3 Chapter Two: The Pokémon Hunt

After walking for a long time to ensure that he doesn't encounter someone else that could mess up his hunting plans, Alex found a clearing in the woods to set up his campsite. He spent the rest of the day setting up his tent, picking up twigs and sticks suitable as firewood for a campfire and scavenging for enough berries to last for 3 days. He just returned to his camp with a bunch of berries and firewood when it turned dark, so he started a campfire and ate some berries before going into his tent to sleep.

The next day, Alex slept in and woke up late. He checked the time on his GPS tracker and realized that it was 11:30, so he quickly got himself ready and headed out in the search of a Pokémon. After walking for about 15 minutes, he saw a stream with some Lotad floating in it. He slowly approached them, but he accidentally stepped on a twig and made a cracking noise. The Lotad turned around and saw him, then quickly swam away before he could do anything. Disappointed, he kept on walking, in search of some more Pokémon.

After a few more minutes, he saw some sleeping Seedot hanging from a tree. 'Great' Alex thought. 'Seedot aren't too wary, so maybe one of them is friendly and will be willing to make a bond with me". He then slowly walked up to the tree which the Seedot were hanging from. Step by step, he was creeping up to the base of the tree. Then, he slowly sat down at the base of the tree and waited for one of the Seedot to approach him. After half an hour, the Seedot slowly started to wake up and fell off the tree one by one. One by one, they noticed Alex, but because he was at the base of the tree, they realized that he didn't intend to harm them because if he did, he would've done it already. Some of the cautious ones backed of because they were still wary of Alex, while some of the more brave ones approached Alex. Once they were within arms reach, Alex started petting some of them.

At school, in the Fuser class, one of the tactics taught for making a bond with a Pokémon Alex learned about is that if you wanted to get a bond with a Pokémon, you have to make them approach you by staying still for a long time near them. That way, you can tell if the Pokémon is mainly brave or mainly timid. The braver ones are easier to bond with because they're daring enough to make a bond, while the timid ones are harder because you have to put more effort in by being patient and kind with them if you want to make a bond with them. Even then, if they're extremely timid, even after being kind and patient with them, the time for them to bond with you could be as quick as 10 minutes to a month. It varies a lot, which makes it easier to bond to bond with braver Pokémon, which is why everyone is taught how to identify the difference.

When he started petting the Seedot, they felt less cautious and they started loosening up to him. A few minutes passed with Alex and the Seedot relaxing together, slowly forming a small friendship. He had high hopes because he knew that even though Seedot are currently weak, they evolve at level 14 and become a Nuzleaf, gaining a significant power boost and at the same time, he can evolve it anytime using a leaf stone if he wants to turn it into a Shiftry.

However, while he was thinking about all the things he could do, life came around and destroyed his dreams. He heard a loud howl an immediately all the Seedot started to run away as fast as could. Some trotted away as fast as they could while others tried to roll away, albeit slower than the ones trotting. Meanwhile Alex turned towards the source of the howl to see the source of the howl, filled with anger and grief because his chances of becoming a Fuser right then and there just slipped away. When he saw the source of the howl, his heart sank immediately. He saw a Poochyena, which was bad news. Not because it was extremely dangerous, because he had a good chance at beating it if he played his card right. No, because usually Poochyena travel in a pack of around 5 with 1-2 Mightyena. So, if there is a Poochyena here, the chances of a whole pack of Poochyena and Mightyena was quite high. He wasted no time getting all his things immediately and bolting away from the tree. The Poochyena followed him for a little bit, but eventually gave up. It knew that it could catch Alex eventually, but by then it would've strayed too far from it's pack and get lost, so it didn't want to do that just for a little bit of prey.

After running away for a couple more minutes after he saw the Poochyena stop chasing him, Alex changed his direction and started heading to his campsite, intending on having a late lunch before going out again. Once he arrived at his campsite, he took some more berries to eat for his lunch and then toke a few more, intending on using them as bait.

