Title Pending

Chapter 2: Viridian City

A/N: Two days, nearing one hundred hits. Doesn't sound like a lot to most people, but for me, it's freaking amazing!

Word Count: ~2000
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Dephlion looked down the route, tossing Charmander's ball up and down in his right hand. For the sake of getting out of town without being bothered by people, he had returned the lizard to its ball. With a slight smirk, he tossed the ball high into the air. "Go, Charmander!"

The pokémon appeared in a flash of white light. Looking up at its trainer, it gave a slight smirk. Dephlion nodded. "This is the first day of the rest of our lives. From here, things are going to change." The Charmander just stared, the smirk still on his face, though, to be quite honest, he had no idea what the boy was going on about.

Dephlion started walking into the tall grass just outside of town, and Charmander quickly followed. Just as they were almost out of the grass, they were attacked. A small group of Spearow swooped down, clawing at the two. Dephlion felt a claw rip into his forehead, causing blood to pour down.

"Damn. Charmander, grab one!" He couldn't see through the blood in his eyes, but he heard a squawk of surprise.

Charmander had grabbed the first one he could and pinned it to the ground. Now, he was pressing his entire weight on its fragile body, digging his elbow into its ribs. He heard a snap, then the bird went still, breathing heavily. He rolled off of it, looking up at the four other birds circling them.

Dephlion pulled a scarf from his backpack. He didn't expect to get cold on this journey, but better safe than sorry. He quickly tied it around his forehead and wiped the blood from his eyes. As one of the Spearow swooped at him, his hand shot out, and he grabbed it by the throat. He hated the thought of killing it, but if that was what it took...

He tossed it to the ground, wincing as he heard a wing break. The bird hopped to its feet and let out a loud screech. He and Charmander glanced at it, and saw the same thing instantly. Laying in the grass, just a few feet from them, was a large nest, made of grass and twigs. In the nest were several large eggs.

"Dammit. Charmander, let's get out of here." Charmander nodded, and they hurried out of the grass, the Spearow swooping at them for a good five yards after before turning back. "That was an awful way to start this journey." Charmander nodded.

"All right. Our first stop is Viridian City. There's a gym there, and it'll be our first badge."

"Cha, charmander!"

They kept walking, keeping an eye out for any more nests. Spearow were nasty little things, and they'd gotten lucky on getting away from the small flock earlier. Of course, there's always something worse to deal with. At this moment in time, they were lucky. Their biggest worry was small-time pokémon attacking them. Later, they would look back on this moment and miss it.

But that's for later. Presently, they entered Viridian City, not much worse for the wear. Dephlion removed the scarf from his forehead and was glad to feel that the bleeding had stopped. "How are you feeling, Charmander?" He looked at the lizard who was just smirking. "All right then. Let's get to the gym."

As they wandered through the town, Dephlion came to a startling realization. He didn't know what a gym looked like. He also didn't know who the leader of this one was, or what type of pokemon he used. Great. He would have to ask for directions. He noticed a building with a red roof, the words Pokémon Center written across the doors.

"Wonder what this is..." He quietly went in and glanced around. Behind a counter was a nurse with pink hair. She bowed to him as he came in.

"Hello! Welcome to the Pokémon Center!"

"Okay...?"

"You must be a new trainer. If your pokémon get injured, you can take them to these centers and get them healed."

"All right. Can you point me towards the gym?"

"The gym leader's not in right now, and even if he were you have a long way to go before you're ready to beat him. A lot of trainers make this mistake, but you're actually supposed to go to Pewter City and challenge the gym leader there first. The gym here in Viridian is the last one you should challenge."

"All right. Any other advice?"

"If you're taking the gym challenge, you should always stay well rested and fed. The pokémon centers will give you rooms, free of charge. You should also stock up on pokéballs, potions, and other such items at the pokémart in each town. Do you have a map?"

"No, should I?"

"It's always good to know where you're going, and how to get there. I can give you one free of charge."

"All right." Dephlion smiled, walking over to the nurse, who handed him a folded up map, smiling.

"Now, how about I take a look at your Charmander? Judging by the somewhat fresh wound on your head, I'd guess you two were attacked."

"Yeah, sounds good. Do I have to put him back in his ball?"

"Only if he needs healed. I can examine him right here on the counter."

"All right," he said, picking up the lizard, who cried out indignantly. "Oh, stop it. You're just gonna get checked over, then we can go."

"Cha..."

The nurse started her examination, nodding a bit. "He's perfectly healthy. You two are free to go." She bowed again. "Oh! One more thing: If you must travel at night, keep an eye out. There are things out there, both human and pokémon, who would love to attack an unweary trainer."

"I'll remember that, thanks." As the boy turned to walk out, the doors slid open, and two men came in, wearing black outfits with red R's on the front.

"No one move!" the taller man shouted, grabbing a pokéball from his belt, releasing a fierce looking Raticate. "We don't want no trouble. Just hand over all your pokémon, and you'll be free to go."

The nurse was stunned into silence, as were the few occupants of the center. Dephlion gritted his teeth. He knew that the rat pokémon easily outmatched his Charmander in any type of combat, but he couldn't just sit here and let these goons take all the pokémon in the center.

