it was obvious what she had in mind.

“Perhaps… oh, you’re Aimi right? This isn’t the place to chat, so come by my Pokemon Lab later, okay?” Her mouth agape, Aimi could only watch as the Professor headed off down the path, back to the town. With little choice in the matter, she followed along.

“So, Aimi, I’ve heard so much about you from your father. I’ve also heard that you don’t have your own pokemon yet.”

“Yeah, you and the rest of this tiny town,” Aimi replied, leaning on a nearby bookcase. She only did so because it seemed to make the nearby lab technicians fidget.

“Yes, well, the way you battle earlier, you pulled it off with aplomb! I guess you have your father’s blood in your veins after all! As a thanks for rescuing me, I’d like you to have the pokemon you used earlier.” As it was referenced, Aimi pulled the pokeball off of her belt. Even as the professor mentioned giving it a nickname, she already had one in mind. It was a fire type; she knew that much from her father’s teachings. As such, she already had a name in mind for the soon-to-be-fire breathing chick.

“Ferno,” Aimi said, officially naming Torchic, her first pokemon. It was relatively simple – Inferno minus the first two letters – but it seemed to fit. Ferno… her first pokemon. A gateway to recognition. A gateway… to power.

-- To Be Continued --

Emerald really likes to drag things along. Episode 02 finished off the intro part of the game, but I ended it at that so I could start fresh with the 'Journey' in Episode 03.

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“If you battle more and gain experience, I think you’ll make an extremely good trainer. My son, Brendan, is also studying Pokemon while helping me out. Aimi, don’t you think it might be a good idea to go see Brendan?” Snapping out of her daydream, Aimi nodded. Now that she had the beginnings of a pokemon team, speaking with the only other pokemon trainer she knew of would be a good way to get some information on this part of the world. “Great! He’ll be happy I bet. You should get him to teach you what it means to be a trainer!”

Her business with Professor Birch concluded, Aimi wasted no time leaving the laboratory. Her next stop was, once again, the Birch household next door, where she hoped to find Brendan, to get some information. Unfortunately, after poking her head in the door, she was told by his mother that he was out on Route 103. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing though. It gave her a direction – one that took her out of Littleroot town, for the time being. Without even looking back as most would when leaving their hometown, Aimi set out on Route 101, heading north.

Barely two minutes into her walk, Aimi found herself faced with her second wild pokemon encounter of the day. This time, rather than a Zigzagoon, it was a Poochyena. In the time it took for her to send out Ferno, Aimi found she had taken a bit of a liking to the pup. Despite their size, Poochyena looked rather ferocious. Unfortunately, lacking any means to actually capture the pokemon, Aimi was left with no choice but to use the wild pokemon as a means to make her current one stronger, which would come in handy in the long run. A flurry of scratches and tackles later, and the wild Poochyena was down for the count – Ferno, on the other hand, had gained valuable battle experience. Once again clipping Ferno’s ball to her belt, Aimi headed out once more, leaving the wounded and likely dying Poochyena to whatever his fate might come to. All the while, shekept an eye out for other weak wild pokemon she could use as training for her Torchic.

No fewer than half a dozen wild pokemon encounters later, Aimi arrived in Oldale town, the halfway point for her journey to Route 103. She briefly remembered stopping through here on the way to Littleroot town, and she also remembered that, in addition to a Pokemon Center, this town had a PokeMart. After a quick stop by the Center to ensure Ferno was in prime fighting condition – a weak pokemon was a dead pokemon after all – Aimi stopped in the PokeMart. Much to her dismay, they did not have any Pokeballs for sale, so she instead spent her money on a few recovery items that would keep her pokemon alive on the go. She was sure to save enough money for Pokeballs though, as she intended to buy some as soon as she could.

With her two stops complete, Aimi headed North once more, stepping foot on Route 103. Two Poochyena, and a Wingull later, Aimi came to the end of the path, where she found Brendan staring off into the forest, presumably watching the various wild pokemon roam about. Even as she approached, making no attempt to hide any noise she made, he did not notice her.

