The Next Step {{It Has Been Too Long}}

[lilith]

Once she left the Lab building, Valor looked back only once, and only for a moment. The backwards glance was not one of sentimentality, as might be assumed of almost any other traveler, but one of contempt.

It did not take long to reach the beginning of Route One. The first route of Airore was clearly marked with black letters on a white sign. 'ROUTE ONE'. It stood just inside the identically white fence that probably delineated the boundary of the Lab grounds.

Valor didn't care.

The fence provided the perfect place to pause and sort through her anger. Oddly, she had no desire to begin her journey with angry thoughts spinning through her head. So, she braced her left foot on the bottom-most board, and lifted herself up.

One leg up and over, landing solidly on the other side. The boards felt strange between her thighs, and she quickly swung the other leg up and over. The top board wasn't really wide enough to sit on, but if she positioned herself over part of the fence post, it wasn't too uncomfortable.

Her safety secured, Valor allowed her anger to surface. Just who did that, that- WOMAN think she was? What gave her any sort of authority over Valor, and the leave to be condescending, to boot?

Things weren't like this in the gangs. In a gang, you had to earn every ounce of respect you had. Even, or perhaps especially, the boss. Her boss had proven himself several times over when he was beaten by the usurper, won himself enough loyalty that his people took on a Shiny Darkrai to avenge him.

Apparently, that wasn't how the rest of the world operated. Katie Jenny, too, had been slightly too high-handed, as though there was no doubt that her orders would be obeyed without question.

It didn't help that adults already occupied the lowest levels of Valor's contempt. Not one of them- asides from Katie Jenny- had ever made any attempt to rationalize their behaviour to anyone. Adolescents and children were expected to go along with it, no matter how little sense it made.

"Welcome to the rest of the world, Val."

Her lone rouge eye gazed over the chilly landscape, noting clumps of tall grass and how the trail wound unevenly. Route One was partially grass, partially dirt, and partially gravel, from what she could see here. Pokemon were supposed to occupy mostly tall grass, weren't they?

Valor didn't actually know. In both gangs she had been in previously- the Shuppets and the Lunars- she had been given a team to use. Tailow and Poochyena had never been a great team, but Grovyle and Aerodactyl had been phenomenal. It might take a lot of work to build up a similar team from scratch.

Starting with this Totodile. With a start, Valor realized that she had yet to properly meet her starter Pokemon. Its Pokeball was in her left pocket. She retrieved it almost sheepishly, and spent a moment regarding the little thing.

The plain red and white hemispheres were almost depressing, honestly. Never before had she used the standard trainer's ball for catching Pokemon. Grovyle's ball had been painted with a leaf motif where this Pokeball was white, and the top had been the standard for a Lunar member. Two silver crescents, flanking a full golden circle, on a black background. The central button had been her own personal shade of blue.

Aerodactyl, too, had sported the Lunar's symbol, and her own personal shade of blue on the central button. It, however, had been decorated with a broken gray pattern along the bottom hemisphere.

I think it was supposed to represent a graveyard.

This Pokeball would need to be decorated. The central button would be easy. Just a brush of paint in that blue that was her own shade, and it would be done. The bottom half would look best in Totodile-blue, with a wave-like pattern running through it. Or maybe teeth, the whole Totodile family was noted for their teeth.

All these musings was not introducing her to her first Pokemon as a trainer.

Irritably, she hit the central button to expand the size from compact to usable. Her hand fit around the expanded size comfortably, she noticed. Only amateurs threw their Pokeball to summon the resident Pokemon. In the underworld, it was a sign of weakness. Maybe trainers did it as a matter of course, but Valor never would.

"Totodile, come see me."

The familiar red light flashed, burned white, and coalesced into a light blue Pokemon.

Totodile.

In the lab, this Totodile had shown a willingness to fight that Valor liked. It hadn't attacked the other Pokemon, but it had made threatening movements, and most importantly, had show no fear.

Valor was not a vain woman. She knew she would win no beauty contests, even cleaned up. Her missing eye and her scarred skin would deter most people from even speaking to her, and her street-rough mannerisms did most of the rest. But one of the most important traits of a Pokemon was the ability to work with their trainer. That couldn't happen unless the Pokemon had no fear.

Dile?

The little one looked at her inquisitively. Valor smiled, grisly though that visage was, and hopped down off the fence.

