Their fighting force consisted of Theo and his poliwag, Amiyra with her mudbray and newly caught pidgey, and Ava and Lucky. Together, they made up a little more than one C-Ranks team.

  If the forest view was shocking due to its density, the plains provoked a similar response, but due to the sheer openness. Before her spread large open plains, golden grass as far as the eye could see, gently swaying in the wind. The sharp contrast from city to nature took her breath away for the second time.

  An unpaved road lay in front of her. It led from the gate out deeper into the grasslands. They were only a few steps on the road before a panicked looking dodou jumped out from the grass, both heads squawking at them. Ava’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest, and she was about to command an attack when the wild bird was hit with a water gun and two hidden powers at the same time. This knocked it back into the grass, and while Ava couldn’t see it get up, she saw the grass split apart as it scuttled away until eventually that too stopped moving.

  None of them had been expecting that to happen right out of the gate. “Now we know to be extra careful,” Theo said with a weak smile.

  Trekking forward, they stayed on the path. While this area may be considered the safest, Ava was starting to wish they had chosen to go to the forest. There she could actually see her surroundings a little. Here it was total randomness. The grass could contain any number of things, including a predator just lying in wait.

  Every shake of the grass had everyone instantly on guard. They dealt with the few sentrets and zigzagoon they saw. There was even an electrike that appeared, of which Amiyra promptly took the lead in battling.

  The road slowly morphed into dirt and eventually turned into normal ground. Ava spotted a clearing with little to no grass and a short tree that they could rest by with shade and a clear view of the grasses if a pokemon was to come their way. Standing near the tree, Ava looked out across the plains. In the distance, she could see a flock of pidgey and its evolved forms taking to the sky, heading west.

  Speaking of pidgey, the one Ava had caught, Diana, seemed interested in Lucky. She hadn’t noticed this when they were first introduced this morning, but now that they were resting for a minute, she could see Diana hop towards him curiously. Lucky, on the other hand, couldn't care less about her. Every step she took towards him, he took one step back. It got to the point where Lucky hid behind Amiyra’s mudbray who was laying silently.

  Ava laughed. With only one pokemon she wasn’t used to seeing him interact with others. Hopefully he got along with whomever they caught next.

  Deciding to save him from the unwanted attention, she called for him while patting her arm. His relief was apparent as he flew toward her. He almost landed when sticky string shot from the tree, knocking him to the ground.

  “Lucky!” Her cry got the attention of the others. She pointed to the tree before turning back to Lucky. He lay off the ground all tangled up in webbing, unable to do anything but squawk. She grabbed his poke ball and returned him, leaving behind some string. Her attention was pulled back toward the threat.

  They had identified the perpetrator; it was a metapod that had hidden in the tree. It was unusual to see one outside the forest, but one sat here nonetheless.

  Before Amiyra could attack with her pidgey Theo shouted, “Dibs, dibs, I call dibs!” choosing to attack with Savage. Amiyra and Ava backed off, not wanting to interrupt. Their class taught them that it was a necessity to be able to catch a pokemon with your own strength to make them easier to train and prevent inexperienced trainers from getting a pokemon they couldn't handle.

  The metapod put up a shockingly good fight for a literal cocoon. It shot webs to block or redirect moves like water gun and used it to disrupt the poliwag if it tried a hypnosis. When it couldn't block, it used the string to pull itself towards the tree in a surprisingly nimble manner.

  However good it was, it simply was not suited for the battle. With no long distance damaging move, its only option was to capture Savage in its webs. Using the same tactics as the metapod Savage kept blowing away the dangerous string shots with its water gun. When its attack failed to get through, the metapod got sloppy, and a water gun hit it, knocking it over. It gave up on fighting, and Ava could see it tense up trying to harden its shell. Savage shot more water guns towards it to weaken it further, before Theo grabbed an empty ball off his belt and tossed it at the prone pokemon. It shook once, twice, before exploding open in a white light. The metapod remained motionless, still hardening, which allowed Theo to retrieve the spent ball. After a couple more attacks, he threw the ball again, and this time it wiggled a couple of times before falling still. Theo had caught his second pokemon.