Originally, he didn't want to use the berries as a bait because then he'd have to search for more berries, but the circumstances required him too. He didn't realize that the forest had some predators like the pack of Poochyena and Mightyena, but now that he knows there are dangers that could prevent him from making a bond with a Pokémon, he had to speed up his process. He knew that there's a chance that the pack of Poochyena and Mightyena might not be the only dangerous Pokémon lurking around, so speed is necessary. In the Fuser class, another tactic Alex learned for making a bond with a Pokémon is pretty much bribery. You offer some berries to a Pokémon and if they choose to eat it, they will be more friendly with you and more willing to bond. An old teacher at his school once said that it was like feeding bread to the pigeons, but Alex never learned what a Pigeon was. Apparently, it was kinda like a Pidgey, in the fact that there was a lot of them everywhere.

Anyways, after finishing up his lunch, he took some berries and left in search of some more Pokémon. He left in a different direction than before, hoping to avoid the pack of Poochyena and Mightyena. He walked for 10 minutes before spotting a group of Butterfree flying by. Disappointed, he turned to another direction and started walking. The reason why he didn't try to befriend and make a bond with the Butterfree isn't because they're weak or unfriendly. They're actually quite strong and most of the time low-levelled, making it a great choice for a starting bond. Also, they're mainly docile and friendly, so getting attacked for no reason isn't likely. The reason he didn't dare try to befriend and make a bond with the Butterfree is because they're poisonous. Their wings contain poison powders, which makes it difficult to get close without poisoning yourself. If you want to befriend a poison Pokémon, you'd need a good amount of Poison Cures or Status Cures, if you're rich.

After he walked away from the Butterfree, it took him around 20 minutes before he finally saw some more Pokémon. It was a lone Pichu. Alex was exited, because Pichu are weak but can evolve anytime if you have a great friendship. All he has to do is befriend it and make a bond, without worrying that it's weak because of it's easy evolution process.

The Pichu was currently scavenging for food. This would've been a problem if he didn't bring any berries with him, but because he brought some berries it wasn't a problem. 'Hopefully nothing will go wrong this time' Alex thought, because he was getting impatient because of all the missed opportunities.

He took out a couple berries and started walking up to the Pichu while holding out the berries. This was a risky tactic, because if the Pokémon was timid, it would run away instantly, regardless if he had berries or not. But, Alex knew that wouldn't happen, because the Pichu wasn't cautious as it looked for some berries. He knew it wouldn't run away if it saw Alex offering some berries to it. Once the Pichu noticed him, it was preparing to run away, but once it saw the berries Alex was offering, it realized that Alex was offering it some food and decided to stay and investigate.

The Pichu walked up to Alex and started inspecting the berries. Alex chuckled and placed the berries on the ground and backed up slightly. After investigating the berries and deciding that they were safe, the Pichu then started to eat them. A minute later, the Pichu finished off the berries, but then realized it wasn't full. It then turn to Alex and had a look that was begging for food. Seeing the Pichu like this, Alex laughed a little bit, realizing that the Pichu must've been very hungry to turn to this state. He then proceeded to fish a few berries out of his pocket. The Pichu, with gratitude all over it's face, started to devour the berries as fast as it could. Alex continued to give it his berries, until he ran out. Luckily, The Pichu was full and happy, so he took out a Common Bond and watched to see if the Pichu would form a bond with him.

Everyone on the school trip was given 5 Common Bonds. Usually, you'd either have a few Bonds on you and buy them whenever you needed them, or bought a bunch of them all at once and kept them on the off chance you needed them. Bonds can either be very cheap or very expensive, depending on the rarity. They look like a strip of paper with gibberish on them. The gibberish is actually some special ancient language that is used to make bonds. The gibberish can make either strong Bonds or weak Bonds, depending on how much effort is put into it. The strength is represented in different rarities. The rarities are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Mystic. The prices for them are:

