Journal of a Unova Pokemon Trainer

Chapter Three

I woke up around noon and put on the outfit I would be wearing every day for months, if not years. I went outside and saw Cheren, rearing to go and leaning against a maple tree.

"Quinn, I'm going to Professor Juniper's laboratory," Cheren said. "You need to go to Bianca's house, because there's been a little trouble with her father."

"Oh no," I groaned. Bianca's father was one of the most overprotective dads in the world. He wouldn't let her ride on tire swings when she was a kid because he had heard too many stories of children who broke bones falling out of them. He wouldn't let her swim in the river because he heard about people being dashed against rocks while bathing in rivers. He also wouldn't let her make-up, because he was afraid she'd be raped by any passing male.

In my opinion, she could use a little make-up because as it is, she is profoundly unattractive. I'm a lesbian and I wouldn't date Bianca if she was the last girl on Earth. Maybe its because we've known each other since we were five, and I known too many things about her that I find unappealing, such as the fact that she's an airhead.

Sure enough, when I got to her house, her father was raging.

"You cannot go on this journey, Bianca. I absolutely forbid it."

"But daddy…"

"No, buts, ifs, or ands. You are a child, and you will not be able to handle it."

"I'm fifteen!"

"I know you are, sweetheart, but it's a dangerous world out there, even for adults." Seeing me, Bianca's father said, "Quinn, why don't you take Bianca for a walk and rid her of these silly notions?"

Great, the first parent to ask me to take his daughter for a walk was a man who wanted me to convince his daughter of something I believed she should disobey him for, and it was a girl I would never date and probably wouldn't even be friends with if we hadn't lived in the same town for the last ten years.

"Sure, I'll take her for a walk," I said.

"Good. See, Bianca, Quinni s a girl with a solid head on her shoulders. Listen to her, and you'll see how foolish it would be to go on a Pokemon journey."

Bianca followed me like a Lillipup with its tail between its legs. Once we were several yards from her house, I said, "Bianca, this time you have to disobey him. He's going too far."

"Yes, but what if he's right?" Her eyes were staring to become red from crying.

"He's not right," I said, patting her shoulder. (Ew, the first girl whose body I was feeling was Bianca's. I hoped this wouldn't scar me for life.) "You need to go on this journey, Bi. It is essential for your growth."

("Bi" is my nickname for Bianca. I do not mean that she's bisexual, and I really hope she isn't, otherwise my patting her shoulder may've been the cause of her final decision, and I really hope it wasn't. Anyway, the nickname sounds like "bee," not "buy.")

"Yes, Quinn, but maybe I can grow up here."

"You can't stay sheltered forever. You have to resist your dad's influence. He is going to stifle your ability to experience things until you wake up one day and find yourself an old maid who has never left Nuvema Town. Do you really want that?"

Bianca looked scalded at the mention that she might never marry. "Okay, I'll go with you and Cheren. Only please get me out of here before my will weakens."

We went over to Professor Juniper's laboratory. Three aides greeted us there and took us to the back room, where the hottest scientist who ever lived worked.

Yes, Professor Juniper is hot. Before I started on my journey, I though she was the sexiest woman ever. I'd climb in bed with her in a heartbeat. Her hair is so wavy and her face needs to be kissed by a gentle soul. And she always wears this green skirt, and well, you know why I'd refer to her skirt.

"Why hello, girls," she said, when we walked in. "I was just telling Cheren here that ya'll be needing Pokedexes. "

"Yeah," said Cheren, "you guys can't always expect me to identify the Pokemon you encounter, because we naturally won't be together at all times."

I bumped my elbow into his side. "You don't know every Pokemon in the region yourself. There's more than 150 Pokemon in Unova, and I bet you can't even name half of them."

"I can too! But you can't name a quarter. All you know are Patrat, Lillipup, and Purrloin…the most common pets in Unova."

I wanted to slug him but I guess that statement was called for. Cheren is the smartest kid I know, anyway.

Professor Juniper handed each of us three a Pokedex. Then she noticed that Bianca was reserved.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Daddy doesn't want me going on this journey."

"Yes, I was afraid of that. I think you three had better leave now. I'll go distract your father, Bianca. Cheren, won't you show these two how to catch Pokemon on Route 1?"

Not waiting for an answer, Professor Juniper ambled out of the room, and the next time I would see her, she'd no longer be the sexiest woman in the world to me. (But she'd still be pretty fine.)

"Well, let's get going," Cheren said.

