I slowly rose to my full height while maintaining eye contact with the serpentine pokemone that just attacked us, an Ekans that I was willing to bet was at LEAST seven feet long.
"An Ekans? What's an Ekans doing here?" Leaf asked as she picked herself up off the ground after I shoved her out of the way of it's attack.
"Well, we've already seen that there's plenty of Rattata and Pidgey around here. What better place is there for a carnivore like Ekans?" May answered as she picked herself up on my other side, her hand twitching towards her pokeballs. "Want me to take care of this Noah? It would be easy for my Manectric."
"No." I answered while shooing both of them away with my hands. "This is something for Charmander, Rattata and I to overcome." I added as the two aforementioned pokemon stood firmly on either side of me.
Unfortunately, I doubted Pidgey would be much use right now since I hadn't had the chance to heal it after catching it. But depending on how this battle goes, I may need to.
"Both of you, keep moving and DON'T let it get it's jaws on you, no matter what. Understand?" I asked my two pokemon.
"Char!"
"Tatta..."
Charmander cried out in afirmation, while Rattata also replied, though with noticeably less certainty.
"Kanssssssss..."
The Ekans hissed back at us as we tried to make our plans. I also noticed that it was keeping an eye on May and Leaf while focusing on us, presumably assuming that either of them would try to attack it by surprise.
That worked for us.
"Charmander, use Smokescreen! Rattata, use Quick attack!" I commanded both of them in rapid succession.
"CHAR!" Charmander squeaked as he opened his mouth wide, and expelled a torrent of hot smoke that engulfed Ekans.
"Tatta!" Rattata cried as she shot forward and attacked the serpent before it vanished from view, getting a good hit on it, but doing seemingly no damage.
"Rattata, take some distance! Chamrander, use Ember as much as you can!" I ordered them next, figuring fire would have a better time getting through Ekans's tough scales.
Rattata hurried back to my side while Charmander peppered the haze of smoke with as many Embers as he could, though I noticed it was quickly starting to wear on him. And then...
"Look out!" I warned Charmander as a sudden feeling of dread filled me, and Ekans lunged out of the smoke right at him.
"Tatta!" Rattata cried as she shot forward, distracting Ekans enough that Charmander could dodge it's attack.
"Excellent Rattata! Now use Bite on the back of it's neck!" I ordered her next.
"Tat!" She cried, putting the speed of her quick attack to use as she shot around, and the latched onto the back of Ekans's neck.
"KANSSSSSSS!" It hissed angrily, while also thrashing it's body wildly to try and shake her off.
"Now Charmander! Put all of your remaining energy into as many Ember attacks as you can manage!" I told him while pulling out another pokeball.
"CHAAAAAAAAAAAR!"
Charmander tried as best he could to roar as he sprayed Ekans with burning hot coals, making the snake thrash even more than before as it tried to escape both his attack and Rattata.
Finally, Charmander seemed to run out of energy as his attack ended, and with a final shake Rattata was dislodged as she was sent flying. Thankfully, I was able to catch her while also throwing a pokeball at the now fleeing Ekans.
"KANSSS!" It hissed one last time as the ball hit it, and sucked it inside.
"Come on..." I groaned tensely as the ball fell to the ground and shook violently.
Each second that passed was torturous as the pokeball continued shaking, until finally, it fell still with a soft ding.
"Awesome!" I exclaimed while hurrying forward to collect it.
"Wow! Three pokemon already!" Leaf stated as she joined me.
"Not bad for the first few hours into your journey." May added as well.
"An Ekans was certainly a nice surprise." I said while scanning it, finding out it was a boy, and then scanning Pidgey as well. Also a male.
~~~
Ekans- The Snake pokemon
This pokemon will often take a curled up position, allowing it to respond to a threat from any direction with a Glare from its upraised head.
~~~
Pidgey- The Tiny Bird pokemon
This pokemon has an unerringly accurate sense of direction. No matter how far away it goes, it will always find its way back to its nest.