"Good afternoon, little one. I'm Valor," she began. She didn't assert herself as trainer, not yet. If she hated the authority shown by the professor, she was not going to inflict the same thing on her starter.

Dile. To, totodile.

That seemed to be an introduction, but none of Valor's experience had taught her Pokespeech. Eventually, though, she would learn how to communicate with this Totodile.

Hmmm....

Trainers usually named their Pokemon, didn't they? It that was the case, she should probably christen this Totodile with a name. Besides Totodile, that is.

"You need a name, Totodile. Maybe Thrasher?"

She could almost see that one, but Totodile apparently didn't agree. It was shaking its head furiously, babbling its name over and over again. Maybe it really did want a name of its own.

"Okay, no. BoneSaw?"

One of the guys in the Midnights had been called BoneSaw. He used a Marowak and a Kangaskhan, both ferocious mothers. Totodile didn't like this one either, running in circles now.

This wouldn't be easy. Maybe Totodile preferred the aesthetic approach to names. What was an aesthetic name?

"Don't worry, we'll find one, boy. How about...Egypt?"

She expected the little guy to turn this one down to, but to her surprise, he started jumping up and down, nodding and babbling twice as fast.

"Egypt it is. Egypt, shall we begin our journey?"

And Egypt nodded furiously, gently closed his jaws around her wrist, and began tugging her forward.

[Birdybot]

The route was active as usual. Pokémon were going about their daily lives, hidden from prying eyes carefully in bushes and the like. They were audible, of course. The smaller ones would freeze in fear as Valor passed, unaware that they even existed, and a few would even flee. This was their reaction to pretty much any trainer, although a couple here and there would be so used to trainers not seeing them while they were hidden that they made no reaction at all.

There was always a Pokémon that took an interest in trainer that went by, whether it was for battle's sake or to ask a favour. It was tricky to ask favours of humans; they couldn't understand Pokémon speak. They tended to wait for a Pokémorph, unless it was a very urgent matter.

The Pokémon who took an interest in Valor right now was interested for battle's sake. The Pokémon moved easily through the trees, jumping great distances between those trees. The thin, glimmering string left by this Pokémon's jumps was barely visable unless light shined on it. The Pokémon itself was now ahead of Valor, and swung itself down to stand in her path.

~Spin, Spinera-ak!~[/color] Spinerak yelled, growling in the odd manner of a Bug type. The Pokémon looked ready for a battle- would Valor fight?[/size]

[lilith]

It would be a long time before Valor would laugh freely, but her thin lips twisted in what could be termed a smile. If, that is, a smile was classified by the feelings behind it, and not the actual appearance. In actuality, she looked a bit of a fright. It was this Totodile, her Egypt, who made her smile. His excitement seemed to be contagious, and a warm bubble of contentedness lodged itself beneath her sternum. She didn't know what to do with it- happiness wasn't exactly a common emotion on the street.

Dile? To, to, toto! Totodile!

Egypt hadn't stopped babbling, even when his cries were muffled because his jaws were locked around her wrist. Unsurprisingly, those sharp teeth dug into her already scarred flesh, and drew blood. There was no malice in his actions, though, not that Valor could tell. He was just excited to be out and about. Valor imagined that this would be a great improvement on being stuck in the lab.

"Egypt, you are going to wear yourself out before your first battle, and just think of how embarrassing that would be!"

Teasing didn't come naturally to a woman like Valor. Therefore, Eqypt had to think very hard before deciding that she was, in fact, teasing him.

Grovyle had not been a very light-hearted Pokemon; he had, in fact, been the most serious one on the team. But Aerodactyl, on the other hand, had indulged in practical jokes on his teammates. Valor had learned not to be offended, but it was a big step from brushing off practical jokes to engaging in light teasing.

Totodile crouched to inspect a flower on the side of the path when the path was suddenly dominated by a green Bug-type. It issued a challenge a loud cry that was clearly a challenge. Egypt leapt up from his flower inspection, and looked at Valor pleadingly. He took part of her pant-leg in his teeth, and gave her very big eyes.

Dile?

The request was plaintive, and yet from the way his feet would not stop moving, he was very excited. Well, more wound up, anyways.

"Okay, Egypt. We'll battle. Start off with a good Scratch."

