Like No One Ever Was (Self insert/SI)

Chapter 2 - I thought I was the scary one? WYF!

Chapter 2

I lay awake in bed, unable to go to sleep. Completely understandable of course, I'm going on my very own Pokemon adventure tomorrow. I'll finally live out every person's fantasy! If anyone says going on a Pokemon adventure means nothing to them, they're a fucking liar and I'll sue. I'll sue them all!

I'd been preparing with my new partner for the past 3 months to get ready for my journey, and while I'm raring to get started, that wont make the day come any quicker. While most of the kids had already left months ago, I wasn't the last one to leave. A few were staying a little while longer just to be that extra bit more prepared.

While for the vast majority of kids, the journey isn't going to be very long. Some kid's wont have the stomach for it, the patience, or simply the desire. Which is all completely fine of course. A kids journey isn't about taking on the gym leaders, cutting down ace-trainers before taking on the league with the power of friendship and this gun they found named 'Pikachu, destroyer of worlds'.

No, It's about tradition, as well as a bit of a survival test. After all, this worlds human history doesn't go back nearly as far as my old worlds did, however all information people could find even from as far back as a few centuries, painted it as a tough world to live in. Nowadays, while life is a lot more safe, at least in regards to the wilds, It's still important for children to prove that they can handle themselves. Not to their parents or adults, but to themselves.

Nearly all adults, no matter their life's profession, or their calling, have at least 1 badge to their name. Proof that as children, when left alone, they could handle themselves and succeed, even away from their parents.

You dont see many adults without at least 1 badge, I haven't even seen any in Pallet Town honestly. It's not like they're shunned or anything, at least not from what I can tell from adults talking anyway. It's more disappointment directed, however overtly or subtle, at said person.

After all, It's not like you have to take only one journey, or that you have to go at the age of 10. If someone doesn't beat their first gym leader on their first journey, then fair enough, they can still do a rematch after a bit of training. If for whatever reason they come back from their first journey without a badge, they're simply encouraged to give it another year or two, then head out with some extra training and research under their belt. It's not like It's incredibly hard to earn the first badge of whatever area you're in.

Growing up and moving on with life without that first badge though? It tends to close some doors. After all, who wants a quitter working for them in their business? Or someone without even the slightest bit of will? While the journey is mainly a test for people to prove to themselves what kind of person they are, It doesn't change the fact that other people can see the results as well.

No, while most people do earn themselves at least one badge, with others going on to win maybe one or two more, it's usually the trainers who are serious about making it that reach past the 4 badge stage.

As I lay up wide awake in bed, I look to my side. There, resting on his own pillow, is my partner, my starter, and hopefully one day, my flagbearer.

Teddiursa, or as we came to agree on, Major, In relation to Ursa Major. He didn't quite understand, though I managed to get across the meaning eventually, and he was pretty happy with it. After all, while He's only a baby bear today, I promised him that wouldn't be forever. One day he's stand taller than anyone else. That he'd have the strength to do whatever he wanted. Given the determined expression that overcame his face, he's as invested in his growth now as I am.

We spent the last few months mainly training him up from scratch, so that he'd have the energy and the determination to do actual training. Mainly some strength and speed training. Tying weights to him, not for too long of course, just for certain intervals in his daily training. While his little legs made running a little difficult for him, I started training him by having him slowly increases the force of his legs when running so that eventually he could lift off from the ground in an instant in the direction he was running. That kind of half jump, half run didn't have as much focus on his stride for the length of his legs, as it did on his strength.