"Woah!"

Adrian's face was glued to the window as he watched the outside pass by.

Astrid giggled and pulled his shirt towards her lightly.

(Get down from there. You can see it properly in your seat as well.)

"Ok, Mom."

Brian had a sour face as he looked at his wife.

"Ugh. At least say it verbally. You guys have so many mental conversations."

(It's not our fault you can't do it.)

"Ugh!"

Brian had an exasperated face that made Astrid and Adrian giggle.

*The train will be arriving soon! Please prepare to disembark.*

"Ugh! Good. Let's get ready to go."

(Grab your stuff, dear.)

(Yes, Mom!)

"Don't leave me out of the conversation!"

**********

The three got their things and headed out of the station.

Adrian sported a white shirt with a red Pokeball logo on it, blue shorts and his black sneakers.

Brian wore a black button up shirt with jeans and black shoes.

His muscular figure was apparent as he kept up with Adrian.

Astrid casually walked after the two in a white and pink floral dress that couldn't fully hide her figure. She had a large bag with her filled with food and supplies.

The boys waited for Astrid before heading towards the Wild Area, but was stopped by someone before they could see it.

"I'm sorry, but I have to inform you the Wild Area is no picnic spot! Please at least have some protection for yourselves!"

A ranger stopped in front of them with a stern, but cautious gaze as he barred their path.

Brian looked at the man and nodded his head with a smile.

"You're right. It would be horrible if they ran into trouble. That's why I'm here."

"You?"

Brian reached for his wallet and handed a card over to the ranger.

Adrian tried to see what it was, but he was too short.

Once the ranger read the card, Adrian watched as the man's face became pale white.

He looked up at Brian and back down at the card rapidly before handing the card back to Brian with both hands.

"I-I was wrong! You won't need any help from us! T-Thank you for your service!"

"Don't worry about it. We'll be careful."

The man ran away quickly towards a shop and barged inside.

"Dad! What did you show him?"

Brian just smiled deviously as he rubbed Adrian's head.

"I just showed him we can protect ourselves."

"There you go, being a villain again."

"Hahahaha! My bad!"

Brian kept laughing as the family made their way towards the clearing.

"Hey! What happened to you? Shouldn't you warn them?"

Another Ranger came beside the first Ranger and asked him what happened.

"No! There's no need!"

"Why?! You know some of the Pokemon don't take kindly to-"

"He's a Frenzy Commander. A high ranking one at that."

The Ranger shut up immediately as he decided to stay out the situation.

The other Ranger shook his head and kept on the lookout for more people not taking the Wild Area seriously.

'Only someone like that wouldn't care at all about the Pokemon here.'

*************

"Oh! This looks like a good spot."

They came to a nearby hill with tree covering the top with shade.

Astrid dug into her bag as she pulled out a large purple blanket.

(Help me lay this out, Adrian.)

(Ok!)

"Ugh! There they go leaving me out again!"

The two chuckled as Brian squatted down and started to pick the grass in annoyance.

Once the blanket was set, Adrian sat down on the blanket and looked at the surroundings.

"Wow!"

There was tall grass, trees, and even lakes everywhere! It looked truly beautiful.

"Okay! It's time for you to go and catch a Pokemon."

"Really?!"

Adrian's eyes were filled with sparkles as his mother nodded her head.

"Oh yeah! I have the perfect thing!"

Brian rushed over to Astrid's bag and searched for something.

"Huh?! Where did it go? Wait, how deep is this thing?!"

"Deep enough."

Brian shook his head and searched a bit more.

"Aha! There it is!"

Brian pulled out a large net and gave it to Adrian.

"A-A net?"

"Yep! Should help you out pretty well."

Adrian looked at the net, then at Brian, and back to the net.

"I won't get a Pokeball?"

Brian smiled brightly as he shook his head.

"Now son, don't go thinking you need a Pokeball to catch every Pokemon. Sometimes, you only need to show sincerity and conviction!"

"Huh?!"

Brian thought for a moment and nodded his head.

"My first Pokemon wasn't caught with a Pokeball either. I was too poor to afford one. I had to fight him with my bare hands!"

"Eh?!"

"Of course you would do that."

Brian pouted as he turned to Astrid.

"Hey! We can't all have it easy! I don't have Psychic abilities like you. I couldn't just make friends with him like you did."

"Wait, you mean Aly?!"

Astrid smiled and nodded her head.

"Yep. I just found him one day near our house. He seemed interesting so I tried to talk with him and we talked for a long time. He helped me refine my skills a bit as well. I only put him in a Pokeball a few weeks after we became friends."

