It’d been a year since Ace graduated from Evergreen Secondary School. A whole year and he’s still stuck in this mart listening to the Silph jingle play on the dot every thirty minutes. He’d try his hardest to ignore it. Company policy wouldn’t let him listen to his ear buds in case a customer had a question while he was stocking and he could only get the pricing gun’s “click” so loud.
“Hmph-- Of course a novice like you would need to buy trainer guides”
Ace peered over the camping gear section Rodney, a kid from a grade below him, chastising a customer with an Eevee on his shoulder who was looking at the various pokemon books and magazines. Ace chewed his gum for a moment and went back to pricing the new selection of tents when he kept hearing Rodney’s voice.
“A book for birds? I suppose it’s perfect for you! Get it? For the bir--”
“Hey. Rodney. What the fuck?” Ace interrupted Rodney and gave him a slight shove at his collar bone. Rodney looked Ace up and down for a moment before he started to laugh in an exaggerated fashion.
“Ace Burnett really rocking the Silph Co. Vest. It even has your name. ‘Hi I’m Ace!’ Hiiiii Ace--” Rodney began joking to himself when Ace takes his price gun and sticks a small sticker saying “clearance” onto Rodney’s forehead.
“Just get the fuck outta here.” Ace told him while using his thumb to point at the door behind him.
“Get a paying customer out of here? Maybe I should speak with your manag--”
“Or speak with my fist!” Ace threatened while holding up his fist. The other guy nervously watched as Ace threatened Rodney. Despite his surprise at the escalating situation his shoulders were still kept relaxed.
“You guys-- could just have a battle or something?” he muttered while holding a couple books.
“Ye-yeah Ace! A battle seems much more appropriate.” Rodney said as he tried to push Ace’s fist down with sweat drops forming above Rodney’s thin eyebrows. Despite him trying to push Ace’s fist down—Ace didn’t budge for ten seconds as he thought it over.
“Fine. Out front-- let’s make a spectacle of this shit.” Ace started out the door and threw his blue workers vest and sticker gun on the counter.
“I’m going on a five.” Ace said pushing open the glass door as a little chimecho themed bell rang. Rodney stood next to the guy he was mocking before Ace interjected and his eevee for a moment when he looked to Rodney and shrugged.
“Shouldn’t you go have your battle?” He said as Rodney scoffed and walked towards the door.
The two trainers stood across from one another by some blue dumpsters in a vacant parking lot. Ace wasn’t overly stern and had seemingly already cooled off a bit just from getting outside. He was stretching a bit before grabbing a pokeball from his front right pocket and tossing it around a bit.
“Too broke for a proper trainers belt?” Rodney said as reached for a pokeball off the backside of his own belt
“Fuck you prick.” Ace spit out his gum against the side of a streetlight. “What are the rules?” Ace asked as the kid from inside came out holding his merchandise from inside. Ace glanced over to the kid and gave a smirk.
“Guess I gotta win. Can’t let this kid think I’m all talk.”Ace thought to himself as he stared down Rodney waiting to hear the rule-set.
“One on one should be enough. You! Bird-Boy! Do us a solid and ref okay?” Rodney says as the brown haired guy and his Eevee stare blankly for a moment.
“Me? You were just--”
“Fuck we don’t need a ref! Tommy-- Let’s Fucking Go!” Ace throws his pokeball releasing a squirtle wearing a black bandana around his neck. He was a little larger than most squirtle and seemed to have some sort of scar on his cheek.
Rodney chuckled momentarily before letting out his own Cacnea. Rodney and Cacnea did a choreographed spin and pointed towards there opponents in tandem.
Rodney started by calling for a leech seed. His Cacnea jumped up and shot seeds towards Tommy the squirtle however Tommy just got into his shell and started spinning, causing the seeds to shoot all over the parking lot with one hitting a street sign and covering it in some branches. Ace called for a rapid spin and Tommy stayed in his shell and started spinning towards Cacnea. Despite Rodney calling for a dodge it was all flare but no technique and Tommy managed to ram Cacnea into the back of the white bricks of the nearby building.