Bianca and I nodded, and he led us out of the laboratory. We said goodbye to the aides who were there. One of them was staring at my chest area. I wanted to tell him he had no chance with me because I'm a lesbian but decided better of it.

Cheren led me and Bianca out onto Route 1. "Now, the first thing to do to catch a Pokemon is to weaken your target," Cheren coached. "See, there's a wild Patrat over there. Now, watch this. Go, Oshawott!"

Cheren's Pokeball grew from extremely tiny to regular size so that Oshawott could come out. "Use Water Gun, Oshawott!"

A stream of water emerged from Oshawott's mouth. The Patrat looked up, saw it, and tried to scatter away. But the water knocked it off balance. Cheren then threw an empty Pokeball at it. There was a struggle for a minute, with a red light blinking in the center of the Pokeball. Then it stopped.

"See?" Cheren asked.

"I see you caught a common housepet," I said, elbowing him.

"I want to watch you two catch a Pokemon to be sure that you know how. Merely watching me isn't going to prove you know it."

"Do you want to go first or should I?" I asked Bianca.

"I'll go first," she said, sure of herself. She looked around for a Pokemon, and the first one she spotted was a Pidove, a bird with a heart shape on its chest.

Bianca pulled a Pokeball out of her pocket and threw it at the Pidove. It went in for a second, but quickly emerged.

"Bi, weren't you paying attention when Cheren caught his Patrat?" I asked. "You have to weaken the Pokemon you're trying to catch first."

"Oh, right," Bianca said. "Oh, well, here goes. Go, Snivy! Use Leaf Tail on that Pidove!"

"Uh, Bianca, Leaf Tail isn't a move," Cheren said.

"I'm sure my Snivy knows what I am asking it to do!"

But her Snivy certainly didn't know what she wanted it to do. It just stood there, looking at her and waiting for an actual move to be called out.

"Check your Pokedex to see what moves your Snivy knows," Cheren suggested, after Bianca realized that her Snivy wasn't doing anything.

Okay," Bianca said. She pulled out her Pokedex and hit a button.

"Pidove, the tiny pigeon Pokemon, commonly used as pets and an excellent catch for beginning Pokemon trainers in the Unova region," the Pokedex said.

"Bi, do you know what you're doing?" I asked, as Bianca started punching random buttons.

"No, I guess I don't," she said, as the Pokedex started giving out random pieces of information like, "The genders of Pidove are evenly distributed in that 50% are male and 50% are female."

"Here, let me," said Cheren. He took the Pokedex and hit a button that stopped the randomness. Then he pressed something else.

"Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokemon. This particular specimen has learnt the following moves: Tackle, Leer, and Grass Knot," the Pokedex said.

"Grass Knot, huh?" Cheren said. "Must have had a father that knew the move as a TM. Newly hatched Pokemon such as our starters can't learn moves from technical machines. But if the father knew the move, the hatchling will know it too."

"Well, then, Snivy use Grass Knot!" Bianca shouted.

Snivy formed a ball of green grass and shot it at the Pidove. The Pidove dodged it and shot forward, whamming its body into Snivy.

"Snivy, use Tackle!"

Bianca's Pokemon shook itself off and charged at the Pidove. It missed, and the Pidove sent a gust of wind at Snivy.

"Grass Knot again!" Bianca commanded. Snivy sent out a ball of grass at Pidove, and it hit the bird's chest hard, causing it to fall to the ground. "Okay, Pokeball, go!"

The ball bounced off the Pidove's head, but the bird went inside. It shook for a few minutes, then stopped.

"Oh yes! I did it, I did it, I did it!" Bianca exclaimed, jumping in the air.

I wanted to tell her that there was nothing to be proud of, as she had only caught the most common Pokemon in all of Unova. However, for her that was a great achievement, and thus I let her cheer her head off.

When she calmed down, it was my turn. I called Tepig to come out of its Pokeball, and turned to face the grass to see what Pokemon would emerge to be my first catch.

Out came, a small puppy with a mane around its face. "Ah, a Lillipup. I've got this in the bag."

Checking my Pokedex, I discovered that my Tepig knew the moves Tackle, Growl, and Incinerate.

"Wow," Cheren said. "Both its parents must have known Incinerate for it to know that move at the level it is at. Normally Tepig doesn't learn it until it's at level twelve. But when both parents know a move, the baby Pokemon will inherit it."

"Nice, Cheren. Maybe when I need that information I'll refer to it. Now, Tepig, use Incinerate!"

