First Battle

Waking up the next day, I felt my Poke Ball in my pocket.

I remembered what had conspired the day before and I suddenly got a burst of energy. I got myself out of bed, did my morning routine, before talking to my parents.

They came later while I was asleep so they did not know of my egg hatching. I wanted to surprise them. I went into the living where my mom and dad were talking.

"Mom,Dad, I have something I want to show you", I announced to them.

They stopped talking and awaited what I was going to do. I pulled out the Poke Ball and their eyes widened. They realized my egg hatched through connecting the dot. My mom was silent, wanting to know what her sister Karen thought was appropriate for my first Pokemon.

"What is it? Come on, don't keep me waiting", my dad bellowed out. He was especially excited to see my Pokemon.

I clicked on my Poke Ball, releasing a red light that shot to the floor. What materialized was my starter Pokemon, Larvitar.

My parents were surprised. My father didn't recognize the Pokemon, as he wasn't a Pokemon fanatic like me. My mother however, was visibly shaken. She then calmed herself down and began to talk.

"A Larvitar? What a wonderful Pokemon for a wonderful trainer like yourself", she complemented me. My Larvitar looked at my parents and deemed them no threat to his trainer.

I left the house, wanting to train with Larvitar before going anywhere in the wild. We have to have synergy because that might be the difference between life and death. Good thing all pseudo legends can train right from the moment they're born..

____

As I arrived where I needed to be, I walked past a sign that said:

'Viridian City's Battle Club'

A Battle Club was originally a Unova exclusive thing, until the owner, Don George decided to expand his influence to other regions.

Since then, it has become extremely popular since it allowed beginning trainers a place to elevate their game for cheap.

I walked inside and paid for a membership for the Battle Club for 800 Poke Dollars a month. I saved up some money for my summer jobs and saved some of my allowance money for years. I had around 130,000 Poke Dollars.

(A Note: 1 Poke Dollar= 1 yen)

I walked inside of the gymnasium, and released Larvitar.

I grabbed my phone out and searched up " Karen's Tyranitar". Tons of videos popped up of the large kaiju monster, taller and bigger than most of its species. I showed videos of it to Larvitar, explaining that it was his mother.

As we watched compilations of Karen's Tyranitar sweeping trainers' whole teams, Larvitar was in a state of awe. To think that his mother was so powerful, it lit a fire in him. To see the people cheering for his Mother and it's trainer, he realized he wanted that.

I stopped the video before talking to Larvitar." You see how strong your mother is? You can be that powerful if you listen to me.I promise to take you to the very top of Pokemon. To do that though, you have to put in the hours.Deal?"

Larvitar weighed my words before jumping up and down in approval. I smiled before attempting to pick Larvitar as a show of affection. I tried to pick him up, but was surprised when met with some resistance.

Why was Larvitar so heavy? I searched up the average Larvitar weight and was surprised when I met with the result? How could such a small Pokemon weigh around 158 pounds! I laughed at this information before getting started on training.

________

To understand the training, I had to understand the type of battler Larvitar was before I did anything. I went to this computer, sat down before looking for a trainer to battle against.

Another way the Battle Club work, was to be able to request battles for anyone in your city to spar with. The way the machine knows where you are is it to track you using the phone that you registered with.

I scroll through the trainers in Viridian City, most of them new trainers that just graduated like me, before finding a person I recognized. I didn't know he would already be in Viridian at this time.

It was the trainer famous in the anime, Gary Oak. He already is registered in the Battle Club system? He's from Pallet Town, a place where not a single Battle Club is in sight. He's so eager for training that he registred the moment he came into the city.

The Pokemons he had registered with him were:

Squirtle, one of the royal starters of Kanto. A group of rare pokemon with high potential, second to only pseudo legendaries.

Spearow, the second most common bird in Kanto behind Pidgey. It a Pokemon with mid potential at best, but one of the faster Pokemon native to this region.

Nidoran, a Pokemon with a lot of potential if trained right. It's poison type is something most early trainers don't know how to deal with.

He would be a strong first battle for me, but I think I could give a good fight. I requested Gary Oak to come over to the Battle Club and spar with me.