“Ahem.” Finally, after clearing her voice in the most obvious possible way, Brendan clued in to her presence.

“Hey! It’s Aimi!” he exclaimed, whipping around to give her a broad smile. It didn’t make Aimi want to smile in return; rather, it was a little disturbing. “Oh yeah, Dad gave you a Pokemon. Since we’re here, how about a little battle?” That caused Aimi to grin.

“Now you’re talkin’ my language,” she replied, plucking Ferno’s pokeball off of her belt. The little bird had already been through several battles now, so she was more than confident in his ability to win this battle, even if it was against a trainer and not just wild pokemon. She held back her toss until after Brendan had sent out his pokemon, a Mudkip. Only then did she send out Ferno, which brought a bit of a grin from Brendan.

“So you took Torchic, huh? Good choice, but I don’t think it’ll matter against my Mudkip,” he said, confidence showing in his voice. Aimi simply chuckled. “Well then, shall we begin? Mudkip, tackle!”

“Scratch.” Torchic, having been through several battles, was ready from the start, and clearly much quicker on the draw. Immediately after the battle began, the Mudkip received a deep gash along its left side, while only managing to score a glancing blow on Ferno. The exchange happened once more, before Ferno’s third scratch attack put the Mudkip down for good. It was still breathing though, which prompted Aimi to order one final scratch attack. This was battle, after all, and if you couldn’t win, your life was forfeit.

“Aimi, stop,” Brendan said, stepping in between Ferno and his Mudkip before the attack could land. “Pokemon battles don’t have to be deathmatches, even if wild pokemon are not so forgiving.” Aimi simply crossed her arms, unimpressed with the sudden reprimand. She met Brendan’s eyes for a moment, before sighing, and returning Ferno to his pokeball.

“It isn’t my fault your pokemon is so weak,” she grumbled, turning back towards Oldale town.

“It isn’t just about strength,” Brendan replied, returning the badly wounded Mudkip to its ball so he could later get it healed at the Pokemon Center. “It’s about being a team with-“

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna spout some nonsense about friendship and such leading to greater strength.” Aimi glanced back, with an amused expression. “Because its bullshit and you know it.” Brendan simply sighed, and once again, dropped the subject entirely.

“Anyway… here,” he said, holding out his hand. It contained a small amount of money. “Your winnings. You earned it – that was a great battle. I think I know why my dad has his eye out for you now. Your pokemon already seems to like you, even though you just got it earlier today. Your attitude might be a little… different than most, but I have the feeling you could befriend any pokemon with ease, if you gave it a chance.”

“Chyeah, like that’ll happen,” Aimi mumbled. Pokemon were animals, nothing more. They were good for two things; one, to fight and win her fame and glory, and two, as tools to facilitate her travel throughout the world.

“Anyway, we better head back to the Lab. I’ll see you there!” Before Aimi could even argue, Brendan dashed off down Route 103, heading South towards Littleroot town. With a sigh, Aimi resigned that she would have to follow, since there might be something important she could get from him, or from his father, before leaving for good on her journey. However, Aimi did not use the traditional shortcuts. Instead, she took the long way, to make use of any wild pokemon she could for training.

The trip took less time than before. For whatever reason, Aimi encountered much less wild pokemon and, as a result, got to train Ferno much less, to her dismay. Ah well… at least I can get out of here sooner rather than later, she thought, as she pushed open the door to the laboratory.

“Oh, hi, Aimi!” Professor Birch exclaimed, as she walked in the door. “I heard you beat Brendan on your first try. That’s excellent! He’s been helping me with my research for a long time. Brendan has an extensive history as a Trainer already.” Aimi held back a laugh. The battle earlier didn’t exactly give that impression. “Here, Aimi, I ordered this for my research, but I think you should have it instead. It’s a Pokedex!”

As it was offered, Aimi took the device from Professor Birch. She had heard about these before, but she didn’t know exactly how they worked. “The Pokedex is a high-tech tool that automatically makes a record of any pokemon you meet or catch. My son Brendan goes everywhere with it. Whenever he meets a rare pokemon and records its data, why, he looks for me while I’m out doing field work and shows me!”

