22 The Journey Begins

(Images of Lucas, it is a combination of a couple of different pics. Also this is another 3k chap.)

I was in front of the mirror in my house, focusing hard.

I was trying to focus on my Fairy type. It was unfamiliar, but I knew I had tapped into it sometimes by instinct. I had to learn how to change it from passive to active in order to train Dreepy most effectively. I saw it on his face yesterday as Carolina and I spoke about how to train him. He was determined, and since he was, so would I.

As I tried using my signature Mesmerize move, I noticed my eyes shine slightly. As I got my face close to the mirror, my eyes looked as if the iris was composed of shattered glass, reflecting back the light and giving them their unique shine.

"Neat." I muttered to myself as I stopped focusing on my skill, letting my eyes return back to normal.

I had done some research on fairy typing and how it worked. The best answer I could put together was that pokemon that were fairy type had a connection with nature itself. Unlike grass pokemon that had a connection to plants, fairies had the abstract concept of nature. Things like the moon, flowers, or life.

I had to do more research on that later, but for now, I would get started on my journey.

Oak had gifted me with a good amount of pokeballs to get started, and if I ever ran out of space he had offered his farm to me so that I could send my pokemon. I had a feeling I was going to be switching my party here and there depending on my opponents, so I would end up with a good amount of pokemon.

Unlike raising a newborn pokemon, pokemon in the wild were often at a good level of strength. They had lived long enough that they could get started on training properly instead of having to go through a face of growing up. Both having wild and newborn pokemon had their own benefits though.

Most wild pokemon were at a point where they were ready to grow and begin fighting properly. While getting a newborn pokemon might allow you to raise them from the beginning to make sure that they develop in a more beneficial way to their future. In fact, their earliest days to months after being born were the most important to influence their future.

Kirlia had been able to begin using her psychic powers way earlier than in the wild, and thanks to using them while she was still developing she has a better connection to her psychic powers than other Kirlia's. In theory, she should only begin to develop precognition once she evolved into a Gardevoir, but she was showing signs of seeing into the very near future.

As for Dreepy, he had spent his entire childhood feeling the pressure of a Fairy type. It had even changed the type of pressure he needed to experience for him to grow. There was no real precedent to something like this, so my theories were not yet confirmed. But I believed that this could either give him something similar to the "exposure therapy" I had with the steel type, or give him a connection to nature like Fairy types. It would not change his typing since that was something hardwired into his DNA, but it could maybe allow him to use fairy-type moves in the future.

Honestly, it could have an entirely different effect than what I expected, I could only wait until he evolved to see what changes it could bring. Though yesterday before I went to bed I had a staring contest with him using my Mezmerize until he was "defeated". I really had to figure out another move I could use from the Fairy type, or even create my own for the future. Staring contests were not the most efficient way to train, believe it or not.

After saying goodbye to my mother, I left.

I had been ready for this day for most of my life, so I simply dashed forward with a plan in hand. I wanted to get my first badge as soon as possible since it would open up a lot of doors for me.

As I ran through route 201, I focused on my clairvoyance, trying to find the Starly that showed the most promise. But I was left a bit stunned as I felt a flock of Starly chasing down a small pokemon.

"What the hell is a Joltik doing in Sinnoh? Especially all the way over here…"

Just yesterday, people had come from all over for my birthday. So my best guess, due to him being so close to my house, was that the little spider had somehow managed to sneak into Sinnoh by piggybacking on one of the guests. From what I remembered the little spider had a bad habit of sticking to pokemon and people to absorb their static electricity.

Running over to break the fight, I stopped the flock of Starly from eating the spider by throwing some Pokemon food at them. Which really confused the little birds. However, when they saw the two war criminals next to me, the little birds quickly snatched the food before flying away as fast as they could.

Seeing their chance to escape the small Joltik scattered over to me before crawling up my leg and inside of my jacket. The little spider was freaking out at all of the Starly that surrounded this route. Taking in a deep breath I focused on trying to calm them down using my powers until they left my jacket and made their way to my arm, staring at me in curiosity and awe. She was staring at me as if I was her savior, which I guess I was.

"Do you wanna come along?" I asked the little spider.

Joltik answered by doing a little happy dance, leading me to chuckle.

"Alright, here." I said as I tapped Joltik with a pokeball.

My first caught pokemon wasn't quite what I expected, but it was a pleasant surprise. I released her from the pokeball, which let her crawl back inside my jacket.

I continued to make my way through the route until I encountered a Starly that showed some promise.

"Alright, Kirlia, this is just like all the practice we had before." I said to her in a quiet tone, looking at the Starly from a distance.

Kirlia nodded with a serene expression before making the shadow underneath her larger as she prepared to use a move.

"Go."

The shadow underneath her dashed towards the Starly before jumping out and attacking the small bird.

Starly turned around to face their opponent but couldn't see anything behind them. As they prepared to fly away, Kirlia teleported behind the Starly before using Confusion.

