Not The Start We Imagined

[piegirl]

" Of all the lame luck..... why does it have to storm when I start travelling? "

Route 1 wasn't exactly inviting at the moment. A wicked thunderstorm was booming over the small path, lighting illuminating the sky in an eerie sort of way. Cold, and surprisingly fast, drops of rain fell from the dreary sky, pelting the grounds below and making the dirt road a mud slide. Maria ran, mumbling to herself, as she looked for a safe place to rest. The mud caked her shoes' soles and splashed againest her jeans, the wind thrusted againest her face, as if it were mocking her. Random Pokemon scurried in the front and behind her, running to their own shelters hidden amoung the bushes.

Too bad she was much too big to join them.

" Dammit, why didn't I think of packing an umbrella? Vincent warned me about this type of thing. " she inwardly sighed, slowing her pace down a bit after noticing there wasn't much around besides trees, mud, and foliage. Another loud boom and lighting of the sky made her jump and emit a small squeak. This 'amazing adventure of Pokemon' wasn't starting out on the right foot.

" And that reminds me, I still need to introduce myself to this little guy. " the teen thought, unclipping the ball from her waist and peering curiously at it. After a moment of looking like an idiot just staring at a new, shiney object, Maria tossed the ball up. The top flipped opened and made a 'pop' sound before launching a beam of white energy at the ground. It began to take shape, and soon the white light dispered, revealing a small, seed like Pokemon. He shook his body a bit before looking around him and seriously taking in his surroundings.

This wasn't the Professor's Lab, too dirty.

" W...what the heck? Where am I? And why is my wonderful body covered in this icky mud? Not the look of a performer at all! " he cried, trying to run. His body, too low to the ground, stopped that from happening though, his attempt rewarded with a face full of mud. Maria stood in the pouring rain, watching the Tane's actions, and couldn't help but bust out laughing. He shot his head up at the sound of her voice and took on an indignant expression. " You there, human girl, this is hardly funny at all! Explain to me where I am at once! " he demanded, righting himself out of the slippery gunk. Maria lowered her laughs to small giggles, seeing as this was upsetting him.

" Hey little guy, my name's Maria and you're my new Pokemon. I already know I'm going to like you, you're funny! " she grinned, bending down to his level. The Tane looked her over, so the kid was his new trainer? She looked a little strange, what with the rain matting her auburn hair to the sides of her face and clothes drenched, but eh, wasn't so bad, at least she thought he was amusing. He gave a small grin before lowering the leaf on his head in a semi bow, extracting another laugh from the soaking teen. " I have the perfect name for you, how does Hikaru sound? "

" Hikaru? Well, not what I would have chosen but good enough. " he said, before giving a smile of approval. Maria laughed once more before patting him on the tip of his leaf, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all?

[Sparx]

“What are you doing in the rain, stupid?” came a young, cheerful voice from above. If Maria were to look up, she would see an adolescent girl with a Pikachu on her shoulder straddling a mid-level branch in a tall tree just a few yards in front of the new trainer. Glistening hazel eyes peered down at the older girl curiously, revealing the tree-dweller’s youth; she couldn’t be any older than thirteen or fourteen. The teen sported a bright red jacket with a high collar and ripped blue jeans. Her Pikachu wore a pair of blue goggles over his forehead, auburn eyes as energetic as his trainer’s.

“You must be one of the newbies,” said the girl, leaping down from the tree. “They’re always dumb, aren’t they, Sparky? At least she didn’t get the Kabu, the rain would kill it.”

The Pikachu nodded with a grin, and the adolescent smiled in a friendly matter at Maria.

“So, who are you, noob?”

[piegirl]

Maria's ears pricked at the sound of the voice, she had been on the internet enough to know 'noob' wasn't exactly a friendly term. She looked up to see a younger girl and what seemed to be her Pikachu staring back down at her from a low hanging tree branch. Maria puffed her cheeks out in slight irritation, watching the two leap nimbly down to the ground. Not a minute had gone by and she had already been insulted four times.

" That's a nice way to introduce yourself. " she muttered under her breath, standing up to look at the girl. " The name's Maria kid. Now, mind telling me yours before you throw another diss at me?"

[Sparx]

“My name?” the girl repeated, exchanging a look with her Pikachu. A bit of harmless electricity jumped off of Sparky’s cheeks, and then he whispered something into his trainer’s ear. The adolescent nodded, apparently listening intently; whether or not she could understand the Pokèmon’s speech could not be said. After a moment, she grinned mischievously, muttered something back to her Pikachu and looked back up at Maria. “Well, for now, you can call me Rei.”