“Cacnea! Use your bullet seed!” Cacnea raised it’s left arm and began shooting it’s quills towards Tommy. Tommy started trying to run away and while the first one landed near his feet, the following two were direct hits and smashed into Tommy’s side. The super effectiveness of the attacks caused Tommy to reel backwards and fall onto the backside of his shell.
“Tommy…..Tackle.” Ace said and Tommy used his tail to push himself back onto his feet. Tommy stood with his right shoulder facing the Cacnea and started side peddling his feet as fast as he could. When Tommy finally closed in on the cactus pokemon he shoulder-bashed it with all his might and slammed Cacnea backwards causing it to do a flip before landing on it’s front-side. It tried to use it’s thorny arms to push itself up but was too beat up from that powerful tackle and passed out.
“Hell yeah Tommy.” Tommy alternated between jumping up and down on one leg to do a little dance while Rodney growled under his breath and returned his Cacnea.
“Alright Rod-- where’s my money?” Ace said as he stepped across the battle field next to Tommy and getting closer to Rodney’s
“Money?” Rodney said in confusion and annoyance clearly being aggravated by being called ‘Rod.’
“Yeah. Pay up. I won.” Ace said and held out his left palm towards Rodney with Tommy mimicking him and letting out a small ‘squirt’ while nodding his head up and down.
“...You should be thankful I don’t tell management how you treated customers. That’s your prize money.”
Rodney turned his back to the parking lot battle field and started walking away. The kid with the eevee looked to Ace whose face was turning slightly red and back to Rodney who was simply walking away.
“YOU LITTLE BITCH! GET BACK HERE!” Ace shifted his weight to his right side and held up his fist towards the direction Rodney was walking. Tommy again mimicked his trainer and held up his fist and started belting out some loud cries ‘Squirt! Squir-squirt!’
“Hey man-- It’s okay” the other guy put both his hands up to try and calm Ace down
“I can just heal up you….umm...Your Tommy. Or maybe buy lunch or something.”
The guy leaned down on one knee and opened up his messenger bag and pulled out the purple-spray bottle and started spraying the spots Tommy got hit by bullet seed.
“There ya go Tommy.” he said with a smile as he stood up and straightened the strap of his bag around his shoulder.
“Thanks man. I never caught your name.” Ace said as he took a good look at this guy. He wore a loose crew neck and skinny jeans. Honestly it all looked like it was Saffron Eternal. The canvas shoes were the final piece to put it all together. Yeah he might’ve been a bit more on the trendy side compared to Ace’s usual buds but he did seem nice.
“Oh, right. Mige. Mige Fjord.” Mige said and gave a slight bow-- more than 10 degrees. Was this dude that formal? His outfit was put together in a very Johto-esque fashion with the looseness of the sweater. Maybe he was from the other side of Arota.
“I’m not your teacher dude. Name’s Ace.” Ace stuck out his hand and Mige grabbed it. Despite his slight demeanor his handshake was pretty solid. Not overly firm like a Saffron native but definitely but the crook of his thumb rested fully against Ace’s. He also made eye contact during the shake-- this guy was definitely from Kanto given that and the accent.
“So you from Cerulean?” Ace asked while searching his back pocket and grabbing a pack of gum. He offered a stick to Mige who raised his hands a bit and shook them to imply he didn’t.
“Yeah-- that obvious?” Mige said with a fluttery tone. He seemed surprised how quickly Ace figured it out.
“Trendy but not in your face trendy. Pale skin. Water proofing on your shoes. An umbrella and travel bug hanging from a carabiner on your bag. Not to mention you have the most neutral dialect around.” Ace gives Mige two pats on the back as he starts heading away from the parking lot
“So what’s this about food?” Ace said looking back at Mige hoping for him to following
“Uhh-- sure but. What about your shift?” Mige asked as he gave himself a look over to see if it was really that obvious where he was from.
“Ahhh fuck it.” Ace said with a grin
The two went back to Ace’s apartment holding a few takeout items. Ace carried in a two-liter and a couple cardboard boxes while Mige had a large pizza pizza box. Ace set the two liter and one of the boxes down on the island style counter while Mige followed and set the pizza down. His Eevee hoped off his shoulder and onto the counter. Ace opened the other box and ate onion rings directly out of the box as he closed the door with his foot.
