Bronze Journey

Mitis Beginning

That's it, I made my mind up. My starter is Mudkip, I pick the little one up and hugged it with a smile. It was then that I realized it's gender: it was a little girl with a Modest nature. She was very shy, but absolutely adorable. I managed to coax her to sit on my shoulder. Gently petting her head-fin, I turned to my parents with a bright smile. "Here's my starter, Mudkip!"

"She's adorable, sweetie," mom said with a smile pasted on her face, but then she asked a question that I was more or less sure of already. I just hadn't thought of it prior to when she asked me it. "What's her name?"

"Name?....Hmm, I wanna call her Kibbles!" the Mudfish Pokemon seemed to like it, as she smiled and moved around on my shoulder excitedly. Turning around, I faced Jake and smiled. His Eevee was by his side, it was a calm little thing with a love for water. Maybe it wished to evolve into Vaporeon, I didn't know though. "So, you wanna do our battle now?"

"Of course, your ready, Eevee?" he grinned at me, as his Eevee hopped in front of him with a bright smile on it's brown face. Jake's confidence was evident, he was very excitable. He was looking forward to our journey more than I was, but he was kind enough to stay behind until I obtained mine since he turned 10 before me.

"E-vee!" it seemed very prepared to fight, answering it's trainer's question. I giggled, smiling down at it. It was so adorable, I love Eevees very much with my favorite Pokemon being the fairy type Sylveon. I plan to obtain one during my journey, so we'd both have Eevees soon enough. I couldn't wait to obtain my own. But for now, Jake's Eevee was adorable.

"Well, lets go, Kibbles," I smiled at my shoulder, gently taking the Mudkip off me and placing her down on the floor opposite Eevee. She seemed nervous, her tail-fin twitching frantically under the eyes of Eevee. But I wanted to build her confidence up, she would be a great Swampert when she fully evolves, I just know it. "Kibbles, use Water Gun!"

"Mud..." she whimpered, opening her mouth to shoot a large gush of water at the Eevee. With the accuracy, it hit and knocked the Eevee back but Jake didn't lose any confidence.

"Eevee, Tackle!" Eevee darted forward, a massive cone of light wrapped around it. Soon enough, the attack hit Kibbles with a force. She was knocked back, before whimpering.

"Kibbles, it's alright. Use Tackle yourself!" I really do need to boost her confidence, but I didn't care at the moment.

"Counter it with Tackle!" Jake suddenly yelled, catching me and Kibbles off guard. But I wasn't about to back down from a challenge and the Mudkip seemed to know how I felt, eh sensitive fin I guess.

"Kip!" "Vee!" our Pokemon cried in unison, darting towards one another and slamming into each other. Both were knocked back, shaking. Me and my friendly rival were forced to watch them, both hoping that the other's Pokemon would faint first. I was very glad when Eevee was the one to faint, but I didn't feel like being a gloating over my childhood friend.

I was about to apologize for hurting his starter, but he spoke before me. "That was awesome, Mudkip's really strong despite her confidence issues. Here, let me heal her up for you," he gently knelt down and sprayed a potion - I wonder where he got that - onto her with a happy smile on his face. "And as another token," he passed me 5 poke balls, grinning. "They'll allow you to catch wild Pokemon, many of them could be helpful for your team but giving your advantages and disadvantages to back up Mudkip."

I smiled, placing the poke balls into my bag that was hung over my left shoulder - the opposite shoulder to the one that my Pokemon liked to rest on when she wasn't battling. "Thanks for the balls, Jake," I grinned, before looking down at his normal-type and saying. "Eevee's powerful too, you could have a powerful evolution from it."

"Well, yeah. He's definitely good, he wants to evolve into Vaporeon when I obtain a Water Stone so his evolution is already determined," my rival said, as Eevee seemed to show pride in his power and knowledge of his evolution.

Giggling, I nodded my head at him. I then turned to my parents, they seemed happy for me and I knew why: I had just won my first battle, with little help and with a newly obtained Mudkip at that. Definitely impressive for a newly turned 10 year old. "Good work, sweetie," my mom said, looking down at my Kibbles. "You choose a powerful Pokemon, be sure to raise her well."

"Thanks, mom!" I smiled, my starter climbed back onto my shoulder and I reached to pet her gentle. I wasn't sure of my plan with the gyms, but she was going to be by my side through it all. Next stop was Cheshma Town, which was the resting spot for trainers heading to Silvent Town and a good training location.

Well, I decided to head out to Route 1 to begin my training with Kibbles by my side. So, I said my goodbyes to my parents and the professor. Little did I know at the time that it would be the last time I would ever see the former...