“Pika, pika!”

“And this is my partner, Sparky. We’ve been hanging around here for a while, but suddenly all these newbies have been coming from Topaz.” Rei sighed, scratching the back of her head. She was careful not to mess up her clipped hair. “But none of them seem all too strong. Are you any different?”

[piegirl]

Maria watched with confusion splattered across her face as the girl and Pikachu engaged in some apparently private conversation. So now the kid could understand Pokemon? The kid then nodded and turned back to Maria with a grin, looking like she was holding something back.

" Well, for now, you can call me Rei. "

Rei? That was a weird name for a girl, but then again this girl didn't seem exactly normal. The teen snapped out of her thinking as the Pikachu introduced himself, Rei translating.

" Well Rei, it's nice to meet you, I guess. You too Sparky. And as for your question, I don't know. I've battled before with my stepbrother's Mightyena but other than that, this is my first time owning my own Pokemon so I guess you could call me a newbie. " Thr Fiore native then frowned slightly, her explanation of things sounding a bit confusing, then looked into the mass of grey clouds overhead and let out a 'pfft' of frustration. Hikaru had lost interest in the new arrival and her mouse more quickly than his trainer and was currently trying to leap onto the knotted grass behind him, all the mud clinging to his body was starting to become bothersome.

[Sparx]

"Pika pi." said Sparky, and Rei nodded as if in agreement.

"Well, if you've battled before, that's a lot more than most people can say." the girl mused, adjusting her jacket. "You must have picked up some tactics from that, then, right? Even a little experience is better than none.

The rain was getting even worse as the two trainers spoke, coming down in freezing, angry water falls that would kill a Charmander faster than you could release it from its pokeball. Neither Rei or Sparky seemed to mind all too much, however.

"How about you and me battle? It'll prepare you for what's to come." Rei paused, then snickered. "After all, as the saying goes in Tsignia, if you can survive Route One you can make it through the rest of the region."

[piegirl]

The teen looked at the girl in bewilderment, a battle? Now, in the middle of a rather furious storm? Not that Rei and her Pikachu seemed to mind anyway. Maria looked down at her sopping wet clothes, her hoodie clinging to her body and showing off the small body it hid underneath, and gave a sudden blurt of laughter.

" Battle huh? Sure, it's not like I'm getting any wetter! " Another laugh, this one a bit more tame than the first, escaped her lips. What the girl found so funny, no one would know. She swivled her head as her vision was set on Hikaru and grinned impishly.

" C'mon, lets see how strong you are. " The Tane smiled at the aspect of showing off his dazzling moves to an audience and quickly leapt back into the mud, giving Sparky a smirk.

" You can go ahead and start. " Maria grinned even larger, giving the girl a small bow, her auburn bangs latching themselves to her forehead.

[Sparx]

"Sure, I'll start." said Rei with a smirk, eyeing Maria's Tane with something like scorn. Sparky leapt off of his trainer's shoulder and landed easily on the wet ground, sparks flying off of his cheeks excitedly. "You ready, Sparks?"

The Pikachu nodded, grinning mischievously. Rei dipped her head, folding her arms across her chest. All of a sudden, the rain slackened, as if the clouds above had released too much water at once and hardly had anything more to pour. Rei's hazel eyes flicked toward the sky almost approvingly, then focused again on the impending battle.

"Then let's start. Sparky, go!"

Sparky's body suddenly exploded with electricity, his form barely visible under all of the static energy. The Pikachu rushed toward Hikaru at top speed with what appeared to be a Volt Tackle.

[piegirl]

Hikaru leapt in surprise as the Pikachu seemingly disappeared right in front of him, only to come back into existance as he landed a Volt Tackle on the Tane. He winced as the electricity danced over his seed-like body, small burns over the hit area, and the tackle's force sent the Pokemon reeling backwords, splattering into the muddy ground.

" Ugh, not fair! He's way faster than me, there's gotta be a rule banning that or something! " he shouted indignantly, struggling to right himself back up. Having a circular body with puny feet was really working againest him here. Maria stifled a laugh as she carefully set the Tane back on his feet, damaging his ego didn't seem like such a good idea at the moment. The Tane shook his body free of any clinging mud, and underlying embarrasment, then gave Sparky a hard glare, he'd show no one gets away with making a fool of him!