“Make your self at home.” Ace said as he grabbed Tommy’s pokeball from his pocket after finishing off his first onion ring. He let Tommy out who instantly hoped over to the sofa and gave a hand gesture towards Mige’s Eevee to follow him. The two hoped on the sofa for a bit while Mige sat at one of the stools and Ace leaned against his fridge.
The second story apartment was nice but not the roomiest. It looked like besides the door to the hallway and a door to a washroom it lacked an actual bedroom though it did has a small staircase leading to a loft area overlooking the living area. Ace had a hd tv with a Malatek Force console set up beneath it. His furniture was comfy but definitely battered a bit. What caught Mige’s eye was the desk next to the door to the washroom with all the drawing supplies and pictures hanging on the wall. Mige wandered over to them while holding a slice of pizza.
“So you’re an artist?” Mige asked as he looked at the sketches littering the area.
“What gave it away?” Ace said with his mouth full as he used his off hand to catch all the toppings that fell from his mouth as he ate his slice.
Mige laughed to himself a bit and carefully examined a few of the pieces. He was particularly interested in the watercolor he had hanging up of his own squirtle floating in a pond.
“Squirtles are a pretty rare catch-- were you a starter?” Mige asked as he blew on his pizza to cool it down.
Ace downed what was remaining of his piece and wiped his hands against one another a bit before proceeding to wipe them on his jeans. He poured soda into a nearby mug and walked over to his recliner and sunk into it as Tommy came over and climbed onto the arm of the chair to sit next to him.
“Nah. I applied but didn’t get accepted.” Ace said as he kicked his left leg over the arm of the chair Tommy wasn’t sat on
“I’m sorry…” Mige said quietly as he attempted to take his first bite of pizza before picking off a piece of sauerkraut and giving it a sniff.
“I’m a kraut-head dude-- hope that’s chill.” Ace said before taking a drink big enough that it mostly finished off what he had just poured.
“And it’s alright. I mean I wanna say half my class applied and no one got in. It’s only three in the nation so they’re probably looking for someone who can write an essay a helluvah lot better than me.”
As Ace set down his mug in front of him on the coffee table the wobbley legs shook a bit and scratched against the hardwood floor startling Mige’s Eevee who jumped off the couch and on Mige’s shoulder, interrupting what would’ve been his first bite of pizza.
“I got Tommy when I was hiking near the springs. Kinda a hilly pond area or somethin’ like that. I just went up to draw and say him fucking around and caught him. He’s been my bud ever since.”
Mige didn’t respond and instead just continued to look at the various pieces of art Ace had hanging around his desk. He finally took a bite of his pizza and seemed to really take his time eating. Ace liked to talk but he not as much as he liked people enjoying his drawings. He let Mige observe in peace while he went back to the kitchen and scrolled through his phone for a bit before using an auxiliary cable to play some music. He threw on an album by the Beckoners to see how Mige would react. He didn’t say anything but did catch him tapping his toe a bit-- maybe the guy liked decent music.
“You want me to take you?” Ace said after giving Mige some time to see a variety of Ace’s work.
“Huh?” Mige looked blankly back at Ace as he just finished his piece of pizza.
“To the springs. Where I caught Tommy.” Ace said in a very direct fashion.
“Oh. Yeah that could be cool. When do you wanna go?”
Ace grabbed his bright red jacket off a peg on the back of his front door and threw it on.
“Fuck it. Let’s go now we got some daylight left.” Ace grabbed his backpack and threw in a sketchpad along with a tin full of pencils. He went over to his fridge and grabbed a few cans of beer and threw him in his bag. He went over to the pizza box and grabbed two slices of pizza and folded them against one another before finally motioning for Tommy to follow him.
“Let’s hit it Tommy.” Tommy hopped off the arm of the chair and skipped over to Ace’s side. He stopped for a moment and looked back at the apartment before skipping back to the counter and using his arms to push himself up onto a chair so he could reach a piece of pizza for himself. Tommy bit into the crust side as he climbed down and rejoined Ace’s side.
“Should he…?” Mige asked pointing towards Tommy
“Yeah it’s fine.” Ace said as he started out the door and motioned for Mige and Eevee to follow him and Tommy.