“So, you got a Pokedex too, huh?” Brendan said, as Professor Birch took a moment to check a notification on his computer. “Well then, here, I’ll give you these.” He reached out, and to Aimi’s surprise, placed five empty pokeballs in her hand. “It’ll be a lot more fun if you have a whole lot of pokemon. I’m gonna explore all over the place to find different pokemon. If I find any cool ones, you bet I’ll try to catch them!” Since the Professor seemed rather engrossed with his work, Aimi pocketed the balls and, with a parting wave to Brendan, headed out of the Laboratory – and Littleroot town - for good this time.

-- To Be Continued --

I think this is about the length I'll go with for each episode, considering how much time it takes with playing and transcribing.

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“Hit it with a Scratch, Ferno,” Aimi called out, staring down the Wurmple that had appeared. It was the first pokemon she had seen – the first of its kind, in fact – since leaving Littleroot for the second time. This time, however, she had the pokeballs to catch it. Ferno leapt forward, giving the small caterpillar creature a deep gash along its side. However… the Wurmple remained standing, returning the favour with a poison sting that seemed to do a fair amount of damage to Ferno, despite the clear difference in strength. Interesting… this Wurmple might be worth the effort, Aimi thought, pulling one of the empty pokeballs off of her belt. When Ferno had backed off, she let the pokeball fly.

One shake. Two. Three. Finally, after the third, the red light on the pokeball clicked off. The Wurmple had been caught! Aimi grinned – two pokemon. She was one third of the way to a full team. Now she just needed a name for it. Wurmple was a rather… unintimidating name. “I think we’ll go with… Sting.” Cliché maybe, but it worked. Clipping her newly caught pokeball to her belt, Aimi set off once more. This time, for the rest of the way to Oldale, she would be using Sting in battle. Aimi’s time in Oldale didn’t last long. She made another stop in the PokeMart, and picked up some extra recovery supplies, before heading further north still. Route 03 was a dead end at the moment, but there were useful pokemon up there, and she was still far from a full team.

Not ten steps onto Route 103, she was attacked by a Poochyena. Remembering just how vicious they could be, Aimi immediately decided that it would be an excellent addition to her budding team. If nothing else, it would be amusing to sic a hound on her opponents. Hound… Just like that, Aimi had a name for hew new pokemon. Tossing a pokeball out, Sting popped out to fight. He was still closer to the Poochyena’s strength, so it would be less likely that he would accidentally kill the Poochyena. The battle, as a result, took much longer than if Ferno had been in the field. Sting also took quite a bit of a beating, prompting a quick trip to the pokemon center before he keeled over. A dead pokemon was of no use to her, after all. On the bright side, Aimi did now have a new pokemon to add to her team – Hound, the Poochyena.

Heading West out of Oldale, Aimi made sure to take the long route, trekking through the tall grass wherever possible. This allowed her to encounter a greater number of wild pokemon. Her first encounter was a Lotad which died quickly to Sting’s quick attacks, coupled with a lucky hit. This battle had one major result: Sting evolved. Aimi was both surprised, and quite pleased by this, despite what he evolved into. Cascoon weren’t exactly the most mobile pokemon, but this meant that Sting was one step closer to becoming his strongest form. So, Aimi left him at the front of her party, and trekked further West. Much to her greater surprise, Sting evolved again just a short time later, becoming a Dustox this time around. It also happened not far from a young boy who, after witnessing the evolution, stepped forward and challenged Aimi to a pokemon battle. Knowing there was no way she could lose like this, Aimi accepted.

“ Go, Poochyena!” the kid called out, sending out a pathetically weak looking Poochyena. Rather than send out her own, Aimi decided to test out Sting in his new form. What she soon discovered was that Sting had a few more tricks in his new form, namely an attack called Confusion, according to her Pokedex. Unfortunately, she also discovered that Poochyena, being a Dark type, was immune to Confusion. It wasn’t, on the other hand, immune to a good old fashioned tackle. The attack scored a direct hit, sending the Poochyena to the ground, where it moved no further. The boy called out to it, but there was nothing to be done. The battle was over, and Aimi had claimed her second victory. Ignoring the boy in his grief over the loss of his pokemon, Aimi continued on to the West, looking forward to more battles, and to meeting a certain someone in the next town.