Adrian was surprised and turned to his dad.

"Who was your first Pokemon, Dad?"

Brian smiled at his son.

"He was a hard headed runt! And so was I! We got along after we fought a few times and he's been with me ever since."

"Can you show me?!"

Brian sadly shook his head.

"Unfortunately, you're a little too young to see him yet. I don't want him scaring you."

"But!"

"No buts, Adrian. You'll see them eventually."

"....Okay."

Brian smiled wryly as he saw his son look down.

'Can't go against Momma, son. Just be patient.'

"Come on! Don't get down now! We still gotta find a Pokemon for you!"

Adrian pouted, but nodded his head.

"How about we check those bushes over there for something?"

"Okay!"

Adrian now had a fire in his eyes as he followed his Dad.

Astrid shook her head and reached into the bag.

She pulled out a few brand new Pokeballs and shook her head.

'This villain! Always lying to the boy.'

She chuckled as she waited for them. Maybe they would come back with something interesting?

**********

"Okay son! Let me show you how to do it."

Adrian crouched down on the ground like his Dad with his net in hand.

"If you manage to sneak up on a Pokemon, then you only have to aim where they are standing. If they spot you at the last minute, you gotta aim for where they will be."

Adrian nodded his head as his Dad whispered instructions.

"Okay. Let's see what we can find."

The two began to search the brush for Pokemon.

After a few minutes, they heard something!

*Rustle Rustle*

Brian made eye contact with his son and smiled deviously.

Adrian smiled as well and slowly started to creep up on the bush.

"Haa!"

*Swish*

The net crashed through the bush, trapping the Pokemon inside the net!

"Good! Drag it out and let's see what we got!"

Adrian nodded his head and pulled the net with a sweep to trap it in the net.

When he lifted up the net, he finally saw the Pokemon!

It was a grey cat-like Pokemon with purple eyes and blue pupils.

"Es?! Es!"

"Look,Dad! I caught it!"

"Hmmmm...."

Brian frowned for a moment and took the net from Adrian.

"Dad?"

"This one....isn't too good for you."

"Eh?!"

"Es!"

The Espurr in the net started to get angry as it realized it was caught!

"Be quiet for a moment."

An overwhelming aura came out of Brian as he gazed at the Pokemon!

""?!!!""

Adrian could feel his teeth chattering as he was also affected by the gaze, though not as much as the poor Espurr!

"......"

"Good. Let's go show your mother and see what she thinks."

Adrian nodded his head stiffly.

Brian noticed his son seemed strange and soon slapped his forehead!

"Ah! I did it again! Sorry, Adrian!"

His father kneeled in front of him and rubbed his head.

"I-It's okay, Dad! I was just surprised."

".....Good. As long as you're okay."

The two made their way back to the tent and noticed Astrid brought Hatterene out of her Pokeball.

"Ah! You're back. What did you find?"

"Well..."

Brian showed the Espurr to Astrid and saw her frown.

He knew what that meant.

"That's a no then?"

"...."

Astrid extended her hand as her eyes began to glow.

The net in Brian's hand pulled toward her, letting the Espurr drop on the ground.

"....."

Espurr sat motionlessly on the blanket as Astrid stared at it with shining eyes.

Espurr stared back at her and the two gazed into each other's eyes without blinking.

Soon, Astrid stopped and looked at Adrian.

"This one is no good."

"Eh?! Why?!"

Astrid picked up the Espurr and pointed to its ears.

"This Pokemon has a lot of strong psychic power. It can't control it yet, so it's no good. Although I really want you to have it."

Adrian looked a bit confused as he looked at Espurr.

Astrid smiled and explained a bit more for him.

"Remember when you tried to play checkers with Alakazam using your ability?"

Adrian nodded his head.

"Remember how hard it was to move the pieces without destroying the board?"

Adrian nodded once again.

"Espurr here has the same problem, but it can't control it at all. If she was playing, she would just crush everything in the house."

Adrian and Brian stepped back after hearing that.

"Fufufu! Ara ara!? Don't tell me you're scared now?"

Astrid petted the Espurr, much to the Espurr's pleasure.

"I'll take care of this one for now. Try to get another one."

""Yes!""

*************

"Okay! First one was a bust. Let's try a different area. Maybe we'll have better luck."

"Okay!"

Adrian psyched himself up again as he followed his father to another area nearby.

The two began to look around for new prospects until they heard another bush rustling with activity.

Brian and Adrian smiled mischievously as they crept up on the bush.

"...."

