>< I started writing this again for some reason. I don't know why. I like it, though. For all the *****ing and moaning I do about OT fics, I do like them, and I do like writing them.
So I guess as long as I'm off hiatus, I might as well give you all an opportunity to ***** and moan at me.
I think I'll do it in a chapter-a-week kind of way, which gives me some time to get back into it.
Disclaimer: The first chapter sucks. I have revised it four or five times, and it never gets any better. Bear with me. Or, suggest ways to decrease the suckiness. Either or.
Thanks.
----
Chapter One: Sunrise City
The little bird bounded up to his girl, chirping wildly. He was happy to be alive, it seemed. She gave him a weak smile before taking another glance at the town to her left, and at the grassy plains to her right. The bird followed her gaze, his head turning in time with hers, as he strained to see what exactly she was looking at. She gave the bird one more forced smile before taking a deep breath and standing up, grabbing her backpack.
Gina started down the crudely made dirt path. Tall grass stretched out for several hundred feet on either side of the winding track, swaying gracefully in the wind. The utter perfection of the day soon lifted the sourness from her mood, and the travel became joyous, with much correspondence between pokemon and trainer.
“So!” Gina said to her bird, smiling. He chirped in reply. “I guess I need to name you, right Catiel?”
The catiel again gave an elated chirp.
“Well…” She flipped open her field guide to the section about catiel. On the first page was a photograph of the bird that captured its essence very well. Its large eyes were closed happily, and the leaf marks on its cheeks glowed; the bird itself was a full foot off the ground. Its deep green wings were spread out wide, and its lime crest was raised high. The scruffy white collar of feathers on its neck was puffed and vibrant.
Catiel (Cah-teel)
Flying/Grass
Ht. 2’3”
Wt. 9.25 lbs.
Catiel are always joyous. They love to interact with everyone around them, especially other Catiel. If no other Pokemon or humans are present, they have been known to squawk at inanimate objects until someone comes along. They can be found in abundance in Sunrise City as well as throughout Triland.
“I have to warn you, first, Catiel,” she continued, “I’m awful at this. I couldn’t even name my online pokemon.”
The bird chirped curiously in reply.
“Okay, so you’re a guy and… you’re hyper.” She paused. “I guess ‘Hyper’ would be a stretch, huh?”
The little bird made a low, guttural sound that Gina took for disapproval.
“Alright then…” She sighed, “I wish I had my computer right now. Then I could look up some cool name for you in another language or something. I guess we just have to drop it for now.”
The pair walked in silence for some time. Every once in a while Gina would look around, stretching her limbs and surveying the grass. It was in one of these moments, late in the afternoon and as she looked over the tall grass and plains, that she spotted a zigzagoon.
The small raccoon animal was sitting in the grass, gnawing intently on a berry. He would briefly stick his nose into the air whenever the wind blew and, depending on one condition or another that was unknown to Gina, would sometimes take a few steps in any given direction. The wind stilled, however, and Gina was able to get close enough to him that she was able to hear his delighted growls as he chewed on the plump little berry.
Gina looked at the catiel, who was still standing on the path. She slowly backed away from the zigzagoon and approached her catiel. As quietly as she could, she gave him instructions. She took a deep breath, already feeling some remorse for disrupting the happy little zigzagoon, and sent Catiel forward.
Her bird dashed into the weeds, slamming himself into the raccoon, which in turn went flying. Gina ran in after Catiel, eager to see what had happened. The battle came into her view as the zigzagoon puffed up his spines and dashed at her catiel. Catiel dodged, but not without being clipped by the little rodent. Gina sighed with some relief as she saw that the attack hadn’t fully hit, but this zigzagoon wasn’t finished. He almost immediately whirled around and sped into another charge.
“Ah! Quick, dodge it!” Gina yelled.
Catiel jumped, propelling himself up several feet and evading Zigzagoon’s quick attack. Gina watched in awe. Her guidebook hadn’t said anything about the bird’s ability to jump. However, the zigzagoon had no intention of stopping so Gina could gawk: it turned around and prepared for another charge.
“Okay, Catiel! When he charges, jump and try and land on him. But do a peck attack, so your beak hits him and not your feet,” Gina ordered. She clapped her hands together, aggravated; that hadn’t come out correctly.
