Alvin~Outskirts of Numera Hills
After saying his farewells to Lian, Alvin started walking with Torchic past the exit of Numera Town. The Torchic seemed energetic to be out an about, and Alvin couldn't help but feel energized as well. He stretched and took a deep breath, taking in the scenery. This was where his journey would begin, at long last. Then Alvin thought of something. He found an area a few yards from the entrance to sit down at, then he rummaged through his backpack for something. Alvin pulled out an old hat, one that his grandfather had given him when he was very little. It was a treasured artifact to Alvin, and he wore it on his head with pride. While Alvin was busy, Torchic swiftly scurried up his back to get onto his shoulder so that they could enjoy a walk. However, Alvin gently grabbed him and put him on the ground, saying
"Heh, cute guy. I need you to be down here so that we can both search for some new friends." Then he added, more to himself
"And besides, I don't want to get smacked by the nearest Pidgey if you're on my shoulder."
His mind turned towards figuring out what Pokemon to get. To make his journey easier, he believed, it was probably best if he used relatively common Pokemon for most of the trip, as they tend to be more on the docile end of the spectrum. Sure a Salamence or something would be ludicrously powerful, but why go through the headaches associated with a destructive dragon type when other, safer Pokemon would suit the job just fine? Of course, the easiest route would be to just rummage around the Hills until he had a team of five normal types + Torchic, but then his team would have some rather glaring weaknesses. What if the treasure guardian was a ghost type? He'd need a balanced team of Pokemon, ones that could fill different roles so that there wouldn't be any glaring weaknesses. Still, one Normal type probably wouldn't hurt the team at all. That just led to one question, what Normal type would be suitable?
No sooner had Alvin thought that than he received his answer in the form of a Pokemon cry. "Pup!" came a voice from the tall grass. Suddenly, a small puppy Pokemon jumped out of the grass.
Alvin smiled and said
"Aha! That's one pokemon that I think I can---wait what are you doin----" The Lillipup slammed into Alvin with a Tackle attack, knocking him off his feet.
"Ow!" he exclaimed. He got up, then said
"Torchic go and...uh do something?" Realizing that he had no clue what moves Torchic had, he pulled out his Pokenav. But not before Torchic, desperate to "do something" headbutted the Lillipup...or at least tried to. The Lillipup dodged it with ease, causing Torchic to careen into a wall. Alvin, rather worried, said
"Torchic! Are you okay?" He then shook his head, he needed to get used to Torchic being in some pain; that was the point of Pokemon Battling after all. Alvin's Pokenav then loaded up the moves that Torchic had. Perusing through the list, Alvin mused
"Lesee...Scratch, Growl...that's it?! Bah, no matter." He raised his voice so that Torchic could hear
"Torchic, use Scratch on this puppy!"
Torchic, having recovered from the shock, leapt into action and scratched Lillipup's face. Lillipup, in response, tackled the Torchic. Alvin looked for some other options, but with Torchic's movepool being rather...let's say barren at the moment, he saw no response other than to keep telling Torchic to keep scratching the Lillipup. Soon enough, Lillipup looked rather tired from the beating, and Torchic had shown that he was quite the resilient little chick. Seeing an opportunity, Alvin grabbed a Pokeball and threw it at the Lillipup...
And missed by a country mile.
"Oh for...my aim still hasn't improved has it?" Alvin said sorrowfully. Then he sent out another command
"Torchic, try to hold Lillipup in one place so that your trainer can capture him." Torchic, seeming to understand, used his biggest asset to pin down the Lillipup, his feet, pounding Lillipup into the ground and keeping him there. For a few moments, the Lillipup and Torchic struggled with each other; but Alvin was soon able to get close enough so that even he couldn't miss, then tossed the Pokeball at Lillipup. Relieved, Torchic stepped back, hoping that the Pokeball would capture. It rocked back and forth...back and forth again...back and forth again, then Alvin heard a click sound!
"...Did I do it?" he asked himself. He prodded the Pokeball, wondering if it might somehow explode on him right there and then. Fortunately, it did not, he had successfully captured Lillipup! Alvin struck a pose and yelled
"Yah! I caught Lillipup!" Torchic gave him a look, to which Alvin replied
"Heh, don't mind me, just enjoying mi---our---moment of triumph. Anyways, let's get back to the Pokemon Center and get you and him healed up, all right?" Torchic chirped weakly, clearly its first battle had taken a toll on it. No doubt it was unused to battling after being cooped up in the lab for so long. Feeling some empathy for the little guy, Alvin placed Torchic on his shoulder and said
"There there little guy, let me walk you over there."
The duo walked to the Pokemon Center, Torchic smiling all the way.