~~~
I put both pokeballs on my belt to take their places on my team, pleased with myself for catching three pokemon so quickly. I could only hope my luck would hold out as I caught the rest of the pokemon out there as well.
"So onto Viridian?" May asked curiously, while I recalled Charmander and rattata into their pokeballs, telling them they did good as I did so.
"Yeah. My pokemon are all exhausted, and i'm sure Leaf's Bulby isn't up to any battles either." I told her, even as I glanced upwards and saw some storm clouds gathering in the distance.
"Yeah. Let's go before we get rained on." Leaf said in agreement, and the three of us turned back north as we hurried along the path.
For a while nothing happened, aside from the clouds growing closer to us even as we moved, until we reached a sheer drop that was almost a cliff. May was able to get down it easily enough, while I followed her with Leaf in my arms since it would take her a while to get down on her own. Naturally, she used the entire ordeal to flirt and try to sway me on accepting her offer of becoming my 'manager'.
After reaching the bottom, we found ourselves near a lakeside encampment that appeared to be deserted, aside from a sole Psyduck.
"Psy?" It groaned while looking at us, tilting it's head as it did so.
"A Psyduck? I wonder what it's doing here." Leaf muttered while we all looked around the camp curiously.
In the middle was a large cabin-like tent that had a stovepipe sticking up from the top, while a campfire smoldered in front of it with a couple stumps pushed up for seats. It was on one of these stumps that the Psyduck was watching us from, while a bike with a basket leaned against a nearby tree. At the very edge of the water though, were three large fishing poles set up on holders, their lines in the water as one of them bobbed slowly.
"This must be a fisherman's camp. I've seen a few during my travels in Hoenn." May said as we looked around.
"Think we should warn them about the storm?" I asked while glancing up once more at the rapidly approaching clouds.
"Probably, if we knew where they were." May replied as we continued looking around, except there was still no sign of the camp or the Psyduck's owner. Then...
"!!!"
I looked up as the water splashed to see a beautiful figure breaching the surface, spraying water everywhere perfectly to catch the remaining rays of sunlight to create a rainbow that shimmered around her.
"A mermaid?" I uttered in awe, before I felt a sharp pain at my side.
"Did you say something?" May growled angrily as the figure swam towards us.
"Just that you're cute when you're jealous." I replied sincerely, throwing caution to the wind.
Apparently it worked, as May turned a bright red and looked away shyly as the figure stepped up onto the bank.
"Who are you all, and what are you doing in my camp?!" She demanded angrily while holding up a pokeball threateningly.
The girl had orange hair tied into a sideways ponytail, as well as green eyes that looked us over with suspicion. Most of her pale skin meanwhile was on display, as she only wore a matching blue bikini top and bottom.
"We're passing through from Pallet town to Viridian city. A storm is coming though, so we stopped to let whoever was here know." I told her, even as I stared at her face intently. I didn't know why, but this woman seemed incredibly familiar to me.
"Wait, really?" The girl asked as she glanced upwards, only to see the dark clouds that rapidly approached us.
"So you're NOT with Team Rocket then?" She asked while turning back towards us warily.
"No way!" Leaf replied this time with disgust. "We would NEVER be associated with those losers."
The girl gave us one last intense look, before her eyes settled on May.
"No way... May from May's Expeditions?!" She exclaimed excitedly, drawing May's attention to her. Apparently, she was still affected by me calling her cute.
"Yes?" May answered, not seeming as if she knew what we were talking about.
"Amazing! I'm a big fan of yours! Just let me get dressed and break camp real quick. Then I can show you the direct path to Viridian." She said, before hurrying into the tent.
The girls and I shared a look as the mystery girl hurried to get dressed inside the tent, before she emerged a few minutes later dressed in a yellow crop top, and tight booty shorts help up by a pair of red suspenders.
Instead of introducing herself though, the girl hurriedly broke down her camp by packing up the tent, even with everything else still in it, and then stashing it in her bag before reeling in the fishing poles she had set up.