A jet of smoky fire emerged from Tepig's nostrils and shot at the Lillipup. The latter jumped to the side and it missed. Tepig ran closer and shot the flames again, only to have Lillipup bite it on the side.

The flames consumed the Lillipup, and when the smoke cleared, I saw that the Pokemon had been blackened from the move. That didn't stop me from throwing my Pokeball, however. The Lillipup went inside, and it didn't even struggle.

"Looks like I caught my first Pokemon," I said, going over to where the Pokeball lay and picking it up.

"That you did," Cheren said. "And now that I've taught you ladies how to catch Pokemon, how 'bout we-"

He was interrupted by a noise, however, and I caught a glimpse of Bianca's father coming toward us at a breakneck speed.

"Bianca, take my hand," Cheren said. A pause, while Bianca stared at the proffered hand. "What are you waiting for?"

"I…think I'd better stay here."

"No, Bianca, I won't let you! You can't let your father tyrannize you forever! It's time to experience, to live, to go! Now take my hand. And Quinn, you take Bianca's."

"How will that help?" I asked,, not happy about having to hold hands with a girl I wasn't attracted to. Seemed like I'd be doing everything couples do with Bianca when I'd rather have them done with almost any girl over her.

"I have Running Shoes on," Cheren explained. "If I start running, we'll get to Accumula Town lickety-split. And Bianca's father will not be able to catch up with us. NOW, BIANCA!" he shouted, as her father almost reached our area.

Bianca took his hand, and I took hers. Then everything became a blur as Cheren ran like the wind. I saw some blurs that I was sure were Pokemon, but I couldn't make them out due to the speed I was traveling at.

Cheren didn't stop running for a quarter-hour, and by the end, I was so dizzy that I couldn't speak.

"I know you're tired, ladies, but we only have enough time to visit the Pokemon Center and then we have to dash off to Striaton City. Only once there will we be safe from your father, Bianca."

Cheren led us to the Pokemon Center, which was a huge building. We went straight toward the center.

"Hello, may I help you?" the nurse behind the counter asked.

"I'm just showing my friends the Pokemon Center. We have to be leaving soon. Though, if you can give our Pokemon a quick check-up, that would be nice."

"Certainly, I can do that. Hand over your Pokeballs."

Cheren pulled out his two Pokeballs, as did Bianca and I.

"Wow, between you three trainers, you have the maximum number of Pokemon one trainer can have in their party at any given time."

"Yes, we know," Cheren said, though Bianca and I didn't. "We've just started our journeys, however, and you better make this check-up snappy."

"Certainly," the nurse said, cheerfully. I noticed that she looked quite nice.

"Okay," Cheren said. "While we're here, let me show you the Pokemart." He led us over to a corner by the entrance, where two people were sitting behind a counter with merchandise.

"What can we do for you fellows? We've got Potions and Antidotes and Pokeballs…"

"We'll take three Antidotes, three Potions, and three Parlyz Heals," Cheren said, handing some money to one of the men behind the counter.

The man handed him his merchandise. Then we went back to the nurse's station.

"Your Pokemon are all ready to go," she said.

"Thanks," Cheren said, handing me and Bianca our Pokeballs. "Well, we gotta go."

As we dashed out of the building, the nurse called after us, "Please come again!"

Once outside, Cheren had Bianca hold his hand again, while I held hers. Once again her ran and the world was a blur. Then, half an hour later, we stopped.

"Well, ladies, here we are. Striaton City. The first gym is here, and Quinn, you should definitely challenge it. I know I will."

"What about me?" Bianca asked.

"You can challenge the gym if you desire, Bianca. But the important thing is for us to get you safely through this town and on to the next one. Once we reach Nacrene City, we will be able to send Bianca along Skyarrow Bridge. Then she will be safe from her father."

"Maybe I'd better go back to him instead of running," Bianca said, crestfallen. "I mean, I'm forcing you to rush your journey by sticking around you guys…"

"No, Bi, don't think like that," I said, patting her shoulder. "This isn't much of a sacrifice. We can always explore these towns further later on. Right now the important thing is to get you a safe distance from your father, so that you can live to experience new things."

"I guess you're right."

"You know I am. And now, let's go into this restaurant. I'm getting hungry."

"So am I," Bianca said, smiling.

"Catch you later," Cheren said. "I'm going to find the gym." He dashed off.

Yet, Cheren, for all his knowledge, should've known the gym would be in the most unlikely spot.