“Well, if it isn’t Aimi! So, you’re all finished moving in?” Upon arriving in Petalburg, Aimi had headed straight for its Gym, where her Father was the leader. She had intended to challenge him right from the start, but like fathers often do, he insisted on small talk.

“Yes. Mom got the movers to take care of most of that,” Aimi replied, with a sigh. Unfortunately, the only way to get to the challenge was to deal with the small talk.

“That’s good. I gotta say though, I’m surprised you managed to get here by yourself.” Aimi narrowed her eyes, and finally, he noticed her belt. “Oh, I see, you got here with your Pokemon. I guess that can only mean one thing, hmm? You’re going to become a trainer like me, Aimi.”

“Something like that…”

“That’s great news! I’ll be looking forward to it!” Looking forward to it? Aimi frowned, quickly speaking up.

“Wait, what do you mean, ‘looking forward to it’?” Much to Aimi’s dismay, her father’s answer was cut off by a sickly young boy with green hair, no older than 16, who wandered into the gym and strode right up to her father. Aimi gave him a bit of a glare, but he didn’t even notice her.

“Um, excuse me sir… I’d like to get a Pokemon please…”

“Oh, you’re, uhh…. Wally, right?” It seemed he barely even remembered the kid.

“Yup! I’m gonna go stay with my relatives in Verdanturf Town. I thought I would be lonely by myself, so I wanted to take a Pokemon along.” Aimi smirked, and shook her head. He really didn’t understand what the point of pokemon was. They weren’t companions. They were weapons, tools used to fight and defeat others in order to become the strongest. “But, I’ve never caught a Pokemon before… I’m not sure how.”

“Hmm, I see… Aimi, you heard that, right?” He looked to Aimi expectedly. Aimi got a sudden feeling of dread. “Go with Wally and make sure he safely catches a pokemon. Wally, here, I’ll lend you one of my Pokemon to help.” Aimi let out an audible sigh, but a quick glare from her father told her she had no way out of this, despite almost being an adult officially, and having become a pokemon trainer.

“Wow, really? Thanks! Aimi… would you really come with me?” Aimi sighed again.

“Yeah, come on. It’s not like I really have a choice.” Casting a quick glance to her father, who was giving her a strangely disturbing thumbs-up, as if he were setting her up with the boy, she headed out the door. Remembering that there was an area particularly popular with wild pokemon jus to the east of town, Aimi led the boy there, ignoring any of his attempts at small talk.

“There,” she said, pointing at the tall grass near the edge of the trees. “Wander around in there for a little while, and you should find a wild pokemon or two.” Crossing her arms, Aimi made it very clear she wasn’t one for small talk, and with a dejected sigh, Wally headed out into the grassy area. No sooner than he had set foot in the grass, than he was attacked by a particularly rare pokemon – a Ralts. Aimi forced herself to hold back her surprise, and was later forced to do so again when the boy captured it without any sort of trouble.

“I did it!” he exclaimed, holding up the pokeball containing his Ralts. “It’s my… my Pokemon! Aimi, thank you! Come on, let’s head back to the gym!” Aimi nodded, and this time, followed Wally. When they returned to the Gym, Aimi zoned out for most of the conversation while Wally explained what had happened to her father. Only once the green-haired boy left the gym, did she bring herself back to the present, so to speak.

“Now… Aimi, if you want to become a strong Trainer, here’s my advice. Head for Rustboro City beyond this town. There, you should challenge the Gym Leader, Roxanne. After her, go on to other Gyms and defeat their leaders.” Aimi held up a hand, stopping him there.

“Hold on, I thought you were a Gym Leader. I’m here to challenge you now.”

“Unfortunately, that isn’t possible at the time being, Aimi,” he said, shaking his head. “Collect the badges from each other Gym Leader, then come back. We’ll battle on that day, Aimi, I promise you this – but only once you become stronger.” Finally, Aimi grinned.

