1 Life sometimes works in mysterious ways.

Cold. Wet. Tired.

That is all he feels.

Opening his eyes, which takes a considerable effort on his part, he looks around himself. He only sees trees, everywhere, smells the scent of wet grass and dirt, and looks up. It is currently raining.

Suddenly a very strong headache attacks his mind, and his hand goes instinctively to his head, trying to somehow lessen the headache, not being very successful.

He doesn't know where he is, what he is doing here nor even his name.

Which isn't a good start.

Strangely he doesn't seem shaken by this situation and is calm. Looking around himself once more he notes that he should probably find something to shield him from the rain at least.

With a groan, he starts trying to stand up. After a few attempts, he manages to get on his feet, checking his surroundings once again to find something to fulfill his current goal.

Around fifty feet away from him he sees a big tree. The numerous branches of the tree are full of leaves, the ground beneath the tree looks dry enough for him, and finding nothing better near him he starts to walk in that direction.

It takes him almost a full minute to get to the tree, his whole body hurts as if a whole herd of Tauros ran him over-

Tauros,

'What is a Tauros?'

His headache attacks him with a new force making him sit on the ground and lean into the bark of the tree. He suddenly seems to remember what a Tauros is, the answer quite simple.

A Pokemon.

His mind immediately recalls the powerful creatures and his seemingly extensive knowledge of them, and also the fact that this is not his body. His body from before was older and from the walking from before actually shorter but much more muscular and rigid.

As he looks at his hands they don't look as rugged as before, they are not completely 'soft' looking as there is some damage from here and there but not anything that wouldn't go away after a few days.

Also, his fingers are different, before they were shorter and thicker but right now they almost look like a woman's hand, with long and slender fingers.

He touches his hair and brings some before his eyes, the hair is very dark, black as coal. Before he had brown hair, his hair right now is actually not very long, but long enough to fall into his eyes, he flicks it back so that he has a clear view. His hair actually being wet helps this.

He isn't even feeling angry, or anything. He just feels sad for the pokemon he left behind, but otherwise nothing. This was a problem that he has had almost his whole life, his inability to really get affected by his feelings. Having grown up as an orphan he never got any family affection or love or anything for that matter.

He was secluded in the orphanage because of him being reserved. The children probably didn't understand how could he go without human contact for days and more. He got good at being self-sufficient from a young age and never really needed anybody to look after him.

After he got away from the orphanage he just breezed through life, pokemon always interested him, practically all he did in the orphanage was to read books about them and everything that comes with them, battling, making food for them, etc.

But because he didn't have any connections or backing for that matter, to get a starter pokemon for him was impossible. All the kids who actually get a starter pokemon from a region Professor must have some sort of connections or backing to actually get them. He wasn't the only orphan who wanted a pokemon and he certainly wasn't the first one who didn't get one.

So having gotten a goal for himself he did some jobs here and there and finally saved up enough money to buy some pokeballs and went out into the wild to catch one. His first ever caught pokemon was a Pidgey and he has gotten extremely lucky as he could have easily died. He abandoned the Pidgey shortly after he got a better pokemon and now looking back at it he was actually quite a scum. He snorted at the end of his thought.

Many people just bought some pokemon but he didn't have the money for that so he did the alternative. Long story short he became a pokemon trainer. He went on to journey across the regions, competing in tournaments, etc. He actually won more than he lost and started to become really good, but that was actually near his end. He suddenly got ill and after fighting for some time he died. It was pitying at best and pathetic at worst but here he is now.

So instead of questioning this, cursing, or being angry he just sighs softly as he makes himself more comfortable, the rain doesn't seem to be anywhere near the end.

Having nothing else to do he looks down at his clothes, finding himself wearing a black coat over him, a long-sleeved shirt, black trousers, and of course black boots, there seems to be a theme here. The coat doesn't seem especially stylish or anything it just seems really simple, which he actually found himself liking.

Going through his pockets he finds a few things of interest, the ones being his Trainer ID, a few old Pokeballs, and a pocket knife. Only now noting that he has a backpack on his back.

The Pokeballs were all empty, looking at the Trainer ID he sees the name 'Cole Glace', and not remembering his actual name he is stuck with this.

'It's not a bad name.'

He puts the pocket knife in the closest pocket to his hand so that he can easily access it if necessary and starts to rummage through his backpack, finding some food, a sleeping bag, a tent, and some spare clothes. The most interesting thing he finds here is a journal, a simple one in black color of course.

Putting the backpack to the side he opens the journal and starts reading through it. Simply skimming pages that don't interest him and fully reading the ones that do.

The journal is full of different stuff, one page is tactics against Flying-types and for Flying-types, the other seemingly the best food receipt for Poison-types, and another seems to be some sort of a map where the original owner is supposedly trying to keep a track of where he currently is. The content of the book gets better the farther he gets until it comes to an abrupt end, Cole sighs disappointedly as his interest was actually peaked as the owner started to get into a debate of single evolutionary lines.

Suddenly he hears some sort of screech and next follows a flap of wings and the next thing he knows a small brown bird is resting on a branch that he is under.

A Pidgey.

As Cole looks up at it he starts to remember his first catch, the Pidgey from that time was actually a good Pokemon with potential but because he was young and inexperienced at the time, he believed that only rare Pokemon could become strong.