"Now let's see what's on the end of the line~!" She declared excitedly as she reeled the pole that was slowly moving in last. Eventually...
"KARP!"
Suddenly the water surface broke yet again to reveal a large red Magikarp, which flopped about wildly as the girl reeled it in.
"Damn... Another Magikarp." She swore angrily, even as she finished bringing it in.
"Does that mean you aren't going to catch it?" I asked her curiously.
"Nope. I have no interest in Magikarp. They're borderline impossible to train." The girl said as she removed the hook and prepared to throw it back.
"Mind if I take it then?" I asked while holding up a pokeball.
"Seriously?" She asked me incredulously.
"Yeah. My goal is to capture every single pokemon out there, even including Magikarp." I told her.
"Then have at it." The girl said while stepping to the side, and I was able to approach the Magikarp.
"How would you like to come with me?" I asked the red fish seriously as it flopped on the ground.
"Karp?"
"I can make you strong, if you want. Do you?"
"Karp karp karp!"
Flopping wildly at my offer, I smiled as I held out a pokeball and tapped it against the Magikarp, sucking it inside as the ball shook for a second on my hand. Naturally, it quickly fell silent with a soft ding.
~~~
Magikarp- The Fish pokemon
This pokemon is considered to be the most useless pokemon in battle. It is so weak that it can barely fight against the currents in the water it swims in, and can only flop uselessly on the ground. It is in fact very hardy, being able to survive in nearly every single body of water, no matter how polluted.
~~~
"Excellent. Now let's get out of here." I told the girls, and we all started making our way down the path.
"I'm Misty by the way. Misty Williams." The orange haired girl introduced herself suddenly as she walked her bike down the path.
"Nice to meet you Misty. As you know, I'm May, he's Noah, and this is Leaf." May said as she introduced us.
"Nice to meet you." I said while nodding to her in greeting, earning me a weird look.
"Aren't you the guy who fell from the sky?" Misty suddenly asked after several seconds, and I fought back a sigh.
"Yeah, that's me. And no, I don't where I came from, or who sent me here. I just know that I'm here to catch one of every pokemon." I told her, preempting the questions I knew were coming.
"Interesting... Well you can ask me anything about water type pokemon! Not only do I specialize in them, but so does my entire family! In fact, the episodes of May's Expeditions that I enjoyed the most were the ones when she was diving in the ocean around Hoenn."
"Oh yeah! I really enjoyed filming those ones since I got to explore most of the island reefs, but it was pretty scary diving down to the trenches and open ocean. I still get bad dreams occasionally from that swarm of Sharpedo while I was filming the pod of Wailord and Wailmer." May said shyly, though it was obvious that she was quickly warming up to Misty after finding out she was a fan of hers.
Suddenly...
"HEEEEEEEEY!"
A voice calling out made us all look back, where a certain figure was running towards us with two things hot on his trail. One was a flock of angry-looking Spearow, the other was a curtain of torrential rain.
"Oh no!" May exclaimed, hurriedly putting up the umbrella she had gotten out of her bag earlier right as the rain reached us.
"Ah! This sucks!" Leaf exclaimed as she and Misty were both immediately soaked from the rain. May and I were only slightly better off since she was covering both of us with her umbrella.
"I should have just left my bikini on..." Misty groaned, seemingly none too concerned about the rain as it soaked her. Then again, I guess it wouldn't matter to a water specialist.
"Look out!" The kid who was running yelled as he reached us, the flock of Spearow hot on his trail despite the rain. In his arms was a small Pichu that appeared to have already taken a beating.
I frowned as something about the kid seemed familiar, even as he reached us.
"Don't bring them here, idiot!" Misty yelled irritably as the boy caught up to us, potentially adding us to the number of targets the Spearow were after.
"Sorry! I'll just borrow this then!" The kid yelled back as he quickly took her bike, putting the Pichu into the basket beside Misty's bag, and then speeding off with both her bike and her bag before any of us could stop him.
"Did that just happen?" May asked in disbelief.
"MY STUFF!" Misty however yelled angrily, even as the Spearow sped past us in their pursuit of the boy.