The two trainers and their pokemon hiked up a semi-worn trail outside of city limits. Ace led the way with Tommy walking at his side. Mige managed to keep up well enough. Ace noticed that Mige had wandering eyes like he did. He’d watch the pidgey flying over head or a lone caterpie hidden under some leafs. Ace himself kept his sketch pad out and would occasionally take a few minutes to draw a basic drawing of something to maybe add detail to later. Mige didn’t seem to mind. In fact he’d just stand quietly and either watch the process or watch what Ace was drawing.
The two eventually arrived at the pond. It was a sizable pond surrounded by tall trees and overlooking the trail the two just walked up. The only indication of a nearby city was some old telephone lines in the distance but otherwise it was a very natural area.
Ace went to go find some logs to use as makeshift seating. Tommy followed and tried rolling a log on his own. Ace noticed and laughed loudly before using his foot to help Tommy scoot the log towards the edge of the pond. Ace set up the logs so they were overlooking the pond and set his bag down. He grabbed a couple cans of beer.
“Here ya go.” Ace said as he held a beer towards Mige
“Oh. I’m not 18 yet.” Mige said before Ace quickly retorted
“Nah take it. We’re in the wilderness here.” Ace said and Mige shrugged and grabbed the can of beer.
The two hung out for a while and just watched the ripples in the pond or the leaves blow when a gust of wind came by. Ace intended on learning more about Mige but instead found himself answering more questions. How old he was, when did he graduate, when did he catch Tommy and how does he like Viridian.
That one stuck out to Ace a bit. He stayed behind when his parents moved because he didn’t really want to Alola and leave his friends. That being said most of his friends either went away to university or decided to leave town anyway. The only people left are some other shift workers, some dead beats and asshats like Rodney. Ace didn’t want to be a lifer at the mart.
Ace did want to get to know this Mige guy a bit more though and had him throw on some music of his choice at one point. Ace had V-Plus so his service was pretty shitty outside Viridian and non-existent outside the Tojo District-- but he was close enough to Viridian to still be able to get some music. Mige played something Ace had never heard. It was some real technical sounding music from Johto. Math Rock he called it? Not Ace’s usual jam but he didn’t hate it.
As the two continued to talk a Lotad popped it’s head outta the water and simply watched the two for a while. Ace started drawing him quickly knowing that it could submerge any moment.
“Damn. That’s a cool looking guy.” Ace said before sticking a pencil in his mouth and reaching for another one from his tin, which Tommy was proudly holding up for him.
“That’s a Lotad. Honestly I don’t think there’s usually many around these parts. If you like him you should catch him.” Mige said as Ace continued to draw the Lotad. His eyes didn’t leave his target only occasionally glancing down at his sketch pad. He flung the pencil he was holding with his mouth towards Tommy to catch it. Tommy fumbled a bit but managed to catch the artists tool and throw it in the tin with the others.
“Nah. He is cool-- but this is my way of capturing them. Tommy is just an exception.” Ace said as he took a moment to hold up his drawing in the air and hold it beside the Lotad. Luckily it was still just sat there staring, kind of intensely, at Mige. Tommy took out a small sharpener from the tin and started sharpening the pencil Ace had just flung his way while Ace was busy at work.
“I know that’s a wild concept for a trainer like you-- but I don’t need to catch every pokemon I think is cool. It makes my bond with Tommy a bit less special if I have too many pokemon.” Ace explained and Mige seemed to think deeply about it. He didn’t respond but he did take a few moments to look carefully at his own Eevee after hearing Ace’s thoughts on capturing. The Lotad eventually swam off and Ace made some finishing touches on his picture.
“Ya know you are really good.” Mige said after seeing Ace’s near finished pictures
“Are you sure you don’t want to get some sort of job drawing or something?”
Mige’s remark made Ace laugh a bit.
“It’s not that easy. Kinda like getting accepted as a starter. Sure there’s more than 3 professional artist but-- it’s a real competitive field.” Ace said half assuming Mige had heard things like this already.