“I’ll be back,” she said. “Soon.”

“I look forward to it.” With a final, lingering look to her father, Aimi turned and left the Gym. Oh yes, she would return… and when she did, she would stomp her father into the dust.

-- To be continued --

Ahh, the Beach… Aimi closed her eyes, letting out a pleasant sigh as the ocean air blew through her hair. Route 104 really was as lovely as everyone said. The weather was great, and the Beach was fantastic. It really was the perfect place to be on a day like this.

It was also the perfect place to show a few novice trainers why they should drop the idea of becoming a trainer altogether.

“Seedot! Noo!” Aimi’s latest victim cried out in agony as its trainer cradled the dying Seedot in his arms. Aimi could see the hate in his eyes, and only grinned. “Why would you do this?”

“Trust me, I’m savin’ you a lot of trouble down the road,” Aimi replied, clipping Ferno’s ball to her belt. “If you intend to keep training pokemon, I suggest you avoid the weak ones. Only the strong pokemon will survive, and only the strong ones are worth the time.” The boy simply sneered at her. Aimi shrugged, and headed off down the beach. It wasn’t her problem if trainers like this couldn’t train their pokemon properly. She wasn’t lying either – she really viewed this as doing them a favour. It saved them from wasting any more of their time with pokemon, since they were clearly not suited for the task.

Aimi’s next victim was a rather well dressed woman by the name of Cindy. She was… different than all of the trainers before. For one, she was older, and clearly more wealth. But, she was different mainly for the fact that she seemed unfazed by her sole pokemon’s quick demise. It was as if it was amusing to her, like a simple pastime. She was rich, so it didn’t really come as a surprise to Aimi that she didn’t care about her dead Zigzagoon. It was actually quite refreshing not to have someone bawling at her feet because they had lost. Parting on rather good terms with the lady, Aimi turned towards her next obstacle…

“Petalburg Woods…” A forest like none other, or so it seemed on the outside. Perhaps she would find a useful pokemon to add to her team inside? If nothing else, considering the types of pokemon within, it would be a useful trip for training Ferno, her first pokemon, and a strong fire type to boot. Tightening the laces on her shoes, Aimi shouldered her bag and headed in.

The first two hours of her trip through the forest were largely uneventful, save for an encounter with another Poochyena. It served as a valuable training aid for Hound, who managed to defeat his wild kin without any trouble. Aside from that, she merely faced an army of weak Wurmples, as well as the odd Bug-type trainer along the way, who all fell victim to Ferno’s powerful Ember attack. Aimi was actually beginning to regret coming in here, until, up ahead, she saw someone searching around for something…

“Hmmm… not a one to be found…” The person, an older man by the looks of him, spotted Aimi not long after she had seen him. Quickly, he wandered over and addressed her with a question. “Hello! Have you seen any Shroomish around here? I really love that pokemon!”

“Um, Shroomish?” Aimi flipped open her pokedex and smirked. “Really, Shroomish?” The man nodded vigorously. Clearly, he really liked his ‘shrooms.

“You there!” The sudden yell caught even Aimi off guard. “I was gonna ambush you, but you had to dawdle in the Petalburg Woods forever, didn’t you?” The man who had appeared seemed to be wearing some sort of weird pirate costume, with a striped shirt, and even a bandana with a skull and crossbones on it. It was certainly an interesting outfit – one Aimi wouldn’t be caught dead in. “I got sick of waiting, so here I am! You! Devon Researcher!”

Aimi turned to the man that had approached her. It seemed the pirate was after him, not her. In retrospect, that made more sense, since she didn’t exactly have much of value on her. “Hand over those papers!” the pirate demanded, prompting the Researcher to let out a yelp… and cower behind Aimi, much to her dismay.

“Hey, wh-what the hell are you doing?” she demanded. “Don’t get me involved, idiot!”

“You’re a Pokemon Trainer, aren’t you? You’ve got to help me, please!” Aimi tried to shake his hands from her shoulders, but to no avail.

“Hunh? What do you think you’re doing? What, you’re going to protect him?” The pirate narrowed her eyes, his gaze fixed now on Aimi.