As Brian got closer, he started to frown as an uneasy feeling came over him.

He heard other sounds coming from the bush.

He quickly grabbed his son and jumped up to a nearby tree.

"Dad?!"

"Hold on for a moment."

*Bang*

They saw a red figure jump out from the bush being chased by 3 other Pokemon.

Three green dogs with a yellow strip around their faces came out of the bush chasing a child-sized red and black figure.

"Pawn!"

""Grrrr!!""

"Dad. What Pokemon are they?"

Brian nodded as he watched the scene. He was also happy Adrian didn't yell and give up their position.

"Those are Electrike and the other one is a Pawniard."

Pawniard quickly turned around and faced the three Electrike with a savage gaze!

The Electrike slowed down cautiously as they kept their gaze on Pawniard.

'Scary Face. Good decision versus multiple enemies.'

Pawniard's bladed hands began to glow white as it quickly dashed towards the Electrike!

Adrian, who was watching this, suddenly saw everything go dark!

"?!"

"You can't see this."

*Swish Schik Schik*

""Awuuuu!!!""

Adrian heard the cries of the dogs and felt his chest clench.

The battle continued as the last Electrike didn't let the Pawniard catch him off guard!

*Bang Slash Bang Chichichi Schik*

The sounds of battle quickly erupted and ended as Adrian saw nothing, but black.

"Dad."

"It's over now. We can go down."

Brian stood up and jumped down, but still covered Adrian's eyes.

"Adrian."

"Yes?"

"If you get a Pokemon, would you like it to grow strong, or just to be a partner?"

Adrian didn't know why, but he felt this question was important.

He thought for a moment and answered.

"I wanna be strong like you, Dad! I wanna be able to handle myself like you did just now!"

Adrian felt his Dad twitch for a moment before he placed him in front of him.

Adrian saw his Dad's serious face as he was held in place.

"I see. Now Adrian. If you turn around now, it won't be a good sight for you, okay? Just let me handle this and don't look. Understood?"

Adrian looked into his father's blue eyes and nodded.

Brian let him go and watched him for a moment before looking up.

The three Electrike were laying on the ground, covered in blood and wounds. Pawniard laid in the middle with both of his blades extended and a fierce glare in his eyes.

Brian glared back at Pawniard and made the Pokemon shiver.

It was exhausted, but knew it had to fight to survive!

"If you follow me, I can make you stronger."

Brian said to the Pokemon as Adrian watched him with sparkling eyes.

The Pawniard looked at Brian with doubtful eyes, but it still didn't try to get away.

Brian reached into his pocked and pulled out a Pokeball.

He threw it up and behind him, releasing a huge shadow of black and white!

"You see this guy? He was like you too. Look at him now."

Pawniard looked at the hulking Pangoro that looked down at him with disdain.

It shivered for a moment, but soon sharpened its gaze on Brian.

Brian wasn't fazed by this and casually gazed back.

Pangoro wasn't even concerned with the Pawniard and was more interested in the little kid in front of his Trainer.

Pangoro looked between the kid with sparkling, happy eyes and his Trainer. Something clicked as the Pangoro smiled brightly behind Brian.

'Shit! I'll never hear the end of this.'

Holding in a sigh, he asked the Pawniard once again.

"Will you follow me into battle?"

".....Pawn."

The Pawniard dropped his guard slowly and nodded his head.

Brian nodded his head.

"Good. Go clean yourself up at the river. Go watch him, Pangoro. Don't tell the others, alright?!"

"Pan!"

The hulking Pangoro nodded its head, but smiled when Adrian waved goodbye to it.

Brian saw this and had a helpless smile.

'Well, Pangoro is fluffy, so I can get away with him coming out. Not the other ones though.'

Brian sighed and rubbed his son's head.

"Follow me, and don't turn around."

"Okay!"

Brian turned around with his son and started to head back while rubbing his temples.

It seems like this trip has been more productive for them than Adrian.

As his Father walked forward, Adrian quickly turned back and saw the corpses of the three Pokemon and the blood all over the grass.

He turned back without his father noticing and hid his pale face.

Adrian wasn't scared of what he saw, but quickly realized something important.

The look he had now, the look the Ranger had once Brian showed that card. It all pointed to one thing.

'Whatever Dad does as a job is dangerous.'

He felt a newfound respect for his father as they headed back.

It was only after they could see the blanket did he realize he still didn't find a Pokemon!

************

*Pat Pat*

"Eat your food, sweetie. You can still try again later."

"....Okay."

Adrian bit into a sandwich his Mom made as he glanced at Espurr. 

