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"One small step for me, one big step in my journey."

"Charmander~"

Wilhelm muttered and Charmander agreed with him. Turning to gaze at his partner, Wilhelm asked, "Do you want to stay outside or inside the Pokeball?"

"Char?" Charmander said tilting his head sideways, before he walked up to Wilhelm and tapped the Pokeball, and went inside.

"Well, that answers the question." Wilhelm said to himself as he strapped the bag on his back tighter to himself, and moved from the spot. With a brisk pace, he managed to cover the length of Pallet Town in a matter of minutes in the calming dew of the morning.

Then as he entered Route 1, Wilhelm opened his Pokedex and opened the map feature. Then he looked at the records of the Pokemon found at this place.

On this route, the Pokemon I should get is Pidgey. It is easy for beginners like me, easy to take care of and train. Not to mention, evolves into Pidgeot which is a strong and reliable flying type.

"So let's catch a Pidgey!" Wilhelm said out loud, brimming with energy. With this train of thought he entered the Route. As he entered, he was met with a large amount of flora , greenery all around.

The long patch of land was covered with grass on the ground, and numerous trees stretching beyond. During this, he saw some Pokemon, mainly a purple rat.

"A Rattata, huh? Good time as any to try the Pokedex." Wilhelm muttered to himself, as he took out the Pokedex from his pocket and pointed it at Rattata, who was munching on a nut. As soon as it was pointed in its direction, the Pokedex started to describe Rattata in a mechanical voice.

[Rattata, a Mouse Pokémon. It is cautious in the extreme, and its hardy vitality lets it live in any kind of environment]

"Matches with what I know about it." Wilhelm said, pocketing the Pokedex, and knowing the low potential of Rattata decided to ignore it. Wilhelm kept on searching for a Pidgey, but even after an hour of search, he was not able to find one.

Tired from walking what seemed to be in circles, he sat down beside a tree and took a sip of fresh cold water from his bottle.

What happened? From the information that I have and Pokedex says, there should be a decent population of Pidgey here, but I am not able to find any. All I saw was Spearow. Strange…

"Pigo!" And then suddenly, a voice alien to Rattata and Spearow sounded to him. Snapping his head fast to the direction did not find a Pidgey, thought found a…

"Pidgeotto?!" Wilhelm said in surprise, and immediately threw his Pokeball out.

"Pigeo!?!" With a shrill cry, Pidgeotto broke into red light and was sent into the Pokeball, but before the ball even landed, Wilhelm sent out another Pokeball.

"Charmander! Use Ember as soon as Pidgeotto comes out from Pokeball!" He said as Charmander appeared from the ball, and adhering to his trainer's command, looked intently at the ball, which moved a bit upon hitting the ground.

Then Wilhelm revised his strategy in his mind keeping his gaze still on the ball.

Pidgeotto is a flying-type Pokemon, and at this stage of evolution, he is more than capable of taking flight and dealing damage to Charmander from a distance. Also, the range of Ember attacks is small and cannot do the same to Pidgeotto.

By throwing a Pokeball first, I have taken the initiative to stop Pidgeotto from attacking or getting away. And now Charmander is ready with an attack that will deal the most damage to Pidgeotto from the safest range for him.

After this, Pidgeotto should be weakened enough, and if that is not the case, I can always throw more Pokeballs and keep on hitting him with Ember.

As he thought this, the ball broke open as expected by him, giving way to a pissed-off Pidgeotto.

"Pidg-"

"CHAR!!!"

But before Pidgeotto could reorient himself, he was blasted with a point-blank Ember in his face. Startled by it, he was not able to fly, seeing which Wilhelm said, "Charmander! Continue to use Ember!"

"CHARMANDER!"

At his command once again, Charmander continued to use Ember on Pidgeotto who was basically helpless due to the pain caused by fire. It then tried to squint his eyes and create distance when…

*WHOOSH*

*HIT*

*SHOOSH*

…he was hit with a Pokeball once again and got sucked inside it. Seeing the Pokeball, Charmander himself stopped using Ember. And then, all there was left was to wait.

Under the intent gaze of the pair, Pokeball moved.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

And stop.

"YAY!! CHARMANDER!!! WE CAUGHT PIDGEOTTO!!" Wilhelm shouted with his arms thrown in the air. Not knowing the reason for his trainer's joy, but happy with him still, he also joined in the celebration and ran for a hug that he deserved which Wilhelm did, as he should.

Picking him in the arms, he twirled him in the air and looking him in the eye said, "I love you Charmander! You are the best."

"Char~" Charmander cried in glee.

Then Wilhelm put Charmander down, and walked up to the Pokeball and picked it up, then under the curious gaze of Charmander, put it under stasis. Upon its completion, he turned to Charmander and said, "I am putting Pidgeotto's Pokeball under stasis and we will meet him formally after getting him checked up by Nurse Joy."

"Char….? Mander!" Charmander who did not understand what Wilhelm meant by Nurse Joy grumbled in confusion and ended up giving him a thumbs up instead.

"Char~"

Which earned him a squishing hug.

***

Pokemon

Charmander

Pidgeotto