Opening up another application on this computer, the Scanning App. These types of applications are stationed in Battle Clubs and Pokemon Centers. They allow you to scan a Pokemon for it's level, ability, and the moves the Pokemon has learned.

I put my Pokeball on a machine hooked up next to the computer, and waited for the processing to be done. When it said it finished, a picture appeared on my computer. It had a picture of my Larvitar. It read:

Species: Larvitar

Gender: Male

Level: 1

Ability: Guts

Moves: Tackle, Leer, Outrage(Egg Move), Iron Defense(Egg Move)

Outrage! What a powerful move. It is the offspring of Karen's Tyranitar so Egg Moves are a given. Outrage does have a drawback of making the Pokemon confused after the flurry of attacks the user does.

I will only use it as a last resort.Also, Iron Defense is a great move for Larvitar to have as it embraces the tank sweeper nature Tyranitar is about. I'll cook up some strategies with that move for sure.

_______

After what felt like 30 minutes, Gary Oak finally arrived at the Battle Club. We both enter the Battle Club Pokemon Battlefield. It was like how a Gym would like.

"It's a 1 on 1 battle since you only have 1 Pokemon", Gary said, referencing that on my page, there was only Larvitar. He clicked out his Poke Ball, releasing a Blue Turtle known as Squirtle.

I let out Larvitar, and gave it a pep talk."This is your first battle ,Larvitar. Let's make it a happy memory."

Larvitar jumped up and down, ready for battle. Larvitar's belligerent nature is what I liked most about it.

A Battle Club employee came to referee our battle. The referee stood at a safe distance from where our Pokemon stood. With a nod from both of us signalizing we were ready, he yelled out.

"Let The Battle Begin"

I, wanting to have the first move shouted quickly." Larvitar, use Iron Defense".

Larvitar crossed his arm together to form an "X" shape. He glowed bright blue for a moment before returning back to normal.

"Squirtle, let's one shot them. Use Water Gun", Gary shouted out in return.

Squitle blasted out a stream of water towards Larvitar. It connected, blasting Larvitar a few meters back.

That's a problem. Iron Defense only hardens the skin and protects it from physical attacks. Water Gun, a special move won't be affected.

"Use Leer and Tackle in quick sucession, Larvitar", I gave a series of commands to my partner, Larvitar.

Larvitar's eyes glowed red and he shot an intimidating glare. Squirtle physically recoiled in fear, and by a byproduct, lowered Squirtle's defense

He then bolted over to Squirtle. It was quite slow, something that I noted as I watched Larvitar make his attack.

Squirtle dodged the attack, something that he didn't even need his trainer to say to do. It's just common sense.

"Water Gun again", Gary shouted.

Squirtle then shot the stream of water point black, hitting Larvitar and launching Larvitar across the battlefield. Larvitar shrieked in pain.

So, that's how this battle is going to go. Gary will command for Water Gun after Water Gun, hitting Larvitar with super effective moves. I won't let it end like this. There's only one thing I can do.

"Larvitar, use Outrage and pummel that turtle", I called out, making Gary physically recoil in thought.

Larvitar's body was surrounded by a red aura, his pupils getting blood red.

He shot towards Squirtle, launching himself towards Squirtle with one jump. His finger-less arm connected with Squirtle's face, pummeling him into the ground.

As the dust cloud settled, Squirtle was knocked out with Larvitar standing over him. Larvitar's eyes were still red but the red aura faded.

"Squirtle is unconsciousness, making Larvitar the winner", The referee said, getting his phone out and clicking something.

Gary watched in shock but he was about to get more shocked. Larvitar raised his hand towards Squirtle, about to hit even though he won. Before he could, I returned him with a Poke Ball.

Gary returned Squirtle, before walking away without a word. My phone suddenly buzzed. I checked it and I got a notification from the Battle Club. I was awarded 40 battle points for winning.

Battle Points are points that trainers get for winning in the Battle Club. It is for a regional tournament every year. You needed a thousand battle points to qualify.

My mind drifting to the win, I frowned. It was a sloppy win, but it was a win regardless. I realized Larvitar not only needed to get stronger but I needed to get smarter with my battling tactics. Using Outrage won't work every time.

I went to the Pokemon Center, healing my Pokemon. I then went home, knowing tomorrow, the grind will start for me and Larvitar.