  Curious now that the action had ended, Ava asked, “What made you call dibs?” From what she had read, the caterpie line wasn't that rare or that strong. Their best benefit is how quickly they evolved, so a starter trainer could get a new pokemon faster.

  Theo walked over to the spot that held the leftovers of what knocked Lucky from the sky. “Do you see how this forms an actual net? That's unusual.” He moved to some string that had been shot during their battle. He touched one that was stuck on the ground and said, “This one is extremely sticky,” then grabbed another one and lifted it, “but this one isn't sticky at all and is much thicker and sturdier. This metapod seems to have expert control over its string shot and was able to change different aspects like stickiness and tensile strength to suit its purpose.” He turned with a little too wide grin on his face. “The metapod that I caught is a predator.”

  …

  Picking the string shot out of Lucky’s feathers proved more arduous than expected. After a lot of cussing, a couple pulled out feathers, and cuts on Ava's hands from Lucky’s flailing, he was finally rid of the last bit of the extremely sticky material. Ava was unable to get the residue fully off and resigned herself to having sticky hands until they got back from their excursion. She knows the metapod was Theo's new pokemon, but after 30 minutes of dealing with the mess it left, only a strong dislike remained.

  Their break took longer than expected due to the battle, but eventually they picked back up where they left off. It was now up to Ava to decide how long they stayed outside the wall. While Amiyra could catch another pokemon, Ava was the one who truly needed it.

  They ventured further into the plains. The ran into some individual pokemon and sneaked around larger groups. With each appearance and battle, though, there was not a single grass or ground type. She was starting to get frustrated and almost called it to turn back before she saw it. In the distance, a clearing with an unusual amount of trees for the area. In the center sat a sleeping weepingbell. It looks like there were multiple unusual pokemon in this area, first Theo's metapod and now this weepingbell. Both pokemon that usually reside within the forest.

  Ava pondered if she should try to catch it. On one hand, it was the only grass type she has seen all day. On the other, it was an evolved form that could be dangerous. She glanced at Theo and Amiyra and made her decision.

  “I'm going to try and catch it,” Ava quietly announced to the group.

  Theo responded cautiously, “Are you sure? It looks strong.”

  “This is the best shot I got, and if it doesn't work, I will call you guys in for backup. If you guys are against it and don't think it's safe, we can head back, no worries.”

  Theo and Amiyra looked at each other quickly before giving a quick nod. “We're okay with you giving it a try. Let us know the second you feel it's dangerous,” Amiyra said.

  “Cross my heart.” Ava said, making a cross gesture over her chest.

  Before attempting to fight, she sprayed Lucky with a potion to make sure he was all healed up. Grabbing the repel off her belt, she crept towards the beast carefully. She couldn't fully conceal her steps as she headed towards the clearing. The grass was too noisy. That didn't seem to bother the sleeping pokemon though, just her beating heart. When they got close enough, she gave a thumbs up to Lucky, who had been flying above her waiting on the signal she had told him.

  He flew closer and started preparing a gust. He gathered more energy than he normally would until he felt he couldn't control the aim and sent the larger than normal gust of wind towards the wild weepingbell. It was a direct hit and knocked the pokemon over, waking it up in the process, its sharp gaze locking on to the new threats it faced.

  No one was prepared for the screech that came out of its mouth. Ava covered her ears. Who knew a plant could scream that loudly.

  “Lucky, stay cautious. Use Hidden Power or Gust when you see an opportunity.” The pidove started to create a ball of dark energy but got interrupted by a vine darting towards it. Lucky was able to cut his move short and awkwardly dodge the attack while squawking in protest.

  He didn't get time to recover before another vine whipped towards him, and another after that.

