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On a mild, overcast day, three trainers came from Pallet Town to Viridian City, their bags, their hats and their ambitions all shiny and new. The gym was closed, but this would be the first town where they would stop and explore and pick up supplies for the journey ahead. The simplest potion signified the battles that would come and excitement brewed.
Just to the west of the city, scrabbling at the ground in a patch of grass, Nidoran was aware of none of this. The city was a distant thrum to her, and the only time it ever mattered was when people traipsed by, and she hid herself in the grass. The only thing that mattered to her on most days was finding sweet, juicy berries to eat. What was best was when she managed to fit a whole berry inside her mouth before bursting it with her teeth, resulting in an explosive sweetness.
A murmur of quiet voices was carried towards her on the breeze. Nidoran twitched her ears.
“Have you guys been thinking about how to take on Brock?”
“Yeah. I know my types! Water versus rock, easy.”
“I think grass works, too, so I’m good.”
Nidoran flicked her whiskers, and grew still.
“Fire, though…”
“Yeah. Not gonna lie, I think you’re gonna have a harder time. Fire is not a good match for rock.”
An audible sigh. Nidoran kept her eyes on the path as three figures came into view. She had to admit, they were…curious creatures.
“You should get another pokemon. We can do that, now.”
They wandered along the path, their light voices babbling happily. They put Nidoran in mind of caterpie, or young ratatta. The thought came to her, unbidden.
“I know. But I don’t know if Ember is ready for that.”
“But…you’re sending him out to battle at a gym against rock types. He’s gotta have some practice!”
“Okay, but…I was hoping it’d be against people. Other than you guys, I mean. It’s more…organised.”
“Maybe in Viridian forest? I think there’s mostly bug types there, and pika…hey, what’s that?”
In an instant, all of their eyes were on Nidoran’s patch of grass. Her ears and tail stood rigid and she stared back at them. They were odd creatures: standing on their back legs, with smooth, round hairless faces.
“Is that a nidoran? Hey, y’know, poison would be a great strategy. Of course you have burn, but that’s less reliable, and I think this one has poison point?”
“And she learns double kick! And is super cute!”
One of them approached her hesitantly, leaning forward. Nidoran stared them down, bracing herself before she charged forward. Her small horn buried itself into something soft.
“Ow!”
Nidoran sprang back and looked up. They were staring at their paw, cradling it. “I think it bit me,” they said.
“Actually, I think she charged at you with her horn,” said another. “They do bite, but they mostly use their horns because it releases a venom to incapacitate both prey and predator.”
“But I’m not a predator. And I think I’m too big to be her prey.”
Nidoran huffed, and cleaned her whiskers. These creatures were silly.
“You can still catch her, you know?”
“I…don’t think I want to risk Ember getting poisoned.”
One of the others snorted. “Okay, then. We can go and get a caterpie or something. I think I read that they evolve pretty quickly, so there’s that, at least.”
“Alright…”
“Well, then let’s…hey, are you okay?”
The one that Nidoran had poked with her horn looked much paler, all of a sudden.
“Yeah, you don’t look too good. You actually look a little blue. Maybe like Nidoran.” There was a giggle.
“This isn’t funny. I’ll need to go to a doctor!”
“No, wait. I’ve got this.” One of the others dug their arm into a sack she wore on her shoulder. “My mum gave me these. They’re safe for humans and can help with poisoning for us, even.”
Nidoran had been observing this conversation, placidly. But now one of them brandished something that was of high interest to her. It was pink, soft and rounded. Nidoran twitched her nose; it smelt so deliciously sweet, too. She watched as it was handed over and nibbled on, cautiously.
“Oh, a pecha berry. Good thinking.”
“You can thank my mum. Now, let’s go.”
Nidoran made her choice; she stepped out from the grass and strode towards the group with purpose. Identifying the one who owned the berries, she nudged one of those silly long legs with her nose.
“Huh? Oh, hello!”
“Think she’s after a berry?”
“Oh!” And, there was another one of those pink berries. The tall creature bent down and held it out. There was a soft smile on their face, and Nidoran crept forward to sniff the berry. It was indeed delicious, so she took it into her mouth. Carefully, so the skin didn’t break. It was heavy with juice, this one, and she definitely hadn’t tasted this one, before. With one bite of her incisors, she dashed open the skin, letting the juice flood her mouth.
“Okay, then, we should go. Goodbye, little Nidoran.”
All three of them turned to leave, one of them still clutching their hand. The sweetness of the berry still bright on her tongue, Nidoran made a quick decision, and trotted after them.
“Oh…you want to come with us?” one of them said. “Awesome!”
These creatures, Nidoran thought, were quite intriguing, after all.