This is true in some ways as there are Pokemon who have an easier path to power than others but that doesn't mean that the Pokemon will necessarily be the stronger one. Of course, the quality of the trainer of the Pokemon comes into play too but so does the Pokemon's personality, Pokemon's will, etc.

The Pidgey notices him as he tilts his head at him as if asking him what he is doing here. Cole snorted at that,

"I don't actually know, anything for that matter.." He mutters to himself quietly but the bird seemingly hears him as he gives a small chirp as an answer.

He looks at the bird and the bird looks back at him, almost challengingly, Cole just snorts and starts to watch the rain again, the bird seems to take it as a win he puffs out his chest in pride, bringing a small smile to Cole's lips.

'Birds and their pride.'

Watching the little bird he seems tired and dirty, he probably was in some sort of fight before the rain, the bird is still watching him, warily. It is starting to get annoying, not talking about the fact that whatever the Pidgey was facing before could be making its way over here.

He looks up at the raining skies.

'Well, his opponent is probably hiding too.'

Cole starts to rummage through his backpack once again and seems to be looking for something particular. After half a minute he seems to get it and he takes some basic Poke food out of his backpack.

He puts the Poke food a few feet away from him, looking at the Pidgey and motioning to it, after that he takes some food from his bag and starts to eat as he is quite hungry, ignoring the Pidgey now completely as he goes back to watching the rain.

The Pidgey flies down next to him, he seems slightly wary but that doesn't seem to stop him. Cole watches him and now that he is closer he actually sees that this Pidgey is particularly young, he concluded that by the color of his feathers as they are quite light, the older a Pidgey gets the darker his feathers get. Of course, that stops after they are fully mature.

The bird put himself in a position where he can eat while still watching him, his eyes never leaving Cole, who in return just ignores it and continues with his meal.

After finishing Cole notes that he seems to gain some of his strength back after the meal, which is good.

Looking back at the Pidgey he notes that he looks a bit too small for where he should be right now, probably a runt of the litter. The bird for his part is still watching him, Cole is a little impressed by his determination to eat slowly so that he can still watch him, adding to that he seems tired and must be particularly hungry.

Cole continued to watch him in amusement and interest, The Pidgey actually did it until he ate all the food. After that, he just continued to stand there looking at him.

"Was it good?" Cole asked with an arched eyebrow.

The Pidgey chirps back at him and actually bows his head a little as if to express his gratitude. Cole smiles at that.

'He may be the runt of the litter but he is probably the most intelligent Pidgey I saw.'

The Pidgey is looking right back at him but it doesn't seem to be as challenging as it was before, it is more subdued now. But his eyes still seem to scream determination which is impressive.

Often times people overlook Pidgey as a pokemon because of how common they are, but no one actually thinks about how Pidgeot isn't common in the wild.

Yes, that's right. Pidgeot isn't common in the wild, it's actually quite rare to see one in the wild. Pidgeot isn't really special, a simple Flying-type with a dual Normal-type, but that's actually what's special about him. He is like a blank sheet of paper.

Most people take Normal-typing as useless or weak, Cole only saw versatility. Add to the fact that he found out that Pokemon with Normal-typing have an easier time with learning moves out of their respective typing.

He is looking at the Pidgey as he is thinking about this, he was an idiot in the past. Looking at the Pokemon he saw immense potential, he became quite interested in how far could he go with a Pidgey as his starter.

It didn't really have to be this one but as Cole was looking at this particular Pokemon he found himself finding the other Pidgey he saw before lacking.

This one may be the 'runt of the litter' but his determination already set him over hundreds of other Pokemons.

Pokemon's personality is more important in the part of getting stronger, at least that's what Cole believed in. Cole still didn't know this Pidgey's personality but he was looking more promising than any other Pidgey he saw before.

So, he decided.

Rummaging through his bag, Cole took out a pokeball. The Pidgey seeing the pokeball didn't openly panic but he became stiffer and more guarded.

Cole seeing that just smiled a little.

He gently laid the pokeball on the ground before the Pidgey.

"Seeing your reaction you probably already know what this is. I see potential in you, that I don't think I ever saw in others of your kind. I will not force you as dealing with stubborn pokemon is just a bother. I will wait until this rain is over, after that, I will go no matter what."

The bird before him seemed to accept his words for what they were, but he still kept watching him, sometimes looking at the pokeball with a glint in his eyes.

Cole kept his word and waited until the rain stopped. It probably took half an hour. He was looking at the last raindrops with a melancholic smile.

'I thought it would take a little bit more for the rain to stop, seems like I lost my edge.. '

He got up, threw his bag around his shoulders, and looked at the bird pokemon before him.

The Pidgey was still watching him, his eyes seemed much sharper. Cole only gave a small nod. He expected this as such a prideful pokemon would take a lot more-

But the pokemon surprised him as it gave him a shriek before touching with his beak the pokeball, it absorbed him and took a few seconds before it clicked.

Cole stood there looking at the pokeball for a while before he picked it up. He was holding it very gently as he took a few steps to look at the skies. The skies started to become more clear.

As he was looking at the pokeball, the image changed a few times. All the times it seemed as if he saw a different pokemon, they were the ones he left behind.

'This is not a dream, huh..'

He felt moisture around his eyes slowly fall down his cheeks. He looked up at the clear skies with no rain in sight.

"It seems to be still raining.."

...