  “Dodge Lucky,” Ava commanded, getting a little worried. He was able to dodge on and used peck to knock another to the side before it hit him. Their training at blocking moves with other moves seemed to be paying off. Before the next vine could be sent his way, Ava shouted, “Use a quick attack to dodge the vines.”

  They had practiced that move over the past week. Even now, the move wasn't perfect and couldn't really be used as an attack. But the bursts of energy could be used to evade some quicker attacks.

  She settled down, as that seemed to work. He was evading the vines more easily now. He was even able to get a small reprieve that let him shoot off a gust, which hit the plant dead on. Despite a grunt, it didn't seem to be too damaged.

  Ava looked closer at the weepinbell. The pseudo mouth almost looked like a smile. It didn't seem to be worked up from the battle; in fact, it seemed calm as could be. A sinking pit formed in her stomach. Then a razor-sharp leaf shot from the plant towards Lucky. Right before impact, Ava realized the most recent vines were not being used to attack the bird, but to corral it to a spot the weepinbell could easily shoot. She tried to shout to warn him, but the leaf was too quick and cut into Lucky’s chest. Blood splattered out, and Lucky cried out, having taken more damage than he should have. Ava realized she had miscalculated.

  Deciding to give up on capture, she yelled “Help, I need help” behind her while she returned Lucky, who almost fell right into another leaf that was sent towards him. She released him instantly in the area opposite to where he had just been, so he had a chance to reorient himself. Her yelling must have caught the attention of the weepingbell because it sent a few sharp leaves in her direction. She quickly dropped to the ground and knocked the wind out of herself. There was no time to even think about the dirt that found its way in her mouth before she had to roll to her side to avoid a vine that slammed into the ground right where she had been. She kept rolling to get some distance and jumped up in time to see a dark hidden power knock into the side of the weepingbell bringing its attention back to Lucky.

  The first to join the fray was Diana the pidgey. Ava was glad to see her, as the flying support was desperately needed. Amiyra arrived with her mudbray shouting commands to them, “Diana Gust, Abraxas Hidden Power.” Both followed orders. Lucky didn't need any additional orders and followed their lead, shooting a gust with them.

  The weepinbell tried to dodge by pushing against the ground with its vines, but its slow pace only let it avoid one of the gusts. It was now starting to look annoyed. The two birds stayed on their guard while dodging the mix of vines and leaves to the best of their abilities. Theo and Savage soon joined, using its own super effective hidden power.

  With the mudbray and poliwag hanging back as support and distracting the wild pokemon when they could, Lucky and Diana were able to maneuver better and attack more frequently. The weepinbell gave a screech and, instead of using its more sniper-like razor leafs, sent an indiscriminate barrage towards them. The flyers were able to dodge easily due to the lack of accuracy. Those on the ground weren't as lucky, including the humans. Ava got cuts across her arms and one on her left leg. The water and ground type really felt the damage, and Theo had to spray a potion.

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  The attack distracted everyone, including Ava, and when she looked back at the weepinbell she could see the leftovers of a poison powered drifting to the ground in front of the weepinbell. It only took a further second to figure out why it had done that. The previously green vines were now covered in a vibrant purple powder. Now, every hit had a chance to poison the pokemon, especially with all the small cuts they had.

  The battle started anew, with the vines posing an even greater risk. It was almost stuck at a stalemate until a vine was able to grab onto Diana, knocking her to the ground and pulling her toward him. The bird was obviously panicking, and Amiyra returned her to prevent any further damage. It was almost guaranteed she was poisoned now, but they didn't have the luxury to take the time to heal her. A pokemon down, the tides seemed to be working against them.

  Ava didn't see them having a chance of winning. While the weepinbell has definitely taken damage and was slowing down. It was at a much slower pace than their pokemon. They didn't have enough experience or pokemon that could deal with this threat. Running away seemed to be the only option. She grabbed an empty poke ball and a repel, ready to execute her plan, before noticing something. Her attention had been focused on the downing of the pidgey, and so had the weepinbell's, that neither of them noticed the poliwag sneaking up from behind.

