We all walked out of the town hall together although I'm pretty sure we had no intention of going our journyes as a group. Lucas was already walking ahead, holding the Turtwig's pokeball tight in his fist. Barry, meanwhile, looked a lot more cheery and relaxed and I was preparing for more annoying behavior from him.

He held up the Piplup's pokeball and scoffed. "I don't know what that professor is talking about. He's talking like Pokemon have feelings!" He laughed and starting tossing it absentmindedly, like he was throwing a toy around. "I mean, connecting with Pokemon? Why would we do that if they're just going to die?"

Lucas sighed and turned around, a small smirk on his face. One of his hands went to his hip and he glared at Barry with such a look of superiority I almost anted to get angry on Barry's behalf. Almost. "If you train them properly they won't die. But you're right, there's no point in getting connected to them. They're just tools. It's probably just something they say so that we can 'grow' on our journies."

He turned and began striding away from the two of us, hands in his pockets, looking so cool that I wanted to stop existing on the spot. I couldn't believe that people like him actually existed in this world. "I'm just going on this journey for the money. You know how rich the winners come back."

Without another word, he sped up and began to run towards the edge of the town. Obviously eager to start training his Turtwig right away. I scowled. He was an asshole and a jerk. I hoped that I wouldn't be running into him at all during the journey.

Suddenly I felt a weight on my shoulder and Barry was pulling me in close without any warning, an arm wrapped around my shoulders. "So if looks like it's just you and me, Silver! So, watcha say? Do you want to head off together?"

Oh god, as if I would ever go on any kind of trip with the most annoying person in my life. I pushed against his side and pulled away with a grimace. "As if. I wouldn't keep up with you anyways."

Barry gave me a wide smile and continued to toss the Piplup's pokeball around. "Nah, I wouldn't say that! I think we'd have a lot of fun! It'd just be fast pace, you know!" He began to run in place and I honestly couldn't tell if he was just trying to mimic how "fast-pace" it would be or if he was really excited to be off. But it seemed that the scowl on my face was finally getting through to him so he stopped running and throwing the Pokeball around. "Alright, have it your way. But as soon as I've trained up my Piplup we're going to have a battle and I'm going to fine you a million dollars if you lose!"

I didn't even have a chance to say anything about it before he turned around and sped off in the direction that Lucas had gone. He shouted something back to me but I didn't hear it. Besides, I wasn't even listening. I was suddenly hit by a feeling that I couldn't describe. It was like I was standing at the bottom of a chasm with nothing below me and everything above me. All I had was the Pokeball in my hand to take me to the top.

I couldn't go home. I wanted to but I knew that my mom didn't want me there. I knew she wanted me out in the world, training and making money.

The first step I took them was so difficult I was surprised that my body moved at all. I was facing the direction that Lucas and Barry had disappeared to and every step took my closer and closer to this new life and farther away from the old one. It could have taken me a few minutes, maybe an hour, or even a lifetime to finally reach the edge of town. I wanted to look back. I could feel my neck beginning to turn but I stopped myself. I was on a new path now. I forced myself to look forward and left Twinleaf behind me.

...

I made sure to put at least a little bit of distance between me and my hometown before I stopped and let the Chimchar out of its pokeball. It looked up at me with concern in its eyes and it backed away just a little bit. I frowned and leaned down to pick it up but fear flashed in its face and it jumped back, out of my reach. I knew it wouldn't run away - it wasn't exactly a secret that Pokemon couldn't physically disobey their masters once they were captured, but I was still a little put off that it didn't trust me. Then again, I couldn't blame it. It probably knew it was about to be made to fight by a trainer. And it probably knew that Pokemon died a lot on these journeys. A lot.

I sighed and shoved the backpack off my shoulders and tossed it on the ground. I sat myself down in front of the Chimchar, giving it a hard stare. She took another step back as if preparing for a lash but I just needed to clear up this air right here and right now. "Okay, so, I know you don't trust me. And you probably don't want to go on this journey and honestly I don't want to either. But we're in this together now, alright? We're gonna get nowhere if you're scared of me." I don't know why I was talking to it, I was always told that Pokemon were dumb creatures, but I liked to believe that they had some semblance of understanding. And, to my surprise, the Chimchar, after a moment of hesitation, gave a small nod and shuffled forward.

"Sorry," it whispered, "I'm just a little scared."

It took me a second to register that this Pokemon had, in fact, spoken to me. My jaw dropped open with shock. Was this real? Did this Pokemon just talk to me? Were they always able to talk?! "Uh, did you just talk to me?"

Surprise lit the Chimchar's face and it got closer, apparently forgetting its fear all of a sudden. "Y-you...you can understand me?!"

I nodded, speechless.