Nonetheless, Catiel seemed to have understood the order. As the zigzagoon shot himself into another lunge, the little bird sprung up, coming down on top of his opponent. Instead of landing the peck, though, he received a face full of the starched, pointy fur.
Gina brought her hand to her cheek, aggravated. She knew better than this. She quickly gave Catiel the order to ‘continue dodging’, and dashed to her backpack to retrieve her field guide. She praised herself for bookmarking her catiel’s page, and flipped to it to see what it did say about catiel’s attacking abilities.
“Razor leaf!” she shouted, more to herself than her bird. Regardless, the catiel carried out the order, and the zigzagoon had to abdicate its current charge as it tried to shake off the attack. However, as Gina and Catiel basked in their glory, the zigzagoon recovered and flung itself into another charge. This one connected with an unprepared Catiel, and he was sent flying backwards.
Gina yelled at herself again for being so naïve. Yet again, though, the zigzagoon reacted faster than she and charged at Catiel. This time Catiel was ready, and he jumped up, coming down with his beak hitting the zigzagoon’s backside. Gina cupped her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing at the little animal’s misfortune as it squealed from the unpleasant jar and took off into the weeds.
Gina stood for a second, looking on in a state of surprise, before running over to her catiel and scooping it up. She ran with him back onto the path, her spirits, wary from the hours of walking, refreshed from the excitement. She and her little catiel both knew they had not truly won, but they had not quite lost either, a fact which greatly pleased the pair as they continued their travels down the path.
The day waned away without any further event, and Gina decided to put her minimal camping experience to the test. At a point where the path curved inward, close to the forest that bordered the plains, she and Catiel headed into the woods. A small clearing was found, thoroughly inspected for nests, dens, and the like, and a sleeping bag was unrolled in the middle of it.
Gina watched her little bird as he settled himself down, fixing his feathers and gathering leaves to cushion himself during the night. He dropped, exhausted, into the center of the pile he had created. With a turn of his head and a ruffle of his feathers, he closed his eyes.
She smiled. He slept in a strange position, definitely different than the pets she had kept at home, a dog and several bugs. His feet seemed to have retracted as he sat down on them, and though the front of his torso faced her, his beak was pointed in the opposite direction, immersed in fluff. Gina marveled for a second at his ability to turn his head so completely around before settling down as well.
Day 1 (One! Uno! God, I’m too excited. I’m gonna sound like some valleygirl.)
Okay, I know this is kind of kiddish, but my sister suggested it, and I think it’ll be fun to look back and see what my thoughts were. So, I’m going to keep a journal for as long as I can remember to. Let’s see. I didn’t do much today. Well, I started my journey! I got a catiel. A CATIEL. Oh well. He’s cute and he’s really funny, so I guess it’s okay. I’m thinking about naming him Sproing, considering he surprised me during our battle with a zigzagoon today by jumping like five feet in the air! Though, admittedly, that does sound a bit like ‘spoink’, the psychic pig pokemon.
Anyway, I got him. The ceremony is never spectacular, but I thought it was cute today. It’s nice that they give us pre-packed bags. The guidebook is super-helpful. It saved me against that zigzagoon.
So, there were only like seven of us. Usually there are about eleven, but there weren’t many kids in my class, so I guess it makes sense, especially considering the other schools all had big classes this year. We all stood onstage in the plaza, and Mrs. Byrne made some speech about how accomplished we had become. Then they gave us our bags, and one by one we took the Pokeballs out and opened them for our families and whoever else wanted to watch. Some people got really cool Pokemon. This one kid got a rattata. I know they don’t get that strong, but that’s so cool! They’re mad rare. I hear you can only get them when like shipments come in from Kanto and Hoenn and stuff. Maybe one day they’ll start to live here. I wonder why they don’t like it here.
I was a little sour as the beginning of the day. Between getting a common pokemon and having to leave home, things were a little upsetting. It really surprised me, because I’d never had problems with sleep-away camps or anything. I guess it’s different when you can look at a calendar and say, “Looks like only four days until I go home.” I think that’s it, because writing this now I feel sort of upset. I already have so many things I want to tell my brothers and even my sister. I was thinking about calling them before, but I don’t know how long it will be until I reach the first Center where I can recharge my phone’s battery, and I really don’t want to waste it on something so little and trivial as recapping my day to everyone. I wasted a lot of the morning sulking and feeling sorry for myself, so the three-day estimate from my home to Cuamenara Pass probably isn’t accurate.