“Yeah but you handled that sketch with real finesse. You never took your eyes off that Lotad-- you might be able to get some work as a watcher if--” Mige said before Ace cut him off
“First off I didn’t even know that thing was called a Lotad before you mentioned it. Watcher have to know there stuff don’t they? I can just draw them.” Ace said before taking a big swing of his drink
“I also never got into any art programs. Pretty expensive stuff as it is and like I said; competitive. Lots of people out there-- whether they are a career watcher or doing graphic design have college under their belt and many even went to secondary schools dedicated to it. I’m just a guy who doodled instead of paying attention in class.” Ace said as he stood up and stretched a bit
“Oh…..I’m sorry you feel that way-- but you truly are really good.” Mige thought long before saying his next words and took a sip of his beer.
“I said I’d give the gym thing a shot and am heading to Pewter. The Upper Mountains has lots of different pokemon and landscapes-- you could expand your portfolio a bit and have a variety before sending it out. Do you have any vacation time or something like that?” Mige said without looking at Ace and focusing on the pond as the sunset reflected on the water
“Ha. I’ve used almost all my sick days and some. But I appreciate the offer man.” Ace said as he began laying his sleeping bag on the ground.
Mige stood up and put his hands in his pockets and simply watched the pond for some time. Without saying anything to his Eevee it also stood next to him. The sunset glowed around him for a moment as Ace laid down and pushed his blanket up against a log to prop his head up. Tommy sat next to Ace’s head and pressed his shell against the same log.
“No problem. But imagine how mad Rodney would feel if you did something with your art and he was still sat in his local poke mart and yelling at new trainers.” Mige wandered off with Eevee trotting behind him.
“I’m gonna poke around. Be back before it’s too dark.” Mige said as he wandered towards the forest. For a kid whose been pretty quiet this whole time he seemed pretty serious in that moment. What struck Ace more is he had a point. Even if nothing came from it he’d at least be able to say he tried. Or even that he had gone somewhere outside of Viridian. Ace thought about that for a while before he eventually dozed off for the night.
When Ace woke up he noticed a squirtle running around with Mige’s sweater. At first Ace was simply gonna laugh at Tommy’s antics but then he realized that Tommy was sat right next to him. This was a completely different Squirtle.
“One of your relatives?” Ace asked Tommy who looked up at Ace with a negative nod.
Mige and Eevee chased the squirtle around for a bit trying to get his sweater back without harming it. Ace and Tommy honestly thought it was kind of comical. The little thing was pretty quick to be able to dodge both Mige and Eevee-- it’s not like either of them were slow or out of shape. The two eventually stopped to catch their breath and the squirtle just started giggling and point at them.
“Okay. Okay.” Mige said to himself twice as if he was confirming something. He exhaled deeply once and threw a pokeball from his belt at the squirtle before it could even react. The ball shook for a bit beneath the cloth of Mige’s sweater before a slight ‘ping’ sound could be heard. Mige walked over and picked up the ball and his now dirt-covered sweater.
“I suppose I could just release them” Mige said looking between the ball and his sweater in confusion
“I know I’ll contradict myself but-- squirtles are a pretty good catch bud.” Ace said as he looked to Tommy who looked back at Ace with a big smile
“I suppose you’re right.” Mige said as he shook his sweater a bit to try and get some dirt off and surrounding himself in a dust cloud in the process.
Mige, Ace, Eevee and Tommy all started back to Viridian. Ace told Mige he could use his apartment to clean up a bit. While Mige was showering and drying his clothes Ace thought more about what Mige said.
“Fuck it.” Ace said to himself as he grabbed a couple changes of clothes, some sketching supplies, what little food and beer he had in his fridge and some basic camping supplies and packed up his backpack. He set his bag on the counter and started going through some of his favorite drawings and sorted them in a folder to keep with him. When Mige emerged from the washroom he saw Ace leaning on the counter waiting for Mige to get done.
“Well-- we gonna hit the road or what?” Ace said as he threw Mige his sweater.
Mige gave Ace a confirming nod as the two left his apartment with Ace stopping in the doorway to look inside for a bit knowing he might be gone for a couple weeks. Ace locked the door and the two left his apartment building.
“So-- don’t you need to like call your job or do anything else in Viridian before we leave?” Mige asked as the two headed north towards the Viridian Forest
“Nah. Fuck Viridian.” Ace said with Tommy letting out an exciting cry in response. With that Mige, Ace, Eevee and Tommy left Viridian City towards a series of new adventures.