Egypt the Totodile was so excited to actually be in a battle against a real opponent that he rushed forward, and used his claws to deliver a vicious Scratch. His momentum was so great, however, that he completely overshot the Spinarak. His claws were clean- did he even hit the thing?

[Birdybot]

Spinerak made an 'oof' sound as all the wind rushed out its little lungs when Egypt's claws made contact. Phew, that Totodile sure had energy! The spider hissed, none too pleased with Egypt's attacking. It had hoped that this Pokémon would be weaker! Most new trainers had weak Pokémon when they left the lab, but this Totodile wasn't as weak! At least, his attack power was strong. But one stat being strong generally meant that another was weak- which one was it? And what would happen when Egypt's energy burst wore off?

Spinerak wanted to win, it wanted it so badly. It wanted to evolve into a big strong Ariados and go off to live somewhere else, where it would get so strong that it would be a local legend, a hero. It had to start somewhere; here. A purple pin shot from between its pinscers; this was a Poison Sting attack. Not too strong, but it had a chance of poisoning little Egypt. It was fast, too, and well aimed.

[lilith]

Egypt was practically bouncing with excitement when he saw that his Scratch attack had hit. He had done damage! His first instinct was to run to Valor, and engage in a happy dance, but his opponent had other plans.

Watching her Pokemon get injured had never been a particularly difficult thing for Valor- they were just tools, right? Even still, she flinched when Spinarak's Poison Sting connected with little Egypt's light blue skin. Purple bubbles blossomed for a moment after the impact, and her Totodile staggered. Poison attacks had never been Valor's favorite- too underhanded. Worse were ghost or dark type attacks. They tended to be the special variety, as opposed to physical. She was no stranger to physical violence- the many scars on her body testified to that.

"Egypt, try another Scratch attack. That seemed to work well enough."

There might be an Antidote in her bag- she would check after the battle. Healing a Pokemon in the middle of battle was useless unless said Pokemon either had a debilitating status problem- like Poison- or was about to faint. Otherwise, you were just wasting your medicines.

To.

Egypt shook his head, and came after his bright green opponent again, claws outstretched. He didn't feel right, though, sort of foggy in the head. Still, he used his Scratch attack on Spinarak, because that's what his trainer had asked him to do.

[Birdybot]

Spinerak smiled in satisfaction. That had really worked well, hadn't it? The Bug type was pleased with itself. And maybe, if it beat this little crocodile, it would learn a new move. It was a little tired of only being able to use Poison Sting, Stringshot or Scary Face, after all. It was the sort of Pokémon who like to go all-out attacking, which it had trouble doing with this moveset. Maybe it would get a TM one day; Spinerak didn't learn many offensive moves on their own. Spinerak had made the terrible mistake of thinking off track, which cost it some pain and the Scratch struck again.

Spinerak hissed a buggy hiss, annoyed with itself. It should make a better effort to stay focused, for Arceus' sake! The Pokémon breathed deeply. What seemed best right now was to keep using Poison Sting, and wear Egypt down. Totodile weren't the fastest of Pokémon anyway, so String shot and Scary Face were pretty pointless here, in its opinion, unless it bound Egypt up in String Shot as a last resort. Right now, Spinerak used another Poison Sting. Egypt seemed Poisoned already, which would make him loose a little health. Good.

[lilith]

That Poison Sting is a nasty move, Valor decided. Most trainers at this point would be grabbing their bag, and frantically pumping any or all medicines they could onto their wounded Pokemon. They would probably be considering Spinarak to be the worst Pokemon imaginable, because it had hurt their precious starter.

Not Valor, obviously.

Valor was watching Spinarak's moves very carefully, analyzing its attack. It was an aggressive Pokemon, more aggressive than Egypt. As such, it would make a good addition to her team, at least for a while. One of the secrets Katie Jenny had let her in on before she left was the secret of trading. Trading was a good way to build up a team, particularly when trying to get uncommon Pokemon.

Spinarak had gone for another Poison Sting- surely it had another move? Perhaps not, this one worked so well- but little Egypt managed to step right into its path. Already Poisoned, the attack had little success but to make the Water-type lose some health.

"Egypt, use Scratch again, and put more power behind it!"