  Even with a sneak attack, Ava was not sure what the weaker water type could do. Glancing at Theo's determined face, Ava chose to trust whatever plan he had made. That plan became apparent as soon as she started to see the pattern on the poliwags stomach swirl. She had read that when poliwags use their psychic powers to hypnotize, their visible internal organs unintentionally move in response.

  The gamble worked, as the wild weepinbell movements started to falter as it became more drowsy. It seemed panicked now and fought against the forced sleep; it quickly turned, finding the source of the hypnosis next to it. It spat out a bunch of its internal acid at the poliwag. Savage shot a water gun to try to block the attack, but being in such close corners, it was only able to stop part of it. The rest splashed over the water type, who produced a hurt sound.

  The poliwag was at its limits, and even when at full strength, she wouldn't have been able to fend off the weepinbell's attacks from that close. “Lucky Peck! Support Savage,” Ava shouted, fearing they would lose the slight lead the poliwag had gotten them. He shot down with a glowing beak, slamming into the weepinbells side, causing it to scream again.

  This seemed to be the final straw for the weepingbell, and it shot a green powder all around itself before pushing itself out of the cloud.

  That proved to be its fatal mistake. “Don't let it Lucky. Blow the sleep powder back at it.” With a gust, the cloud went right back to its source. This, combined with the previous hypnosis attempt, produced the desired result and temporarily knocked the weepinbell out.

  “Finish it,” all three trainers shouted in tandem. Amiyra even sent out the poisoned Diana to assist. All of their pokemon with renewed vigor sent attack after attack until all that was left was a mangled corpse.

  Ava could have cried with how relieved she was. While sad they had to kill the first pokemon she wanted to catch, there was no way she would have been able to beat it on her own, let alone tame it. She grabbed Theo, who was closest to her, in a tight hug, lifting him off the ground. “Holy shit, we did it! Great thinking with the hypnosis.” Theo's only response was joyous laughter. After giving a similar hug to Amiyra, she crouched down to where Lucky sat, cleaning blood out of his feathers.

  “You were amazing! I'm gonna give you so many treats when we get back.” She continued to heap on praises as she pulled out a potion and sprayed it over some of his wounds. Despite the stinging of the potion, he seems to be enjoying his win, trilling happily the whole time.

  After the others had dealt with healing their pokemon, Amiyra walked over to Ava. “Hey, we got to head back; I know you haven't caught a pokemon-”

  Ava cuts her off, “Trust me, I do not want to push our luck. I am ready to get the fuck out of here. I'll just catch the next non-flying pokemon I see in the walls.” Ava was speaking the truth. She needed backup right now, more than type advantage. That was obviously from what just happened. They got lucky today, but if one thing had gone wrong today, her miscalculation could have led to death.

  They finished the wound care of their pokemon and themselves before getting ready to head out. Each of them had a repel in their hand, needing to be even more cautious on their way back due to their injured and exhausted pokemon.

  Suddenly, Ava heard a rustling from behind her. Paranoid that the weepinbell could have revived, she turned quickly and barely had enough time to raise her arms in front of her face before vines lashed out across her arms. She really regretted wearing short sleeves instead of the long-sleeved trainer uniform, as the vines cut into her bare skin. The adrenaline helped her push the burning pain that erupted from her arms out of mind to take stock of her situation.

  The source of the vines wasn't of the deceased weepinbell thankfully, but from a furious looking bellsprout that emerged from the tall grass near the grove where the battle took place. The bellsprout continued looking at her as if issuing a challenge.

  If there was a god, they surely were shining on her right now. Keeping her eye on the wild pokemon Ava asked Lucky, “Do you think you have it in you to win one more match?” The high of the recent win and healing must have still been running through his veins as he quickly took to the sky. Ava signaled to the others that she had this before turning back to the fight at hand.