It’s probably like, “If you travel nonstop for three days, there’s a slight chance you’ll get there.” Yeah, not happening.
Hm. Okay, I should probably stop complaining and say something about my home, in case if I ever go to Johto or something and someone reads this, they’ll know what it’s like. Well, it doesn’t have any evil organizations that I know of. Oh, and we don’t have badges here. We call them merits. Well, the main place here is Konnichiwa City. It’s sort of like their Celadon or Mauville. It’s this huge city that takes up the whole southern coast of the continent! Most of it is forest, though. I live in Sunrise City, the city farthest to the east. Isn’t that cute? There’s a Sunset City in the west
Anyway, there are 9 merits we have to get before we can battle the Dirija League, our league. Also, we have something really cool that no one else does. We have a mini-suburb thing called Triland. Triland is three islands and it even has its own league. You need the five merits of Triland to battle in the Triland League. I really want to go there; tropical places like that have always amazed me so much. But, because I’m from Sunrise, I have to beat the Dirija people in our mainland league before I can battle the league in Triland. I can go there for fun, though, and to battle non- merit trainers (AKA trainers who don’t run Arcs, which is what we call what Hoenn people call “GYMS”.) So, if I can get there before I beat Dirija, I’m going to go.
I think that’s all I really want to say for now.
Oh yeah. Catiel didn’t beat the zigzagoon, it fled. The zigzag-y one fled, not catiel. So we tied, I guess. I really didn’t battle as well as I wanted to. I made so many stupid mistakes, most of which came from taking my attention off the battle and not knowing what Catiel could really do. I guess battling with a trained pokemon from the school is that much different than training one yourself. Even when I didn’t know what to do with the school’s pokemon, it would react itself. My catiel just waited for me to tell it what to do. Maybe wild pokemon will be better at that. I’m sure it hasn’t helped Catiel that he was raised on a reserve specifically for being a starter pokemon.
Record:
Wins: -
Losses: -
Ties: 1!
Battles: None but one!
---
Yeah... >< Much hate for this chapter. The quality improves exponentially, I promise.
So I guess as long as I'm off hiatus, I might as well give you all an opportunity to ***** and moan at me.
I think I'll do it in a chapter-a-week kind of way, which gives me some time to get back into it.
Disclaimer: The first chapter sucks. I have revised it four or five times, and it never gets any better. Bear with me. Or, suggest ways to decrease the suckiness. Either or.
Thanks.
----
Chapter One: Sunrise City
The little bird bounded up to his girl, chirping wildly. He was happy to be alive, it seemed. She gave him a weak smile before taking another glance at the town to her left, and at the grassy plains to her right. The bird followed her gaze, his head turning in time with hers, as he strained to see what exactly she was looking at. She gave the bird one more forced smile before taking a deep breath and standing up, grabbing her backpack.
Gina started down the crudely made dirt path. Tall grass stretched out for several hundred feet on either side of the winding track, swaying gracefully in the wind. The utter perfection of the day soon lifted the sourness from her mood, and the travel became joyous, with much correspondence between pokemon and trainer.
“So!” Gina said to her bird, smiling. He chirped in reply. “I guess I need to name you, right Catiel?”
The catiel again gave an elated chirp.
“Well…” She flipped open her field guide to the section about catiel. On the first page was a photograph of the bird that captured its essence very well. Its large eyes were closed happily, and the leaf marks on its cheeks glowed; the bird itself was a full foot off the ground. Its deep green wings were spread out wide, and its lime crest was raised high. The scruffy white collar of feathers on its neck was puffed and vibrant.
Catiel (Cah-teel)
Flying/Grass
Ht. 2’3”
Wt. 9.25 lbs.
Catiel are always joyous. They love to interact with everyone around them, especially other Catiel. If no other Pokemon or humans are present, they have been known to squawk at inanimate objects until someone comes along. They can be found in abundance in Sunrise City as well as throughout Triland.
“I have to warn you, first, Catiel,” she continued, “I’m awful at this. I couldn’t even name my online pokemon.”
The bird chirped curiously in reply.
“Okay, so you’re a guy and… you’re hyper.” She paused. “I guess ‘Hyper’ would be a stretch, huh?”