" Alright Hikaru, let's throw a Tackle their way! " Maria commanded, clentching her right fist with a determined smirk plastered on her face. Hikaru ran as quickly as his small legs would carry him, aiming to hit the Pikachu hard.

[Sparx]

Sparky didn't even try to dodge. Instead, he let the Tane slam into his flank, which sent the mouse rolling violently away from his attacker and into his trainer's feet.

"Alright, Sparks, we're doing good so far! Let's take it a little easier now, though, shall we? Thundershock!" said Rei.

The Pikachu cooly pulled himself to his feet and flicked his ear in acknowledgement of the command. Then, his cheeks lit up with sparks before a small bolt of electricity erupted from them and rushed toward Hikaru.

[piegirl]

A small epp! emitted from the Tane as the small, yet potentially dangerous, sparks of electricity flew in his direction. Thinking fast, he quickly curled into a small ball and nimbly rolled out of the way, the jolts scorching the patch of grass he had escaped from. Hikaru quickly righted himself and shook his leaf free of any dirt he may of picked up.

" Woah, awesome dodge there! " Maria happily praised, giving him a quick grin. " Now, let's try for another Tackle! " The Tane gave a quick nod before rushing at the Pikachu again.

(( Sorry for the crap post. ))

[Sparx]

"Dodge this time!"

Sparky didn't hesitate, jumping right into action as soon as the command was given. He ran toward Hikaru as the Tane attack, jumping over the rushing Pokemon at the last second and soaring over him and landing neatly on the ground behind the plant. The Pikachu then proceeded to swing sharply around, his tail shining like steel as he tried to slam it into Hikaru with all the strength he could put into the appendage.

"Now, now, Sparks; don't go too hard on the newbies." Rei laughed quietly, watching the battle with obvious amusement.

[piegirl]

Hikaru cried out in pain as the Pikachu's tail smacked against his side, the force from the blow making the Seed Pokemon topple over into a pile of mud face first. The Tane began to cough violently, some of the sludge having made its way into his mouth.

Before his trainer could check to see if he was ok though, Hikaru managed to roll his way back onto his stubby legs and shot the electric mouse a glare. He stumbled a bit, his body still a bit fried from the Volt Tackle earlier. Shaking it off, the Tane launched himself at Sparky again with another Tackle.

Maria watched the Tane with mild surprise, he didn't seem to be much of a spontaneous kind of Pokemon. Her attention diverted over to the other trainer as the girl began to laugh. A curious eyebrow raised up on the teen's face as she considered what the kid might of found so funny, but Maria quickly shrugged, deciding that she didn't care enough to ponder any further, and looked back to the battle.

[Sparx]

A smug smirk stretched across Sparky's face when his attack succeeded, his ears twitching in delight. This cost him, though; he was too distracted by his pride to notice that Hikaru had decided to act without command. Before the Pikachu realized what was happening, he was flying through the air from the force of the tackle. Fortunately he managed to land on his feet and skid to a stop in front of Rei, though he stumbled before he could gain his balance.

"That's okay, Sparks, everyone takes a hit sometimes... Let's fight fire with fire, then! Tackle!" ordered the girl.

Sparky ran forward quickly, pushing off of the ground with his tiny hind paws and launching himself back at his opponent with the copied technique.

[piegirl]

Hikaru, too tired to move out of the way, took on the full force from the Tackle. He flew backwards with a shriek, landing at the base of his trainer's legs. A string of low moans sounded throughout his small body, his eyes scrunched up in a pained expression.

Maria quickly dropped down to the level of her starter, carefully picking him up. Her eyes shone in concern as she said, " Hey, you gonna be ok, Hikaru? You look pretty tired. " The Tane just moaned again and struggled to be released from the human's grip. This fight wasn't over, he could still take on that cocky mouse!

The girl chewed her in bottom lip as uncertainty darkened her expression. " Well, if you really want to.... " she started, but was stopped as Hikaru had finally managed to worm his way out of her grasp and fell to the ground. Grunting as he stumbled back up, the Pokemon didn't even bother to shake the dirt off of his sides. He just gave the Pikachu a confident smirk.

" Ignore what she says, I feel as healthy as a Rapidash! " he bragged, even though his breathing had began to hitch. " So come back at me, I'll take you down! " With that, the Tane tried his best to get in a fighting stance, and waved his leaf at Sparky in a taunting way.

So he's stubborn and prideful. Awesome combination for a starter. Maria sarcasticly thought with a frown, crossing her arms, and waited to see how the Pikachu would react.