James x Reader | Pokemon | - | REWRITE |

| Prologue |

You looked forward.

The trees were so densly nestled together that almost no light could penetrate from above. Only some sunlight speckled into the dark grasses. The air tasted faintly of rain, and the grass was slightly damp; it softly polished your boots as you traveled through it.

You stood before the treeline, where the sun could still unsettle your skin. It was humid, and the shade was promising, but was it really worth it?

Johto was very uncomfortable and wet, and it didn't help that today had the unfortunate promise of direct sunrays. You had traveled to Johto to get your first starter and build your first team of pokemon, but the battles were underwhelming thus far, and the amount of sun the opposite of that.

You stopped and considered. Dark, dense, possibly teeming with life...high-level life...

"Well...? Should we?" you asked your Totodile.

"Totodile!" he beamed.

You couldn't help but sigh, in relief or reluctance, you couldn't tell. "We could use some more teammates," you said, trying to find an opportunity out of it.

But with pokemon this new, the only opportunity this forest would grant you was possibly having them faint for their first times. And that didn't exactly sound the best. Would they hold a grudge? Or was fainting normal?

Even if it was normal, there was definitely room to question it. At least with yourself.

They'd lose trust quickly if you let yourself get ambushed by a group of wild pokemon. But it's not like they'd be fatally wounded; to your knowledge, the arrangement in the Pokemon Center used some sort of wacky sciences to completely reverse all damage done in battle.

You felt the sunburn across your nose. Why can't the Pokemon Centers just do that for humans too?

You stepped further, until your shadow blended in with the forest floor. It was much cooler here, and the dark grass was almost completely dry.

The winds whistled through the trees and softly hissed through the grass. Totodile was thoroughly fascinated, pushing his snout to the direction of the wind and winning a staring contest with the fluttering grass blades.

You wondered if he had ever been in an actual forest like this one. You were sure you'd have to go through more at some point, but it had been a while for yourself as well; you traveled to deliberately avoid any tense areas like this one so you wouldn't end up in a battle you couldn't win.

The wind began to settle, and with it gone, you were sure you were hearing something suspicious. The familiar sound of muffled speaking, somewhere far above you.

You stopped abrubtly.

Totodile looked up at you with a questioning expression, "Toh?"

You mentally ruled out what it could be. Wind? You couldn't feel any. Leaves brushing together? You looked up---they were almost completely still.

You made sure to quiet your voice. "Can you hear that?"