The little bird made a low, guttural sound that Gina took for disapproval.
“Alright then…” She sighed, “I wish I had my computer right now. Then I could look up some cool name for you in another language or something. I guess we just have to drop it for now.”
The pair walked in silence for some time. Every once in a while Gina would look around, stretching her limbs and surveying the grass. It was in one of these moments, late in the afternoon and as she looked over the tall grass and plains, that she spotted a zigzagoon.
The small raccoon animal was sitting in the grass, gnawing intently on a berry. He would briefly stick his nose into the air whenever the wind blew and, depending on one condition or another that was unknown to Gina, would sometimes take a few steps in any given direction. The wind stilled, however, and Gina was able to get close enough to him that she was able to hear his delighted growls as he chewed on the plump little berry.
Gina looked at the catiel, who was still standing on the path. She slowly backed away from the zigzagoon and approached her catiel. As quietly as she could, she gave him instructions. She took a deep breath, already feeling some remorse for disrupting the happy little zigzagoon, and sent Catiel forward.
Her bird dashed into the weeds, slamming himself into the raccoon, which in turn went flying. Gina ran in after Catiel, eager to see what had happened. The battle came into her view as the zigzagoon puffed up his spines and dashed at her catiel. Catiel dodged, but not without being clipped by the little rodent. Gina sighed with some relief as she saw that the attack hadn’t fully hit, but this zigzagoon wasn’t finished. He almost immediately whirled around and sped into another charge.
“Ah! Quick, dodge it!” Gina yelled.
Catiel jumped, propelling himself up several feet and evading Zigzagoon’s quick attack. Gina watched in awe. Her guidebook hadn’t said anything about the bird’s ability to jump. However, the zigzagoon had no intention of stopping so Gina could gawk: it turned around and prepared for another charge.
“Okay, Catiel! When he charges, jump and try and land on him. But do a peck attack, so your beak hits him and not your feet,” Gina ordered. She clapped her hands together, aggravated; that hadn’t come out correctly.
Nonetheless, Catiel seemed to have understood the order. As the zigzagoon shot himself into another lunge, the little bird sprung up, coming down on top of his opponent. Instead of landing the peck, though, he received a face full of the starched, pointy fur.
Gina brought her hand to her cheek, aggravated. She knew better than this. She quickly gave Catiel the order to ‘continue dodging’, and dashed to her backpack to retrieve her field guide. She praised herself for bookmarking her catiel’s page, and flipped to it to see what it did say about catiel’s attacking abilities.
“Razor leaf!” she shouted, more to herself than her bird. Regardless, the catiel carried out the order, and the zigzagoon had to abdicate its current charge as it tried to shake off the attack. However, as Gina and Catiel basked in their glory, the zigzagoon recovered and flung itself into another charge. This one connected with an unprepared Catiel, and he was sent flying backwards.
Gina yelled at herself again for being so naïve. Yet again, though, the zigzagoon reacted faster than she and charged at Catiel. This time Catiel was ready, and he jumped up, coming down with his beak hitting the zigzagoon’s backside. Gina cupped her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing at the little animal’s misfortune as it squealed from the unpleasant jar and took off into the weeds.
Gina stood for a second, looking on in a state of surprise, before running over to her catiel and scooping it up. She ran with him back onto the path, her spirits, wary from the hours of walking, refreshed from the excitement. She and her little catiel both knew they had not truly won, but they had not quite lost either, a fact which greatly pleased the pair as they continued their travels down the path.
The day waned away without any further event, and Gina decided to put her minimal camping experience to the test. At a point where the path curved inward, close to the forest that bordered the plains, she and Catiel headed into the woods. A small clearing was found, thoroughly inspected for nests, dens, and the like, and a sleeping bag was unrolled in the middle of it.
Gina watched her little bird as he settled himself down, fixing his feathers and gathering leaves to cushion himself during the night. He dropped, exhausted, into the center of the pile he had created. With a turn of his head and a ruffle of his feathers, he closed his eyes.
She smiled. He slept in a strange position, definitely different than the pets she had kept at home, a dog and several bugs. His feet seemed to have retracted as he sat down on them, and though the front of his torso faced her, his beak was pointed in the opposite direction, immersed in fluff. Gina marveled for a second at his ability to turn his head so completely around before settling down as well.