Moving slowly so as not to be noticed, he reached a hand to his belt, grabbing the knife he had hidden behind his pokéballs, then froze. Nobody appeared to have noticed. Moving quickly, he drew the knife, running at the men, who, for a second, were shocked. Unfortunately, Dephlion needed more than a second.

The tall man, with a laugh in his voice, ordered, "Raticate, Hyper Fang that little weasle!" The Raticate lunged, its large teeth gleaming in the light. Dephlion brought the knife up, but was too slow. The sharp fangs dug into his arm, sinking all the way to the bone. He screamed, the knife dropping to the floor.

"All right, Raticate! Now hit that brat with a point blank shot of Hyper Beam!" Dephlion's eyes widened as the rat's mouth started to glow. If he was hit with that (and really, how could it miss?) he would be severely wounded, if not outright killed.

"What's this? A couple of thugs beating up on a novice trainer?" Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice, the Raticate stopping its attack.

Standing in the corner, where nobody had been standing before, was a girl of about thirteen. Her red hair flowed down to her waist, her blue eyes sparkled in the light. Her skin was pale (though not as pale as Dephlion's,) and she wore an elegant black dress with white lace. She stood only around the five foot mark.

"Who're you?!" the taller grunt asked.

"That's none of your concern. However, if you're going to attempt to murder someone, you should make sure that nobody can get in who is easily able to defeat you."

"You little brat! Fine, if you think you can beat me, then put up or shut up!"

"Very well." A ball levitated off of her belt. "Alakazam." As the pokémon appeared, she gave one order. "Destroy the Raticate."

The psychic type held out one spoon. A blue aura surrounded the rat-like pokémon. With a flick of its wrist, the psychic sent Raticate flying into the wall. There was a sickening crunch, and it slowly slid down the wall in a crumpled heap. This had all happened before the Rockets could blink. Dephlion was staring, holding his arm to his chest.

"If you have any more pokémon you'd like me to kill, send them out. Alakazam would gladly oblige." The girl's voice sounded almost cocky, but her face was completely blank.

The taller Rocket grunt tried to return his pokémon, but the red light would surround it, then, for lack of a better word, shatter. "What the hell?!"

"You can't return a dead pokémon. Now, I suggest you leave, before I lose my temper."

The thugs quickly rushed out. As they did, the Raticate was levitated to the counter. "Return, Alakazam. Nurse Joy, if you would be so kind, that rat isn't dead. Heal it and release it to the wild."

"O-of course!" The nurse started treating the pokémon. The girl walked over to Dephlion.

"That was either the bravest thing I've seen, or the stupidest. I'm not sure which yet. How's your arm?"

Dephlion blinked, looking down. "It's bleeding pretty badly, but that's about it."

"Good. Do you have any bandages?"

"No, not yet." The girl nodded. The pouch on her belt opened seemingly on its own, and a roll of bandages floated out, as well as some antibacterial spray.

"This will sting." She grabbed the spray bottle, spraying a fine mist over the wound. Dephlion winced, gritting his teeth. The bandages started wrapping around the wound, applying enough pressure to stop the bleeding.

"Better?" the girl asked softly.

He nodded. "Yeah, that's great, thanks. I'm Dephlion."

The girl smiled, holding out her hand. "Amalia." Deph shook the hand, nodding.

"Thanks for that. You really saved my ass."

"Don't mention it. It's a trainer's duty to protect the weak." Dephlion frowned a bit at that, but Amalia was stifling a laugh. "I'm just teasing you. It's not your fault you weren't ready to handle them. Here, I'll make it up to you. Let's go to the pokémart and I'll buy your supplies, all right?"

Dephlion thought quietly. Professor Oak had given him a thousand zenny, and he'd had three-hundred saved up. That was enough for only a few necessities. "Sure, sounds good to me."

"All right!" Amalia grinned, looking around quickly. "Okay, everyone's good here, let's go." She turned, hurrying out. Dephlion followed, wondering where the deadly calm girl from earlier had disappeared to.

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After shopping for supplies, Amalia led him out of town, to the entrance of the Viridian Forest. "All right. Go through here, and you'll get to Pewter City. I would go easy on trying to catch pokémon; I only bought you five pokéballs. Remember that you have to weaken them before you capture them, but it's not suggested that you knock them unconcious, because you might need to use it soon after."

"All right, thanks. Will we meet again?"

"The chances of that are quite likely, Deph." She smiled at his slight frown that crossed his face. "Lighten up. Your name's a mouthful."

"Yeah, I guess. But Amalia's not exactly short, either."

"Oh well. Bye, Deph." She called out her Alakazam, and the two disappeared.

Deph and Charmander turned to the forest. "All right. Viridian Forest. A veritable maze of trees and grass. We might be in there a few days. Are you ready?"

"Cha, char!"

"Then let's go!"

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So, there's chapter two. I was wanting to get Deph's nickname out of the way quickly, because, for some reason, I chose an annoying name to say and type. For those who may be wondering, his name is pronounced deaf-LEE-on. So. Review, give constructive criticism, etc, etc. Also, if you have a suggestion for names for the fic, I'm open to them.