  Lucky took the initiative; she didn't have to direct him before he sent a wave of wind towards the grass pokemon. The limber vine-like limbs let the bellsprout dodge, sending retaliatory vines towards Lucky. He agilely flew out of the way. His recent experience with faster and stronger attacks made the current vines not hold much of a challenge.

  It seemed the only range move the bellsprout was its vines. With Lucky being able to dodge, the wild pokemon had no real way to take him down. Despite the bellsprout's nimbleness, it seemed to get tired quickly dodging the wider ranged gusts. It started to get hit by a couple as the battle progressed. In a move that impressed Ava, instead of attacking with the vines, it used a nearby tree to pull its light body airborne, getting close to Lucky. It then started to produce similar purple spores as its predecessor did. This threw him off for a second, but with a gust command from Ava, he sent off a weak wind at the pokemon, blowing away the poison and stopping the plants' momentum. The knock to the ground combined with the gust Lucky followed up with damaging the bellsprout enough that it struggled to get up. Ava took the chance to throw a poke ball towards it.

  It shook once before popping open to an angry bellsprout who smashed the ball with its vines. Obviously, it wasn't weak enough. The results of the battle didn't change though, and after a couple more hits, the final one kept the bellsprout on the ground. Ava tossed her final ball, tense and ready to grab it if the bellsprout broke out. Thankfully, it was an unfounded worry as the ball gave a pleasing ding, indicating a successful catch.

  …

  The travel back to the city went as quick as possible. Abraxas, Amiyras mudbray, took the lead on the few wild pokemon that showed up. This was due to him having taken the least amount of damage when fighting.

  Once they returned to the city, Ava felt she could finally let her guard down. Exhaustion warred on her. Being so focused on her surroundings constantly took all the energy out of her. Returning to the poke center, they shared a healing machine that perfectly fit all six of their poke balls. The larger amount of injuries made the waiting time an hour.

  It wasn't just the pokemon's injuries they had to take care of. All of them had cuts of some kind, with Ava having the largest ones across her arms where she took the brute hit from the bellsprout. She used a potion on her arms to help stop the bleeding. She learned after the ordeal that using potions on humans helped stop bleeding and reduce pain, but since they weren't made for humans, when used, it can lead to a greater chance of scarring.

  Potions were only supposed to be used on serious wounds. The ones on her arm were not quite at that level, but she made the decision to use a potion anyway since they had to hike a while back to the city. She didn't want to risk bleeding more and getting faint while in such a dangerous area; she also didn't want to be tracking blood all throughout the plains that a predator could follow.

  They all left the rest of their cuts alone, but now they went to the nurse on duty. The poke center always had one that could provide basic first aid and wound dressing. Anything that needed stitches would require a visit to the hospital. It took the entire hour to get everything cleaned and wrapped in a bandage. The nurse told Ava that since she had already used a potion, all she had to do was clean the wound and then dress it. No need for stitches this time.

  Everyone got patched up in the time it took for their pokemon to heal. Ava was glad to have Lucky's poke ball back. Without it, she felt almost naked. The healing machine also alerted her that her bellsprout had a fungal infection and recommended another healing session in 6 hours to fully remove it.

  Amiyra split from the group after that, wanting to take some time to rest. Ava and Theo went to the computer room to register their new pokemon to their accounts. It took Ava a minute to remember how Cunningham had done it, but soon she placed the poke ball in the slot.

  Species: Bellsprout - The Flower Pokemon

  Type: Grass/Poison

  Gender: Male

  Age: ≈1 year

  Moves: N/A

  Ava took the time to log the two moves she had seen the bellsprout use already. From what she read, since it already knew poison powder, there was a good chance it knew the other powders as well.

  She wrapped up in the computer room and left to grab dinner. She also made sure to feed and give Lucky a good bath as a reward for all his hard work today before laying down in her barrack bed and promptly passing out.

  …

  Training the bellsprout proved more difficult than expected. She sat staring at the bellsprout who was lazily sunbathing, while she sat on a bench with Lucky perched on her shoulder.