“Ugh, no, get off me!” Finally, Aimi had shaken off the Researcher. “No, I’m not protecting him, he-“

“No one who crosses Team Aqua gets any mercy, not even a kid!” Having been cut off, Aimi started to speak again, before she realized what he had just said.

“Wait, Team Aqua? I should pound you just for that name alone,” she said, clenching her fist. Before, she hadn’t wanted to get involved - but since this man insisted on challenging her, Aimi figured she could get some amusement out of beating his team to a pulp. This was made especially true due to the pathetic name he had chosen for his ‘team’.

“Go, Poochyena! Teach her a lesson!”

“Poochyena? Seriously? That’s what you’re going to use? Ferno, take care of the trash.” To be completely honest, the pirate’s Poochyena was stronger than the wild ones she had been facing thus far. However, like many before it, the Poochyena fell to Ferno’s powerful Ember. Left with no more pokemon, the Pirate certainly looked a lot less confident – and the Researcher looked a lot less frightened, to Aimi’s relief. Now he wouldn’t be clamouring to hide behind her.

“You’re kidding me!” the Pirate exclaimed. “You’re tough, kid.”

“Just figured that out?”

“Grr… you’ve got some nerve meddling with Team Aqua! I’ll let you go for today!” Without another word, the Pirate turned and fled, luckily for him this was done before Aimi could order up an Ember on his ass.

“Whew, that was awfully close.” Aimi turned to look at the relieved Researcher. Close, my ass… sh thought, crossing her arms. “Thanks to you, he didn’t rob me of my important papers. I know! I’ll give you a Great Ball as my thanks!” Aimi grinned. Finally, this situation was paying off. Great balls were quite a bit more expensive than regular pokeballs. This would ensure she caught the next pokemon she encountered that was worth her trouble. Not a moment later, the Researcher muttered something to himself, and then dashed off. On her own once more, Aimi collected Ferno, and set out in the forest once more. With that rather interesting encounter over, she figured she might as well make haste to Rustboro… perhaps there would even be a Gym there.

“Finally… no more forest, and no more bug pokemon,” Aimi said, stepping foot outside Petalburg Forest after at least four hours of travelling. She was back on Route 104, meaning there was still a good distance left to travel to Rustboro. Looking from where she was now, Aimi could also see a good number of trainers along the way as well. At least the walk will be interesting, she thought, setting out with her hands in her pockets.

The route to Rustboro was relatively uneventful except for two things. First of all, Aimi learned that one can have a pokemon battle in which both trainers – or two teams of trainers – use two pokemon each, in what was called a double battle. Still, it didn’t decrease Aimi’s chances of winning, which were still 100% certain. The other interesting event, was the appearance of a wild pokemon. In her experience, pokemon were fairly scarce around Route 104, however this one was persistent enough to follow her it seemed. It was a Marill, a pokemon that was somewhat rare according to her pokedex. Hound was sent out instead of Ferno, and a few minutes later, Aimi had the fourth member of her team: Signal.

Immediately after arriving in Rustboro, after a trip to the PokeMart, Aimi found herself standing outside the city’s gym. Roxanne was the leader, and according to what she had heard, Roxanne liked to use Rock type pokemon. It seemed like Signal was about to get a trial by fire after all…

-- To be continued --

Shorter Episode this time, to cover the first Gym battle.

=-=-=-=-=

“Roxanne!” Aimi stepped forward to the fighting ring confidently. She had dealt with the Gym trainers rather handily, using only the newest member of her team, Signal. The little water type mouse… thing was proving to be quite useful. Roxanne’s gym specialised in Rock and Ground type pokemon, so that was to be expected. “I assume you know why I’m here?”

Roxanne, a woman a little older than Aimi herself with her black hair tied into a big grouping at the back, stood at the far end of the ring. Wearing what appeared to be some kind of formal dress, or perhaps a variant of a school uniform, Aimi could only assume she came from a wealthy family – and as such, was likely to be a bit of a pushover. “You are here to challenge me, are you not? That is why I became a Gym Leader, to apply what I have learned with and about Pokemon.” She stepped forward, taking a more prominent position, and removing one of the three pokeballs on her waist. “I accept your challenge. I’ll start this off with Geodude.”