It had become his Mother's Pokemon after they left.

Since his mother's power was a lot stronger than his, she could help Espurr learn to control it's strength.

Add that on to Pawniard making his way to the picnic with shiny, freshly sharpened blades, Adrian was feeling unlucky.

Brian scratched his head as he bit into a sandwich as well. He really didn't expect to get a new teammate.

"I see Adrian knows about Pangoro now."

*Gulp*

"Y-yeah. It got a bit chaotic out there."

Astrid nodded her head as she stroked her son's hair.

(What happened, Adrian?)

Adrian looked at his mother as his eyes started to glow.

Brian felt an uneasy feeling again and looked at the two with great caution.

(We thought we were going to catch another Pokemon, but they were all fighting each other. I think that Pawniard...)

Adrian stopped with a pause and that brought a frown to Astrid's face.

(What did that Pawniard do?)

(I think...he killed those Pokemon.)

Brian felt a chill as he looked up to see his wife glaring at him!

'W-What did I do?!'

(We'll talk later.)

Astrid focused back on her son.

(Did you see it happen?)

(No. Dad covered my eyes and asked me what kind of Trainer I wanted to be. He wanted to know if I just wanted a partner or did I want to be the strongest. I told him I wanted to be strong like him.)

Brian didn't know how, but he felt the uneasy feeling starting to lessen.

(Then what happened?)

(Dad brought us down from the tree and had me facing him while he faced the Pawniard. He told me I shouldn't look at what happened. He then started talking to the Pawniard and brought out Pangoro.)

Astrid smiled as she nodded her head.

(Then you looked back when he was distracted, huh?)

This time, Adrian had an uneasy feeling!

His Mom pinched his cheeks lightly as she smiled.

(Pokemon can be friends, but remember Adrian. They are wild, and unpredictable. You can love them, but always remember that.)

Astrid leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"You're a little young to be seeing something like that. It's good in its own way though. You'll be cautious."

Adrian nodded his head as he finished his sandwich.

"You do need to be punished though. You disobeyed orders. You're not a big kid yet."

Brian heard this and looked at his son in shock!

Adrian had his head down, inspecting the blanket with great interest.

"Oh stop it! I know you did the same at his age."

Brian couldn't look at Astrid as she sighed.

"Anyway, the next attempt must be made on your own. Since you want to be strong, you have to start now."

Adrian grew a bit pale, but still nodded his head. He had to do his best.

He saw Astrid point her finger towards a new location.

"Go there. We can see you from here and that place should have a lot of weaker Pokemon. Should be perfect for you."

"Okay!"

A smile came back on Adrian's face as he grabbed his net and ran off.

Astrid and Brian watched him go off with a smile.

They then both looked at each other and nodded.

Astrid reached into her bag while Brian reached into his pocket.

"Sigilyph!"

"Shiftry!"

*Poof Poof*

Two beams of light flew out of the Pokeballs, turning into a floating, totem-like bird and a humanoid animal with long white hair and a sinister expression.

"Watch Adrian from above and protect him."

"Siii!"

Sigilyph nodded and began to fly off after the boy.

"Shiftry, make sure to protect him from the shadows. He runs into trouble, you handle it and bring him back."

"Keke!"

Shiftry laughed and dashed into the nearby bushes after them.

The two looked at each other again and smiled.

They hoped he would have good luck this time.

**********

Adrian moved just as his father taught him, but couldn't seem to find a Pokemon at all.

'Are they all hiding?'

Adrian looked around and tried to see if any Pokemon were being careless, and found something strange.

'Is that.... an Abra tail?!'

Adrian could see a yellow like protrusion sticking out of a bush and grew excited.

He heard his Mom say that Abra and Kadabra have a tail, but Aly lost it when he evolved again.

'Sweet! Now I just need to sneak up on it!'

Adrian quietly snuck up to the bush.

His hands sweated a bit in excitement as he got his net ready!

He raised it over his head and aimed true!

'Gotcha!'

*Swish*

The net landed over the mystery Pokemon as it was unaware!

The net moved wildly as Adrian grit his teeth and held on.

Once he felt the Pokemon jump up, he swept the net under its feet and raised it off the ground!

He looked at the Pokemon with visible excitement as he finally pulled it out of the bush!

It was then that he froze in shock.

The Pokemon in the net looked strange.

It was a wormlike Pokemon with white fur covering it's head and three yellow horns sticking out from its neck.

Its green eyes looked into Adrian's blue eyes as they were both confused at what the other was.

"Lar?"

"....Yeah. You're not an Abra, huh?"