The new trainer waved her goodbye and when he was finally out of sight of the house he ran to the gate that separated Pallet Town from Route 1. Ash saw the others waiting on him and both of them looked at Nidoran in curiosity.
"Is that a Nidoran!" Amelia asked excitedly. "That's so cool. I didn't even know the Professor had one."
Nidoran looked uncomfortable under the attention and sat down on the soft dirt. He scratched his ear as an attempt to ignore the attention Amelia was giving him.
"So what moves does he know?" Jonathan asked. "Charmander knows growl, scratch, and ember. I'm going to try and teach him smokescreen later."
Ash told his new traveling partners Nidoran's move set, and both were surprised when they heard that the poison type knew confusion.
"Wow, you're really lucky." Jonathan said. "But I think we need to get going. My mom got to Viridian City in three days and I want to beat her record."
Ash and Amelia grinned and nodded their assent. They wanted to get their journey underway just as much as Jonathan did. With that they set off down the worn dirt road of Route 1, eager to venture out into the world.
Xx
Ash had to return Nidoran after a while. Although his starter was valiantly attempting to keep up with them, its stubby legs and slow speed caused it to be pretty tired after half an hour. He didn't want Nidoran to tire himself out before they could find something to battle.
"So," he began in attempt to revive the conversation, "did you guys see the battle between Bruno and that Marcus guy last night?"
"That was awesome!" Jonathan said loudly. Ash noticed that a few pidgey roosting in the tree above them fled due to Jonathan's loud voice. "Bruno actually lost! I think Marcus or whatever his name is lost to Agatha though."
"What happened?" Amelia asked curiously as they walked down the trail. "My parents made me go to bed before the battle came on. I only got to see the end of Lorelei's match."
"Oh it was great!" Jonathan said boisterously. "Marcus' Gengar beat all of Bruno's pokemon except for onix. I think Bruno got pretty mad over his loss."
Ash and Amelia listened intently, but eventually they got bored of Jonathan practically swooning over the Elite Four. Amelia diverted the conversation to something that neither Ash nor Jonathan had known about.
"So have either of you heard about the spearow flock that's been causing trouble around here?" She asked. Jonathan looked pretty nervous – everyone in their class at Pallet Town had known that he was terrified of bird pokemon – but Ash wanted to know more.
"I thought that Professor Oak had them driven off a few weeks ago?" Ash said, reflecting back to the day that Oak had left with his gigantic dragonite. Gary had been bragging about being taught by his grandfather all day after that.
"He did." Amelia confirmed. "But they came back. I heard they've been attacking trainers, so we should probably be on guard. My older sister in Viridian City told me that the Pokemon Center there has been getting a lot of hurt people in from them."
Jonathan groaned and kept a hand on his pokeball. Ash noticed that he was quickly glancing around at the trees as if he was trying to spot the flock.
"Too bad none of us have an electric type." Ash said. "Nidoran doesn't have any moves for a lot of pokemon at once. How about you guys?"
"Bulbasaur knows vine whip and sleep powder." Amelia said off the top of her head. "I'm going to teach him poison powder and razor leaf soon. But right now I don't think he could do very much against a flock of spearow. They would have way too good of a type advantage."
"Ember would be able to fight off a few of them." Jonathan whispered as he continued searching the area for birds. Both Ash and Amelia looked at him oddly. "But he would have to get closer before he could really do anything."
Ash shrugged. They would just have to run if they came across the flock. For now it seemed like the sun was about to set.
"Hey, guys, it's getting dark. Do either of you know how to set up a camp?"
Jonathan and Amelia shook their heads. Ash sighed, realizing that he probably should have asked someone to teach him before setting out on their journey. It looked like the first night would be pretty uncomfortable.
They continued on for a bit longer before reaching a place that would be comfortable to sleep in. It was a small clearing surrounded by trees. The clearing had decent cover from any surprise rainfall they might get and was out of the way enough to keep them out of trouble.
At least they had all remembered to bring their sleeping bags, Ash thought as he laid his out on the ground. Jonathan was out searching for logs or something to burn while Amelia had begun to divide up small portions of food for them. Ash had to find a place to get more water in case they ran out in the morning.
Their large, thick plastic water bottles still had plenty in them, but none of them were willing to just play around in the wilderness. They'd all heard too many horror stories of kids getting lost and being found after they'd died from the wild. None of them wanted to be like that.
Ash yawned and wondered where Jonathan was. He definitely wouldn't be in any trouble – the pokemon around Pallet Town tended to be young and weak and wouldn't want to mess with a charmander – but he wasn't the smartest guy in class and could get lost. Anyone could get lost when it was this dark, although charmander and its tail flame would come in handy.