As its name was called, a Geodude sprung forth from the ball in her hand. Not like I haven’t seen a dozen of those already, Aimi scoffed, sending out Signal without a second thought. “Water gun, Signal, and use it until you can no longer do so.” Signal was used to this by now it seemed, launching forward to release a jet of high powered water at the rock type. Though Roxanne’s Geodude was more than likely tougher than those belonging to the trainers, it still went down from a single attack. Roxanne then sent out a second Geodude, which didn’t really surprise Aimi. One attack later, and it too was reduced to little more than a lump of mud.

“Come on, Roxanne. Here I thought Gym Leaders were supposed to be tough.” Aimi smirked; this couldn’t have been easier. Even Signal seemed to be getting in on the arrogance, letting out a haughty squeak. Roxanne was unaffected though, and merely smiled back.

“Don’t count me out of the fight yet.” She reached back, and pulled out one final pokeball. By the look on her face, she was clearly confident that this one pokemon could spell the end for Aimi. Aimi’s smile faded, taking on a more serious expression. “Show her what it means to be strong, Nosepass!” When the pokemon had fully materialized, Aimi took a moment to check it out with her pokedex, having never seen one before. When it was done… she laughed again.

“A Nosepass, seriously? This isn’t even going to be a challenge. Signal, you know the drill.” Aimi crossed her arms as the Marill stepped forward, and shot a jet of water at the strange looking pokemon, to see just how strong it supposedly was. Much to Aimi’s surprise… the Nosepass kept standing. It even returned the favour with a Rock Tomb. Marill managed to avoid the worst of it, but she still took some damage. “I see. At least this makes things interesting. Keep up the heat, Signal! No room for failure!” Failure, of course, meant death.

Roxanne’s next move was to use Harden, a tactic Aimi felt was pointless considering Water was a special attack, rather than physical. Signal’s next attack hit hard, but unfortunately, the Nosepass had a berry saved, which negated almost all of the damage done by Signal’s attack. Then, due to Signal’s previous wound, it even managed to get off the next attack: another Harden. Aimi couldn’t help but sigh. Nosepass was clearly a strong pokemon, but its trainer was clearly lacking, especially in her follow-up tactic of using a potion when it was clearly pointless – it only bought her time.

Much to Aimi’s surprise, Roxanne did manage to put up a bit of a fight near the end. After using a second potion, she finally took advantage of Signal’s wound, and went on the offensive with a series of tackles. The Nosepass’ bulk made the attacks quite effective, but it was too little too late. With one final blast of water, the Nosepass was down for good, and Roxanne was defeated. Aimi returned her pokemon and strode through the now-scarred arena to where Roxanne stood waiting for her.

“I lost…” she said, gazing listlessly at Nosepass’ immobile form. “It seems there’s still more for me to learn… I understand. The League’s rules state that Trainers are to be given this if they defeat a Gym Leader. Please accept this Stone Badge… um…”

“Aimi,” she replied, finishing Roxanne’s sentence.

“Yes. Please accept this, Aimi. Keep training to become stronger, and heed this warning: there are seven gym leaders you must face after me, and all of them are stronger than I am. Good luck.” Aimi rolled her eyes, and without so much as a goodbye, she turned and left the Gym. The Stone Badge… her first official step towards becoming a Champion Trainer. Aimi couldn’t help but feel that this had been far too easy. That could either be a good thing or a bad thing. She chose to take the latter option; Roxanne’s warning, though she had scoffed at it, was correct. She would have to train a lot more in order to defeat the opponents that lay ahead.

“Get out of my way! Move!” Not five steps out of the Gym, Aimi was knocked to the ground by a man dressed in a very familiar looking outfit – a member of Team Aqua. Pulling herself up, Aimi was off and running before the victim of this man’s crimes could even ask her for help. She didn’t want to help the victim, oh no.

Aimi wanted to hurt the criminal.

--To Be Continued--