Chapter 003 | Rejection?

'I have never seen such a status before.'

Arthur who stayed calm even in the most tedious situations was not able to hide his shock and excitement seeing the status of his Charmander.

It was because the aptitude of his Charmander was purple. It was the first time he was seeing this aptitude in a Pokemon. So, his excitement was justified.

Aptitudes were the innate talent and potential of a Pokemon and they go from White, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, red and black from bottom to top. Charmander's aptitude was purple, making him one of the strongest starter Pokemon.

One can say that it was not so strong as it was the third strongest aptitude, not the strongest, but it should be noted that wild Pokemons are mostly yellow and orange.

If one looks deeper, they can find some with green or blue aptitude, but they are really hard to catch and new trainers can't even dream of catching one.

Moreover, Arthur himself has never seen a Pokemon with purple aptitude. The highest was a Tauros with blue aptitude and that Tauros belonged to none other than Professor Oak.

That means, the purple aptitude was really a rare one.

'Let's check what moves you know.'

Arthur calmed his excitement down and opened the full status of his Charmander.

In an instant, a translucent window that only he can see appeared in front of him, containing all the information about his Charmander.

* * *

Pokemon: Charmander (Purple) (Evolution Possible)

Gender: Male

Level: 5

Type: Fire

Holding items: None

Ability: Blaze (Make fire moves stronger when HP is low.)

Moves: Growl, Scratch, Ember, Dragon tail

* * *

Arthur quickly read through the series of detailed data in front of him and his eyes shined more and more. He wasn't much surprised that Charmander knew a dragon type move as he had already expected something like this because of his aptitude.

He just took a deep breath and let himself calm down.

It looked like his journey would be easier than he had thought, at least in the earlier stages. At that moment, Professor Oak's voice rang out from behind.

"Now that you all have gotten your starter Pokemons, let me give you the Pokedex and your pokeballs."

Arthur finally realised that he was still in the lab and turned back with a little embarrassment. He had gotten too excited because of his Charmander's purple aptitude.

The trainer ceremony hasn't ended yet.

Soon, all three of them received their Pokedexes. It was a red coloured rectangular device that not only only contained all information about Pokemon, but it also worked as an ID.

As their trainer license and other details were in the Pokedex, it was far too valuable.

The next thing was pokeballs and it was also really important as without it, one can't catch Pokemon.

'With this, I'm finally a trainer.'

Arthur thought as he put the pokeballs and the pokedex in the pockets of his jacket.

"You all are smart enough to understand the value of being a trainer. So, I won't say much. Just be careful in the wild as it is far more dangerous than you can think and if you are planning to challenge the gyms, you should start from Pewter city, but before that, remember to register yourself in Viridian city for the Indigo league..."

Professor Oak talked a little more about the complexities of being a trainer and how they should treat their Pokemon.

After all that was over, they were finally allowed to leave the lab.

"Hey, Arthur, let's have a battle as we finally have our own Pokemon." Gary said as soon as the three of them left the lab.

His eyes were burning with intensity as he looked at Arthur. Gary was beaten by Arthur in studies since childhood and because of that, he always thought of him more as a rival than a friend.

Now that both of them were trainers, he wanted to have a battle to decide who was better.

But…

"I'm sorry I'm not interested."

Arthur rejected his battle invitation.

'I would be a fool to battle you now. I haven't even trained my Charmander and you clearly have the type advantage.'

He wasn't a fool to accept a match where he would most likely lose. He had earlier checked both Squirtle and Bulbasaur aptitude and had found that both of them were also purple.

It meant that his Charmander won't have that much of an advantage.

"Are you too scared to fight me and my Squirtle?" Gary clicked his tongue and said.

"Think it however you like. I don't care."

"I never knew you were a coward. When did you decide to become a wimp?"

Gary asked with an annoying smirk on his face, but Arthur ignored him completely. The best way to deal with him was to ignore him - That's what he had learned from his experiences with him.

And like he had thought, Gary soon turned around and left.

"Sigh, he's still a handful."

Leaf sighed and shook her head, hoping that Gary would one day become more mature. She looked up at Arthur and asked, "Are you going to visit your parents before leaving?"

"No, I will be leaving directly from here. What about you, Leaf?"

"Um, I will visit my mom and show her my Bulbasaur." She said, glancing at the starter Pokemon she has chosen.

Despite saying that, Leaf didn't move to leave for her home. She kept looking at Arthur and he soon realised that there was something in her mind.

As he knew her from childhood, he knew all about her and didn't hesitate to ask.

"You want to say something?"

"Um… Yeah."

"What is it?"

"Well, I was hoping that… me… and… you… you can travel together. You know how it's really hard to manage in the wild and it's better if there's someone to rely on… You know what I mean, right..?"

Leaf asked while fidgeting her fingers. A deep shade of red appeared all over her face as she felt like she would die out of embarrassment. She finally said the words she wanted to say for a long time.

But Arthur's response was not what she had expected.

"I'm sorry, but well, i think I want to travel alone."

Arthur inwardly frowned as he said those words out. He obviously knew about the sort of feelings Leaf has for him and he didn't hate the sound of it.

Rather, he liked it.

No one would hate being liked by a pretty, kind girl and Arthur was the same. He even enjoyed being with Leaf, but he was currently focusing more on his goal.

'I can't take Leaf with me. It's far more efficient to travel alone.'

He thought as he awaited a response from her who had frozen hearing his response.