Kirlia's eyes sparkled as she summoned her psychic powers, enveloping the area with shimmering energy. With a focused gaze, Kirlia directed the wave of psychic force towards the Starly.

The Starly tried to dodge the attack, but it was too late as their mind became muddled. Nevertheless, they took into the air before facing Kirlia in defiance. Their wing flaps were uneven due to the confusion, but the little bird was determined not to go down without a fight.

Charging towards Kirlia with a Quick Attack, he tried to crash against her using his entire force, but due to the confusion, he only ended up crashing against the floor. With unsteady movements, the small bird prepared to fly away once again before I spoke.

"Wait!"

The Starly froze in place as they noticed they were surrounded. Knowing it couldn't really fight back until the confusion wore off.

"You are a resilient one, aren't you? I noticed that you were far away from your flock. I was wondering if you wanted to join me… I got cookies" I said as I took out a Pokemon snack.

The Starly shook their head a few times to clear the confusion before looking at me, slightly confused.

"Yeah, sorry for jumping you, but you all tend to fly away pretty quickly otherwise. I know my pokemon have a bad reputation in this route…"

The Starly took a look at the Kirlia that had attacked him and at the little Dreepy poking their head out from underneath my hat before his eyes narrowed in recognition.

Noticing this, I added.

"You know, if you want to get strong like them, you should join me. I have been around here long enough that Starly usually are only by themselves if their flock rejects them. How about we show them how stupid they were to reject you? When they see you walking around with these two menaces without being scared, then they will know that they just pushed away the most fearless and strongest of the flock." I said as I pointed to my two starters.

Taking a moment to reflect, the little bird nodded his head before flapping their wings and landing on my shoulder. Puffing out his chest with pride as he waited for me to walk.

'Well, I guess now there is a third pokemon using me as their resting spot' I thought to myself.

Soon enough, they would evolve and become too large, so I would let them do it for now.

I continued to walk through the route, making my way to Jubilife City with the little bird on my shoulder. As the flocks of Starly landed on trees to stare at us, I could feel the Starly on my shoulder puff even more with pride and flap his wings in mockery. The little bird was having the time of his life.

Skipping right past Jubilife City, I made my way straight to Oreburgh City. It was speedrun time, and I was about to get that gold time. However, one little thing I had ignored during my speedrun prep was all of the trainers wandering around, trying to practice before going for the gym leader.

Just as I was about to pass through the cave to enter Oreburgh, a Black-haired person blocked my path.

"Yo, are you also about to challenge the gym leader? I am practicing a bit before heading over. How about we have a quick battle? I've already practiced with the other people around here, I wanted to do one last battle before heading over." he said before adding.

"Oh, and I almost forgot, the name is Joey."

I had tried to sneak my way through, but it seemed that this person had been hiding just at the entrance waiting for people to pass by. I briefly considered just walking past, but this would serve as good practice. I had just captured two new pokemon, and though I hadn't really spent much time with them, I knew this would probably serve as good practice for them.

Initially, I was planning on trying to battle the gym using only my Kirlia and Dreepy. I trusted enough in both of their strengths to carry the first gym leader fight. I had waited 15 years and couldn't really wait anymore.

Taking in a deep breath, I turned off my speedrunner brain before nodding my head.

"Alright, let's battle." I said as I pulled out my trainer Id before tapping it against his id to register the battle.

I turned to the Starly next to me before creating a small connection to his mind.

'Are you ready?' I asked through our connection.

The little bird was slightly startled before he nodded his head and puffed out his chest in pride.

Starly hopped off my shoulder before standing ready for a fight.

Seeing this, the black-haired man smiled before releasing a Zubat.

Sitting down in a meditation position, I closed my eyes before focusing on my connection with Starly. I could feel through our connection the moves the little bird knew. My clairvoyance spread around me, allowing me to have a view of the battle from a higher vantage point.

"Is.. that how you are going to fight?" Joey asked in slight confusion, but once I nodded in response, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Zubat! Use Supersonic!"

'Starly, use Quick attack towards the sky to dodge, then use Double Team while flying.'

As the Zubat released a visible wave of sound aimed toward the prideful bird, Starly dashed toward the sky before summoning their inner Naruto and creating a barrage of clones around him.

"Zubat, use your echolocation to locate the real one!."

'Growl as you charge towards them using Wing attack.'

Starly let out a cute Growl before his wings began glowing a white glow, his clones imitating his motions before all of them dashed towards the Zubat that was releasing sound waves.

'They are going to try to dodge. Wait for them to move before changing your trajectory with another Quick Attack'

"Dodge!"

The Zubat was able to identify the real Starly using their soundwaves, but just as they dodged to the side, Starly's body began to give off a faint glow, and as if the wind itself was helping the small bird his body began to move at an incredible speed before striking the fleeing Zubat with his wing.

