o1. Willowcove Village

[Sleigh Bells Fan]

Chad turned around and looked at his blank computer screen, a bit unsure as to whether he should keep talking or not. He’d already done himself in he knew when he mentioned his father. If Kadaj was anything like he suspected, he’d probably want to know a little bit more about the old man which Chad couldn’t talk about without shedding a tear or two. As tough as he seemed, Chad had a soft spot for his beloved father. He didn’t know how his mother was doing, nor did he care since the divorce, so his father was his only person of interest growing up. It was just hard bringing him up in a conversation because every time he did, Chad remembered how helpless he felt watching his father die so slowly because of the cancer he’d been cursed with.
Chad wasn’t a very religious person, but he sometimes asked god why he would take such a wonderful man from this earth, it just wasn’t fair. “No, I guess we haven’t talked about our pasts.” Chad was suddenly in no mood for small talk, even if it was for the sake of getting Kadaj through this rough time, but luckily, it seemed like Kadaj was the one who wanted to talk about his past, so Chad sighed in relief because he knew he’d be better at listening then speaking.
The story didn’t last long though before Poochyena started waking up. Quickly, Chad spun his chair around so that he could watch the Poochyena and see what it would do next. It appeared as though the Pokémon was a bit calmer than it had been earlier when it was fighting Nincada, but then again, maybe it was still just waking up. Chad didn’t want to give it the chance to get a surprise attack in, so he kept his guard up, at least up until Kadaj started petting his Pokémon, then he let his guard down a little in relief.
He smiled warmly to himself as Kadaj whispered to his Pokémon, it was really nice to see the two getting along, but then again, Chad didn’t know how they acted outside of that battle they had. If he had to guess though, he would say that Poochyena was a bit feistier than it was now. “Nice to see the two of you getting along so well. I would bring out Nincada, but I don’t think it would mingle so well with you two right now, not after that battle anyways.” Chad stood up and walked over to the doorway before turning back to Kadaj with a smile on his face. “We still need to get through the route to the next city. We should probably leave now if we want to get there before into it turns into night. I would really hate to stay in this town another night.” Chad looked at the wooded floor for a moment in a depressed state before snapping back to reality. “I’ll give you two a couple more minutes alone, I’ll be by the door.” Chad waved to the two of them before walking down the hall and through the entrance of the house.

Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ┆┆Willowcove Village (His Home) ___Ｐｏｋｅｍｏｎ_ｏｎ_ｔｅａｍ┆┆Nincada⇢Lvl. o6 ✖_

 

[Sleigh Bells Fan]

Chad smiled as Kadaj made his way to the front of the house. It seemed like a big wave had been lifted off of Chad, even though that Poochyena wasn’t even his. Perhaps this was the bond that all trainers shared. Even though they were against each other and rivals, they still looked out for one another and worked as a team to get things done. Chad shrugged off this little theory he’d only just come up with and decided to refocus himself onto the task now at hand which was getting through their first route. That wouldn’t be too much of a problem since Chad had an ally now, one he considered rather trustworthy, even if he was a little vein and only cared about himself and maybe his Pokémon, but that was debatable.
Chad walked out of his home and would wait for Kadaj to come out as well before he locked the door and set his sights to the end of Willowcove where the route began. Naturally, there would probably be a bunch of baby Pokémon that they could try and catch to build up on their team, and since they weren’t raised in captivity, they would present more of a challenge in terms of being obtained.
Chad stepped down the sidewalk, waiting for Kadaj to follow behind. Since Poochyena was out of its pokeball, Chad decided it would probably be best to keep Nincada in its pokeball since Chad didn’t know how the two would be able to handle each other. He’d noticed that Poochyena was acting rather slow compared to how it had acted earlier when they were battling, but then again, Poochyena wasn’t Chad’s Pokémon, so he couldn’t be exactly sure if this was how it acted on a regular basis. With nothing better to do while passing the time as they walked to the gates of the town, Chad decided to talk about small things such as goals as a trainer. “Alright then, so we’re both trainers, I’d figured that from the way you fought compared to the girl with a Sewaddle.” Chad recalled a fight earlier that involved a Sewaddle and Scyther. He could tell from how the Sewaddle used string shot that it was more for appeal that it was in terms of effectiveness. “So are you planning on going all the way to the elite four with this thing?” Chad pointed to the Poochyena and smiled after he did so. “I heard Ninjask are one of the fastest Pokémon out there. I think we’re going to make it pretty far.” Chad then shrugged as though he didn’t have much else to say other than what was just said. “We should probably catch a Pokémon on the first route, but I don’t know yet. I think that would be a good idea.” Chad smiled warmly but didn’t look at Kadaj as he spoke. He found it much easier to think about what to say next when he wasn’t looking at the person he was talking to. It was almost like he was talking to himself sometimes.

Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ┆┆Willowcove Village (His Home) ___Ｐｏｋｅｍｏｎ_ｏｎ_ｔｅａｍ┆┆Nincada⇢Lvl. o6 ✖_

 

[Sleigh Bells Fan]

Chad was approaching the entrance of the village, although he was a bit reluctant to walk faster. On one hand, he’d be closer to freedom and being away from all the memories he’d created with his father here, but on the other hand, he’d be getting rid of everything he’d known and loved. It just kind of seemed like anything Chad would do at this point could potentially be a mistake in the future. However, there was something inside of him that kept telling him that he should probably just go since he wouldn’t be in the alone. No, he would have Kadaj and all his flaws that made him rather interesting. Chad would be lying though if he said he didn’t imagine strangling him once or twice. Already though they’d been through a lot, well, maybe not so much now that Chad thought about it. They would be creating a lot of memories together though along the way and the last thing Chad wanted to do was bail out and make himself look like a total loser in front of Kadaj.
Chad silently listened as Kadaj spoke about himself and what he planned on doing with his life. It was pretty interesting listening to the rabble that Kadaj spat out as he spoke about himself and all these perfect plans that would come into the reality of things, so long as he became a trainer and somehow became strong enough to take out all the gyms, the elite four, and then the ultimate champion. Chad honestly didn’t have such high-rolling plans. “My plans are to just get through this thing alive and happy. I want to settle down once I’m done with this journey, maybe raise a family or something, I honestly don’t know at this point, but if I had to guess as to where my road would take me, I’d say it’d probably take me straight back here at the end of it all.” Chad turned to look at Kadaj only after he had finished speaking. As usual, he stared off into space as he spoke the first time because he didn’t like basking in his well-prepared speech. He always seemed to be the kind of guy that rehearsed these things though because everything came out so smooth.
“I don’t really have any back-up plans though if things don’t work out. I mean, I could just stay at my house I live in now, but the whole point of this journey is to get away from that.” Chad bit his lips, forcing himself not to suggest that Kadaj could move into his home if things didn’t work out because Chad would probably end up going crazy living with a guy who fell in love with the mirror all the time. The two wouldn’t probably mesh at all if living in the same place. Kadaj was pushing the envelope by just going on a journey with Chad. Although Chad was the one who asked in the first place. “I know, my story isn’t so awesome. By the way, you never really told me anything about your past. Where did you come from?”

Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ┆┆Willowcove Village [Street] ___Ｐｏｋｅｍｏｎ_ｏｎ_ｔｅａｍ┆┆Nincada⇢Lvl. o6 ✖_

 

[Sleigh Bells Fan]

It was apparent by the way Kadaj answered his question about the orphan situation that he didn’t really want to talk about it, which in all honesty Chad could understand and respect. If anything, he kept a few secrets of his own because he wasn’t a big fan of revealing all his truths as well. “An orphan huh?” Chad’s voice drifted as he looked around. They were still a little further from the village entrance than they had planned for at this point in time, but Chad didn’t really mind it. He was kind of enjoying the time he got to spend talking to Kadaj about his life. He’d never met an orphan before, well, one that he’d be spending the coming months with anyways. It could be an awesome experience in the end. “Awesome, okay.” Chad took in a breath before deciding to say a little bit more about himself, “I had a father but not a mother. She kind of went off the deep end and we had to pack up and move.” Chad shrugged and looked down at the Poochyena, somewhat relieved to notice that Kadaj had acknowledged that his Poochyena was acting somewhat strange.
“So do you really think that you’re that good looking to where you have to mention it every five minutes, or do you just like annoying other people with that kind of stuff?” Chad laughed, feeling a bit more comfortable with asking the questions that he might not like the answers to since after all, they would be travelling together.

Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ┆┆Willowcove Village [Street] ___Ｐｏｋｅｍｏｎ_ｏｎ_ｔｅａｍ┆┆Nincada⇢Lvl. o6 ✖_

Okieee! ^^  

[Sleigh Bells Fan]

There was some sense to be made from what Kadaj had just said. When it came down to it, there shouldn’t have been a reason for Chad to be angry with what Kadaj was saying. Chad liked his own body and it wasn’t that he was jealous of Kadaj because he had a nice body, but because he seemed so happy and care-free. Chad was envious of the way Kadaj could carry himself so highly and not have a single care in the world about what else was going on, but now that Chad knew Kadaj was an orphan, he wasn’t sure if Kadaj was even luckier or just more cursed. It’s true that he’d never have the love of parents, but he’d never have the woe of losing them either like Chad had lost his father. “I guess I never thought of it that way. I guess I underestimated you.” Chad smiled and then shook his head in slight disbelief for the sucker he’d become. “Well, could you stop doing that around me? I do have some of my own issues and I don’t need a reminder that you look good every five minutes.” Chad followed Kadaj’s laugh with a laugh of his own that was aimed at the same subject.
Chad had finally realized that Kadaj seemed to be a nicer guy than he was letting on, but the fact that Kadaj didn’t do anything to make himself kinder was still a fact on all its own. Maybe though, just maybe, Chad would be able to make Kadaj’s true colors come out over the course of their journey together.

Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ┆┆Willowcove Village [Street] ___Ｐｏｋｅｍｏｎ_ｏｎ_ｔｅａｍ┆┆Nincada⇢Lvl. o6 ✖_