"I'LL BRING IT BACK, SOMEDAY!" The kid yelled back at her before vanishing around the bend, leaving us standing here.
"I think we should try to chase after him." I said seriously as a bad feeling welled up within me. Like Misty, I also felt as if I should know who that kid was, but I couldn't place him. But I did know that something bad was about to happen.
And the words had barely left my mouth when it seemed to happen.
My scalp began to tingle, and all of the hair on my body seemed to stand on end before the darkened sky lit up with a great flash, blinding me even before the thunder followed it.
The sound was deafening, making all of the girls around me drop to their knees with their arms covering their heads, while I flinched from the noise even while trying to blink the spots from my eyes after the lightning.
"Let's go!" I yelled while running out from the cover of May's umbrella, hurrying down the path the kid from before took without stopping to see if the girls were following me. I barely even registered that the rain was already starting to let up.
A few minutes later, I came upon a scene of complete destruction.
Charred Spearow littered the ground in every direction, well over a hundred of them. It looked like a massacre had occured, though there was no sign of the boy and his wounded Pichu. In the middle of the Spearow though...
"MY BIKE!"
Misty's shrill voice filled the air as she caught up to me, and spotted the charred remains of her bike in the middle of the unconscious Spearow. And in the basket, her ruined bag.
"Oh when I get a hold of that brat, I'm gonna wring his neck!" She yelled when it became apparent that ALL of her stuff was ruined.
"Typical Ash." Leaf said as she caught up, shaking her head as she did so.
"Ash?"
"Yeah, the kid we saw. He's the fourth one from Pallet town that we had been waiting on this morning, but he didn't show up on time so we left before he got to pick up his pokemon."
Again, I had the faintest idea that I should know who Ash was, but couldn't place it. Like so many things and people about this world.
Better to focus on what I did know, and I know there was an entire field of unconscious Spearow around me just waiting to be captured.
I quickly surveyed the area around me, deciding not to just catch any old Spearow, but the largest of the bunch here. Maybe even an Alpha! Thankfully, it didn't take me long to find it.
"I'll take YOU." I said with a smile as I found one such Spearow next to Misty's ruined bike. It must have been the leader of the flock since it looked like it had led the attack on Ash and Pichu, and was significantly larger than the others around it. But it was also just as fried as the others as well.
Already being unconscious, the Spearow didn't put up a fight as I tapped a pokeball to it, sucking it inside, nor when it was inside the ball as it quickly stopped moving with the usual ding.
"Doesn't that make a full team?" May asked beside me as I scanned the Spearow, who WAS an Alpha according to the Pokedex app on my phone.
~~~
Spearow- The Tiny Bird pokemon
This pokemon has a loud shrill cry that can be heard over half a mile away. When they let loose their cries, it is typically to warn the rest of the flock of danger.
~~~
"Yep! Day one, and I already have a full roster of pokemon to take with me!" I said excitedly while looking over the balls on my belt. Charmander, Rattata, Pidgey, Ekans, Magikarp, and now Spearow!
And just like the others, I got a notification after scanning Spearow that money had been transferred to me.
"Alright, everyone done here?" I asked since my own business was finished.
"We're just waiting on you, Noah." Leaf said wryly, while Misty was still fuming as he hefted the charred remains of her bike onto her back.
"Let me take that." I said, taking the bike from her and holding it up like it weighed nothing.
"Wow... You're pretty strong, aren't you?" Misty asked while blinking up at me with eyes wide in surprise.
"You have no idea." I responded wryly, before we started back down the path that would take us to Viridian city.
***
A list of the pokemon that Noah has REGISTERED, meaning not that he currently has on hand. So when he evolves his Charmander into Charmeleon, it will still show Charmander as well as Charmeleon.
#4- Charmander
Fire type
#16- Pidgey
Normal/Flying type
#19- Rattata
Normal type
#21- Spearow
Normal/Flying type
#23- Ekans
Poison type
#129- Magikarp
Water type