"Zubat! Use absorb"

'You won't be able to dodge the attack from this distance. Disturb their attack with a Peck"

As soon as Zubat opened their mouth and began to try to absorb the health of my Starly it was struck by a Peck, disturbing his attack.

'Crap, they are about to bite. Try to dodge.'

"Zubat Poison Fang"

Starly tried to flap their wings to dodge out of the way, but since they had just attacked, he was right next to the Zubat. With a purple glow, Zubat bit directly into the Starly. Through our connection, I could feel that he had gotten poisoned, so we had to finish this battle quickly.

'He is stuck to you because of his bite. Use Fury Attack before he escapes.'

Starly's eyes became fierce with determination as his claws gave off a faint glow before he repeatedly started kicking at the Zubat that was biting him, the Zubat tried to separate themselves from Starly, but by then, it was too late. The Zubat fell unconscious. As he fell to the ground, he was caught by his trainer before being put back into their pokeball.

Starly was also quite hurt from the poison, so I called them back.

"Are you up for a battle?" I asked the Joltik hiding in my jacket.

She answered by jumping from my jacket and landing on the ground. The trainer in front of me answered by taking out another pokemon of theirs.

"Litwick, come out!"

The battle had resumed the moment both pokemon were out, so I quickly commanded Joltik.

'Quickly use Electroweb!'

Who knows where the little spider was holding all of this silk, but the moment the command was given, a burst of web emerged from his body before landing on the Litwick and shocking them.

"Burn the webs!"

'Quickly use Fury Cutter while they are still trapped in the web, but the moment they are released, jump back and shoot a string shot."

Following my commands, Joltik ran to Litwick before beginning her assault. The web was quickly burning so the little spider had to jump back earlier than they were ready for, causing them to be slightly too late for the reaction of the Litwick.

"Will-o-wisp!"

A blaze of fire struck Joltik before the little spider could dodge. As the fire burned the Joltik, Litwicks flame atop their head became stronger.

"Shit, come back Joltik." I quickly pulled out my pokeball before bringing them back.

I knew that they were about to use Hex, which would have knocked out Joltik, might as well spare her the attack. I had to practice more with the little spider to be able to get the timing right with them in order to dodge moves more efficiently.

Looking at Kirlia, who was watching the battle with expectation, I gave her a smile before nodding my head.

She quickly ran to the battle with her eyes glowing brightly.

"Litwick, use Will-o-wisp again!"

Litwick tried to charge another burst of fire before their attack disappeared. Kirlia had instantly used disable the moment she entered the battle.

She had a smile as the shadows all around her began to dash toward the candle pokemon.

"Dodge!"

Yet as the Litwick tried to move out of the way, it felt its body was unable to move. Kirlia had trapped them in place using her telekinesis.

The small candle was assaulted by a barrage of shadows before falling unconscious.

"Damn, well, you won't have that much luck against my starter. Go out, Bisharp!"

A dark type pokemon…

'Kirlia, execute order 34.' I said, mentally judging myself for the stupid name I had given this strategy.

"Bisharp, Metal claw."

The Bisharps claws began to glow dangerously, yet just as he was about to dash to attack Kirlia, he faltered. Kirlia had just executed her most potent combo, her eyes were shining with a pink light as she used the move combo we had called Mesmerize. She followed this up by letting a melodic Disarming Voice.

Bisharp resembled a kid with a crush as he lost focus on his Metal Claw attack. Kirlia began stepping towards him in a joyful manner before blowing a Draining kiss in the Bisharp's direction.

"Bisharp! Snap out of it! Use metal claw!" His trainer yelled at him, to no effect.

He might resist Ghost-type moves, but that only meant that you just had to use double the attacks. Something we had plenty of time to do now.

The embarrassed Bisharp wasn't paying attention to anything at this moment as he looked at the floor in embarrassment. Taking advantage of this distraction, Kirlia began to gather all of the shadows in the area until the ground around her was pitch black before releasing a barrage of Shadow sneaks to finish the battle.

At this moment, Kirlia had a vicious expression as she saw the shadows consume the embarrassed pokemon. Yet the moment the shadows vanished to reveal a knocked-out Bisharp, her expression returned to normal before waltzing back next to me.

Joey was left shocked as he saw the scene that had just played out.

"Your pokemon is a monster…." he said in shock.

"Nah, she wouldn't hurt a fly." I said as I pet Kirlia's head.

"Now, bring your pokemon over here, I can heal them. I'll treat mine at the same time."

~Author's note~

S1lv3rCr0w gave the idea for the name Mesmerize so here is a cookie especially for them.

What did you guys think about the fight? It was my first time writing a pokemon combat, and I think it turned out pretty good! Give me your feedback so that I can improve and write better battles in the future. I wanted to have one before the gym leader so I could practice it.

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After doing the devil's tango, my wife did like the pasta sauce move and became Prego. Send me your power stones so that we can buy the baby a gift.