Scrappiness was a trait Valor had to admire, in humans or Pokemon, and this particular opponent had that in abundance. If Egypt won this battle, perhaps she would call the Bug-type 'Scrappy'. Or something else, Scrappy just didn't seem 'scary' enough.

While Valor mused on potential names, Egypt sank his claws into his opponent's body, and pulled. He was dizzy, and his vision was fuzzier than it had been. Everything felt much heavier than it had before the battle, and Egypt wanted nothing to do with any sort of happy dance. What he wanted to do was curl up in his Pokeball, and let Valor deal with it.

[Birdybot]

Spinerak was pleased in two different ways that Valor had not madly found all sorts of medicines for her Pokémon. One of these ways, of course, was that it would be an even, fair fight; it wasn't as if Spinerak could use Potions. Another was that there were still proper trainers out there. He was pretty sick of the wimps who spend their lives cleaning their Pokémon, healing their Pokémon after a scratch and making a huge fuss about, say, falling over. He was hit by the Scratch, smiling. Pain felt almost good now.

Spinerak could see Egypt was having a little more trouble now. Brilliant, it meant his work was nearly done. Then he'd be a little closer to becoming an Ariados. He longed to walk among those huge lovely strong spiders... but now, he mustn't get carried away! He focused, watching his opponent. The Bug type aimed at a place which would miss to decieve the Totodile, before swiftly aiming correctly and firing a Poison Sting.

[lilith]

Either Spinarak had no other moves, or it had decided that Poison Sting was its best bet, because there went another! By this point, Valor had pretty much decided that she wanted to catch this opponent which meant that Egypt would have to work a little harder to weaken it enough to be caught.

"Egypt, one more Scratch, and please, make it hurt."

Some trainers would be screaming at their Pokemon by now, yelling at the top of their lungs each attack. Valor wasn't one of them. After all, since when did 'some trainers' ever describe the ex-gang member? Never, that's when.

Egypt had ducked out of the way when Spinarak aimed with another Poison Sting, ducked his way right into...well, a Poison Sting. That arrogant jerk! Through a mostly fuzzy mind, the Totodile decided that Poison Sting was a dirty move, and as soon as he learned some decent moves, he was going to grind that Bug-type into dirt, However, since he was a trainer's Pokemon, he had to follow her direction. Her direction called for another Scratch attack.

This time, when Egypt charged, he clamped his jaws together in concentration, and used both sets of claws to deliver his attack. That would teach the poisonous scalawag!

[Birdybot]

ooc// By the way, you can catch Pokémon once they've fainted, because that way you get the levels as well as the Pokémon.

ic// Spinerak was fairly certain that Valor had both had experience with Pokémon before, and that Valor saw Pokémon and battling in a different way to normal trainers. This was a good thing, for the most part, since that Totodile of hers would toughen up better if his trainer didn't take everything over the top. Some people would be like, 'oh, a battle! Waaaaah, my Pokémon said 'ow'!' and the like. Spinerak hated those people so much. In fact, he had started to quite admire Valor for not being like them. He'd probably join her once he'd beaten Egypt.

Spinerak gritted his teeth against a howl of pain, not wanting to let Egypt or Valor know that he was feeling pain. The Bug type felt the searing pain of the anger-fueled Scratch attack, and knew that he would not be able to stand in this battle much longer. That wasn't exactly a nice thing to know, and the spider was hardly going to show it. The Pokémon used his only offensive attack right up close; that Poison Sting. If this didn't make Egypt faint, then Spinerak knew that he would be defeated.

[lilith]

Totodile didn't have much health left, but apparently it was more than Spinarak did. He didn't faint at the last Poison Sting, though he could barely manage a weak Scratch in response to Valor's final command. This had to be the last one, because if Spinarak didn't faint, Totodile would need both an Antidote and a Potion to be ready for another battle.

/failpost

[Birdybot]

Spinerak watched as Egypt didn't faint. Oh, no, he thought, as he could see Egypt move in for a Scratch. He felt it painfully, but he knew that normally he'd have barely felt it at all. Spinerak groaned. He wasn't quite spent, but he was close to it. At least, he was fighting back the darkness of fainting. He knew that if Valor wanted to be able to fight another battle on this route, she'd have to use a Potion, and Egypt would need an Antidote or he'd faint of his Poisoning. Spinerak, after that final thought, collapsed.

Spinerak was defeated! Egypt gains two levels!