Day 1 (One! Uno! God, I’m too excited. I’m gonna sound like some valleygirl.)
Okay, I know this is kind of kiddish, but my sister suggested it, and I think it’ll be fun to look back and see what my thoughts were. So, I’m going to keep a journal for as long as I can remember to. Let’s see. I didn’t do much today. Well, I started my journey! I got a catiel. A CATIEL. Oh well. He’s cute and he’s really funny, so I guess it’s okay. I’m thinking about naming him Sproing, considering he surprised me during our battle with a zigzagoon today by jumping like five feet in the air! Though, admittedly, that does sound a bit like ‘spoink’, the psychic pig pokemon.
Anyway, I got him. The ceremony is never spectacular, but I thought it was cute today. It’s nice that they give us pre-packed bags. The guidebook is super-helpful. It saved me against that zigzagoon.
So, there were only like seven of us. Usually there are about eleven, but there weren’t many kids in my class, so I guess it makes sense, especially considering the other schools all had big classes this year. We all stood onstage in the plaza, and Mrs. Byrne made some speech about how accomplished we had become. Then they gave us our bags, and one by one we took the Pokeballs out and opened them for our families and whoever else wanted to watch. Some people got really cool Pokemon. This one kid got a rattata. I know they don’t get that strong, but that’s so cool! They’re mad rare. I hear you can only get them when like shipments come in from Kanto and Hoenn and stuff. Maybe one day they’ll start to live here. I wonder why they don’t like it here.
I was a little sour as the beginning of the day. Between getting a common pokemon and having to leave home, things were a little upsetting. It really surprised me, because I’d never had problems with sleep-away camps or anything. I guess it’s different when you can look at a calendar and say, “Looks like only four days until I go home.” I think that’s it, because writing this now I feel sort of upset. I already have so many things I want to tell my brothers and even my sister. I was thinking about calling them before, but I don’t know how long it will be until I reach the first Center where I can recharge my phone’s battery, and I really don’t want to waste it on something so little and trivial as recapping my day to everyone. I wasted a lot of the morning sulking and feeling sorry for myself, so the three-day estimate from my home to Cuamenara Pass probably isn’t accurate.
It’s probably like, “If you travel nonstop for three days, there’s a slight chance you’ll get there.” Yeah, not happening.
Hm. Okay, I should probably stop complaining and say something about my home, in case if I ever go to Johto or something and someone reads this, they’ll know what it’s like. Well, it doesn’t have any evil organizations that I know of. Oh, and we don’t have badges here. We call them merits. Well, the main place here is Konnichiwa City. It’s sort of like their Celadon or Mauville. It’s this huge city that takes up the whole southern coast of the continent! Most of it is forest, though. I live in Sunrise City, the city farthest to the east. Isn’t that cute? There’s a Sunset City in the west
Anyway, there are 9 merits we have to get before we can battle the Dirija League, our league. Also, we have something really cool that no one else does. We have a mini-suburb thing called Triland. Triland is three islands and it even has its own league. You need the five merits of Triland to battle in the Triland League. I really want to go there; tropical places like that have always amazed me so much. But, because I’m from Sunrise, I have to beat the Dirija people in our mainland league before I can battle the league in Triland. I can go there for fun, though, and to battle non- merit trainers (AKA trainers who don’t run Arcs, which is what we call what Hoenn people call “GYMS”.) So, if I can get there before I beat Dirija, I’m going to go.
I think that’s all I really want to say for now.
Oh yeah. Catiel didn’t beat the zigzagoon, it fled. The zigzag-y one fled, not catiel. So we tied, I guess. I really didn’t battle as well as I wanted to. I made so many stupid mistakes, most of which came from taking my attention off the battle and not knowing what Catiel could really do. I guess battling with a trained pokemon from the school is that much different than training one yourself. Even when I didn’t know what to do with the school’s pokemon, it would react itself. My catiel just waited for me to tell it what to do. Maybe wild pokemon will be better at that. I’m sure it hasn’t helped Catiel that he was raised on a reserve specifically for being a starter pokemon.
Record:
Wins: -
Losses: -
Ties: 1!
Battles: None but one!
---
Yeah... >< Much hate for this chapter. The quality improves exponentially, I promise.
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Also, I loved how you including the height and weight of the Pokémon, I thought that was a really nice touch ^^