  Utilizing a similar technique she suggested to Amiyra, where she returned the pokemon every time it attacked, Ava was able to get him to stop shooting vines or powders at her whenever he got released. The real struggle was trying to get him to listen to her.

  Every time she tried to get him to follow commands or use moves, he ignored her. The thought of using Lucky to beat him up so he would listen to her was tempting. After consulting with Gavin and his expertise as a poke center manager, she decided that wasn't the best way to get the pokemon to listen to her in the long term. She limited the use of Lucky to defend her when he attacked.

  Since he didn't listen to her, most of his time out of his ball was spent sitting in the sun or eating the meat she provided. That was another thing she had to get used to, watching the bellsprout eat. It was mainly a carnivore that put the chopped up pieces of meat she gave him in his mouth, then angled his head back, letting the food fall into the acid stored there. She could hear the bubbling of acid in his mouth when he put food in there and digested it. She was glad she wasn't squeamish and found it pretty interesting how the pseudo mouth worked.

  It was during bellsprout's training period that Ava learned Oliver and his crew made it back from their trek in the wilds. This was a fact she learned secondhand from Theo during lunch.

  When prompted, he told her how the three of them had all caught charmander. This sparked a bit of jealousy in the pit of Ava’s stomach. The topic of those types of pokemon was mentioned briefly in the intensive classes before her Ordeal. Afterward, she had looked into them a little more. There were a certain sub-sect of pokemon that, before the cataclysm, were highly sought after ‘starter’ pokemon. They were given out by elite professors to a select few, and only three pokemon were chosen in every region. They were selected for their easygoing natures, loyalty, and their ability to grow into absolute power houses.

  They were extremely hard to get back then and doubly as hard now. The majority of the species are extremely social and pack oriented, making it hard to catch one on their own. Even if you found one wandering alone, you would risk angering a group of angry, powerful beasts.

  It turns out that there was a hoard of the charmander line, a little more than a week's hike away. Deep in the mountains, a clearing contained a large group of them, ranging from ferocious charizards to newborn charmanders. Ava questioned how they were to come back in exactly two weeks if it was a week there and a week back. She didn't think this large group of flame-breathing dragons would give up their newborns with ease in a day. Apparently it only took a week if they were to hike it. Oliver’s brother Luigi had a psychic type that was able to teleport them to somewhere only a day's walk away. They had spent the two weeks learning the group's behavior, seeing what charmanders would venture further than their protections allowed, and fighting off wild pokemon.

  Eventually they each were able to catch one without incurring the hoards' wrath. Part of the time was briefly spent making sure the new pokemon would follow orders to a certain extent. It would have been a waste of the risk if they went that far to bring back a pokemon that doesn’t listen to them. Luigi, Oliver's brother, had to catch a second one as the first was stubborn and didn’t want to listen. By catching two, he could work to train one or both of them.

  While Ava was glad she was able to catch a bellsprout, she knew that some of the strongest pokemon resided in that classification of starters. If she had found one of those, it would have boosted her team up significantly. However, taking time off to get one wasn’t in the wheelhouse for her financially. That’s even without the cost of hiring two bodyguards to protect her. That larvitar Theo sold must have earned him a pretty penny. Even if she had found one, with her current team, the risk of trying to catch one was too high, so she put the idea of getting one to rest.

  Ava sat in a rut watching the bellsprout. A week had passed, and he didn't even pretend to listen to a single command of hers. As she contemplated what to do, her poke gear rang. It was probably her dad, but since she was trying to train with a pokemon she didn't trust, she wasn't going to take a call and distract herself.

  She let it ring, and that was when something interesting occurred. The previously lazy bellsprout was now standing up and wiggling his body. It almost looked as if he was dancing. She glanced at her poke gear, which was playing Trap of Love by The Ghost Girls. It wasn't that he seemed like he was dancing; he actually was. Ava jumped to her feet, inspiration striking as she saw the joyous look on the bellsprout's face. She might have a way to train him now.