Saltydkdan Friendlocke Season 1 (Netflix Adaptation)

Small Town Littleroot

Derek sighed as he sat on one of the boxes piled in the moving truck, bouncing slightly on every bump in the dirt road. "Wow, I can't believe mom put me in the back of the moving truck," he joked, trying to lighten the mood in the darkness of the truck.

Just as he was about to say another snarky comment about how stupid this was, the truck stopped on a sudden halt, flinging him off the box and onto his face. "Ow..." he grumbled, using the side of the truck to stand back up and rub his sore, green nose.

The Machoke that was helping the moving guy opened the back of the truck, and Derek hopped out with a small grunt, his feet landing on the first solid ground he felt since he said goodbye to Cheren and Bianca back in Unova. "Wow, I can't believe I'm touching grass. I never expected this, since I, ya know, never leave the house," he chuckled to himself, looking at the Machoke for a reaction.

The Machoke just grabbed a box from the back of the truck and went inside of his new house, causing him to sigh. "No one respects culture in Hoenn. I don't know why we're here," he grumbled, kicking the truck wheel. At least in Unova, the Pokemon had some class. Derek turned to head inside his 'new home,' grumbling, when his mother came bursting out of the door, making a beeline to her son.

"Yo, yo, Derek honey," she said, placing her hands on his shoulders, "Did you know that Professor Birch is hot as FUCK?!" she exclaimed, causing Derek to laugh. At least she still has a sense of humor, he thought.

"Who's Professor Birch, mom?" He asked.

"The guy who lives next door, didn't you see him as we drove up - oooooh, right, back of-"

"-The moving truck. Yes, exactly. Not like they had a window back there, ya know?" He responded, his mother giggling.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know, sweetie. Why don't you go explore the neighborhood, make some friends! I'm sure you'll find something out there," she said, pushing down Derek's hat playfully before she disappeared back into the house.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go do that," he mumbled to himself, readjusting his white cap as he went to explore Littleroot.

After breaking into all of the houses and assessing that there was absolutely nothing of use in the small town, besides some old lady who was going to pay him to mow her yard (his initial reaction was "What yard?!" but decided not to ask further unless he wanted to lose out on 20 pokebucks), Derek was starting to head home when he heard screaming.

"HELP! SOMEBODY, HELP ME!"

"God damn it, plot," he cursed, as he walked towards the sounds of the screaming. What, you think he was going to run? Hell no.

When he reached the source of the screaming, he saw a pudgy man in a lab coat running in circles from a Zigzagoon. "Oh, hey, it's the hot guy mom told me about!" He exclaimed, going off assumptions as he approached the screaming professor.

Birch noticed Derek, and started waving him over. "HEY, YOU THERE! HELP ME!" he screamed, Derek wincing at the volume, "IN MY BAG! THERE'S A POKEBALL!" Birch pointed to a ratty brown messenger bag sitting in the grass not very far from Derek.

"Got it, Mr. Professor Sir," Derek said, approaching the bag and kneeling beside it in the grass, opening it to reveal three, shiny Pokeballs, each labeled with cheap Walmart labels:

Treecko the Wood Gecko Pokemon

Torchic the Chick Pokemon

Mudkip the Mud Fish Pokemon

Derek's hands hovered over the Pokeballs, unsure which one to grab.

"HURRY!" Professor Birch screamed.

"Don't rush me! God," Derek groaned, rolling his eyes as he grabbed one of the Pokeballs at random and stood up. A few quick strides and he was infront of the big, bad Zigzagoon. Opening up the Pokeball, revealed...

The Mudkip.

"Sweet! I got the best one," Derek cheered.

"Where am I?" The Mudkip whimpered, turning to face Derek. "Who are you?!"

"I'm your Trainer, now. Name's Derek," he said, seemingly proud of the new title.

"Oh, um...okay! I'm Tracey!" The Mudkip exclaimed with nervous enthusiasm.

"Okay, Tracey, I'm going to need you to kill this Zigzagoon," Derek said, pointing at said Pokemon with determination.

Tracey nodded, getting into a defensive stance. "I'll try my best!" She exclaimed as the fight started, Derek's mind loosing all focus on everything else besides the battle in front of him. His mother said he got it from his father, a 'natural battle instinct.' Derek refused to believe he got anything from his dad, and claimed it was just a genetic mutation.

The two sat there for a few seconds. "Are you gonna do something?" Derek asked, quickly getting annoyed.

"I'm a little nervous..." they mumbled, shifting on their feet.

"Bro, you only have two moves!" Derek exclaimed.

"That's to many choices!" Tracey bit back, "Um...Ta-Tackle?" She asked. As Derek let out the order, they launched at the Zigzagoon with force, knocking it into the ground before they bounced back to Derek's side.

Zigzagoon only let out a weak Growl, and Tracey was able to kill it after one more Tackle. The first blood had been drawn, and it settled on her feet, but she didn't notice, only letting out an innocent cheer in victory.

"God, today is gonna be a long day," Derek groaned as he put Tracey back in the Pokeball.

"Thank you so much!" Professor Birch exclaimed with a large grin, "Why don't you meet me back in my lab, so we can chat? I don't really feel like being in the feild any more today. Being attacked can take a lot out of you!"

"Uh...sure. I'll be there," Derek said as Professor Birch grabbed his bag and left him alone in the field with Tracey's Pokeball in his hand.

He could still see the Zigzagoon's corspe laying on the ground, beaten and bruised by only two Tackles, blood pouring from his wounds and staining the grass. Tracey didn't seem all that bothered by the kill, only excited from the win. Were they even aware of their actions? It didn't seem like it, Pokemon held in labs were a lot more naive about the world, from his experience talking to the ones in Professor Juniper's lab back in Unova.

Enough being guiltly, he ordered himself, That thing would've died anyway.  With his conscience in order, he left the feild and started making his way to the lab, leaving behind the bleeding Zigzagoon and any care for what would come next.