The Pokemon gasped and stepped back, its eyes wide with surprise which began to slowly shift to one of relief and respect. "I...I'm happy, then, that I was given to you. You don't know how frustrating it is to talk to people that don't know you're talking."

Did that mean that nobody else understood Pokemon? Was I the only one? No, that couldn't be right. There had to be other people in the world that understood Pokemon. Maybe Barry did. Or...

"Wait, could Professor Rowan understand you?"

The Chimchar nodded. Suddenly, things began to make sense. You will succeed if you understand who is fighting for you. He understood them easily so it wasn't a problem. But for Barry and Lucas, who, I guessed, couldn't understand a thing, it would be more difficult. They thought that Pokemon were dumb creatures, incapable of feeling or independent thought. Who followed their masters command because the mechanism of the pokeball forced them to do so. And after what they had said after leaving the town hall, I knew that there was no chance that they were even going to try.

What a depressing thought.

The Chimchar's voice broke me out of my thoughts. "So, um, are we still going to train? Are you going to make me fight?"

I looked down at her and was filled with an emotion I had thought long forgotten and abandoned. She was looking at me with such intense fear and anxiety that I didn't even know what to say. I pitied her because I had to do this journey but she would be the one taking all the weight.

I sighed and reached out my hand. She flinched under my touch but quickly relaxed as I rubbed the course hair on her head. "Yeah. But don't worry, I'll make sure things go well. We'll both get strong. I promise."

She nodded, the fear draining a bit from her eyes. She quivered under my stroke and I knew she was still scared by we shared a moment of understanding. There was no avoiding this so we might as well do the best we could.

I let the moment last for a bit before I stood and swung the backpack over my shoulders again. "Alright, well then we better get going. I don't really feel like calling you Chimchar, though, so, if it's okay, I'll give you an actual name."

The Chimchar's eyes widened with surprise again. "W-what? You're going to give me a name?"

I didn't really know what to expect from her reaction but I certainly didn't expect tears to collect in the corner of her eyes and for a wide smile to spread across her face. "O-oh, yes, I would love it if you named me."

She suddenly leaped forward and grabbed the side of my jeans. It took her only a couple of seconds to climb up the length of my body, twisting her path over my back, before settling on my shoulder. The tears were now beginning to roll down her face, sheer happiness on every feature. "Call me whatever you want!"

I turned my head to try and look at her and realized that I kind of liked the feeling of her weight and warmth on the crook of my neck. It felt like it had been a very long time since I had last smiled so when the corners of my mouth began to rise, my muscles groaned in protest. It was a weak smile but one that was so natural that I didn't even care. "Okay, then. I'll call you Caela."

Caela has joined the team!

Female Chimchar, level 5

Lonely Nature

Shorter chapter but I wanted to get through this so I could get to this AN. If you don't like foul language and haven't come here to harass me, you can skip the next two paragraphs.

I'm here to write a Nuzlocke story because I wanted to make a webcomic but I just can't draw people. Nothing is going to stop me from writing this story so if you've come here to try and 'chase me away' like you're apparently doing to a lot of other people, then you can just fuck off. It's not going to work and I have better things to do then read and respond to your shitty comments. After this I won't even bother responding. I have been given a list of names of trolls and bullies and if one of you comment anything besides valid criticism or polite comments then its an instant block.

I don't care that you think Nuzlockes make bad stories. Obviously you don't know that Nuzlocke CAME from a webcomic. Or you haven't read the MANY webcomics made from Nuzlocke runs. Personally, mine is inspired by Chiaki's Nuzlocke and the mechanics of that world. (I highly suggest you take a look - it's very well made) I don't care that you don't like my way of writing the story. Coming up with shit as I go is the way I do things and it works better for me. Besides I'm not dumb enough to dive right in without having an IDEA of what the overall plot is going to be. And I don't care that you think my first chapter is boring. "Start where your plot starts." Water is wet. What do you think the first chapter was for? And for all of your dumb "grammatical" comments, you should really know what you're talking about before you start saying that shit. This is the one and only time I will be replying to you.

To all of the people that have sent me messages about the bullies, I really appreciate it. But I do have like 3 and I don't need any more lol. Also, I don't really want to get roped up in all this dumb drama so I would appreciate it if it stays off my reviews now. Thanks for the heads up, but I can take it from here.

Anyways, sorry for getting nasty there for a moment, but I really can't stand people that harass and bully because they've got nothing better to do. I'll still be writing this story with all of my heart. The main character, Silver, is meant to be a personification of me so I will be taking this seriously. This story will be personal.

Thank you for reading if that's what you came here to do! Thank you for leaving if you came here to be rude! If you like my stuff feel free to favorite or follow or leave a review if you're not an asshole!