Common Bonds: Bonds with Pokémon levels 1-15, costs 5$, sells for 2$

Uncommon Bonds: Bonds with Pokémon levels 1-30, costs 10$, sells for 5$

Rare Bonds: Bonds with Pokémon levels 1-45, costs 25$, sells for 10$

Epic Bonds: Bonds with Pokémon levels 1-60, costs 50$, sells for 25$

Legendary Bonds: Bonds with Pokémon levels 1-75, costs 100$, sells for 50$

Mythic Bonds: Bonds with Pokémon levels 1-100, auction base price 1000$

If he could, Alex would save up his money and buy a Legendary Bond, maybe 2 if he saved up enough. But, sadly you have to be a certain rank to buy certain gear. For example, if he wanted to buy the Legendary Bond, or any Legendary gear, he would have to be at the Elite Rank or Champion Rank. He couldn't even get a Common Bond, because you had to be a Fuser to buy any Fuser gear. That's why the school had provide some Common Bonds for everyone, because no one could buy it themselves.

Anyways, when he held out the Common Bond to the Pichu, it looked at him, smiled, and touched it. 'This is it!' Alex thought. 'My very first Bond!'. He was very exited and anxious, waiting for something to happen. But, what happened next shocked him. The Common Bond shrivelled up right before his eyes. Looking at this, Alex was greatly saddened and the Pichu, wondering why Alex made him touch the Common Bond, looked at him with a confused expression before walking away. Alex didn't stop it, because there was no point. He knew the exact reason why the Common Bond shrivelled up, because he was taught about it in Fuser class.

When he was being taught about how to use Bonds with Pokémon, he was told that there was 2 ways a Bond wouldn't work. The first way was that either the Fuser (or wannabe Fuser) or Pokémon had negative feelings. Like, if the Fuser (or wannabe Fuser) suddenly appeared out of nowhere and forced the Pokémon to make a bond with them, it wouldn't work. That's why it takes a long time to bond with Pokémon, you have to make sure that there's no negative feelings towards one another.

Alex knew that wasn't the reason why his Bond failed. If it was the reason, he would still have his Common Bonds intact. No, it was because the Pichu was over the Common Bond's level limit. He was aught that the other reason that a Bond might fail is if you are using a bond that's too weak. Each Bond has a Pokémon level limit (as shown above). If the Pokémon's level is higher than the level limit, the Bond fails and the Bond you used shrivels up. that means you need to use a stronger bond. It also helps identify the level of the Pokémon.

Of course, Alex didn't care about identifying the level of the Pichu, he wanted to make a Bond with it. When he realized the reason why the Common Bond shrivelled up, he was saddened because that meant that he couldn't make a Bond with it, as he doesn't have an Uncommon Bond with him.

Dejected, he headed back towards his campsite slowly, suffering from overwhelming sadness

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Meanwhile, somewhere in the forest...

"Ugh... my head" he said, as he tried to get up, but felt a throbbing pain in his head. Trying to alleviate his headache, he shook his head a few times before noticing that his body felt weird.

'Something feels off about me...' he thought. He looked around and saw a pond nearby, so he went over to check his reflection. Once he saw himself, he was shocked to the core. He never knew that they would do this to him. Just because of one thing he did, they did this to retaliate. 'Oh well, can't do anything about it in my current state' he thought. He wasn't nearly enough powerful to take his revenge. He had to slowly get stronger, then he can take his revenge. But, he didn't want to get ahead of himself, so he put his revenge to the side.

Suddenly, he felt his stomach rumble. Realizing that he was quite hungry, he went on a search for some food. He walked for a while, before noticing an empty campsite. 'Great' he thought. 'There's probably some food in here. Hopefully the person who is here doesn't come back anytime soon', as he proceeded to search through everything looking for food. After a few minutes, it turned dark, which meant that he should leave, but just as he was turning to escape, he noticed a berry poking out of a bag. As he walked over to it and open the bag, he saw a lot of berries stashed there. His hunger took over him while he proceeded to devour all the contents of the bag.

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Meanwhile, Alex noticed that it just turned dark, but he could see his campsite a couple hundred meters away, so he sped up so he could go be depressed and try to sleep, but he didn't know what was in store for him...