---

A fresh wind blew through the lush green grass of route two, brushing the tall trees, whispering through the springy grass. It was a very picturesque route, and there would typically be children and adults taking strolls down the middle of it, breathing in the air and playing with their pokemon. It was certainly a nice place to get away from the city, and many people were there today to do just that.

It was the afternoon, a time when kids typically ruled the area. It was at this time that Steven emerged from the city, blinking at the entrance to route two. Steven looked around at the serene environment, peppered here and there with a few kids, mostly younger than him, hanging around with their pokemon. Steven glanced at the swishing grass and the swaying trees before staring up at the relatively clear blue sky. Tim followed suit, moving his head in similar directions. Steven closed his eyes and breathed in the smell of nature while Tim mimicked him. Suddenly, Steven opened his eyes and yelled at the top of his lungs, throwing his fists up in a triumphant gesture.

"We're doing this thing, RIGHT NOW!" He exclaimed, scaring several nearby civilians.

Tim followed, raising his wings to the sky and screeching as loud as possible. A crowd of bird pokemon flew out of the trees as the sound reached them, much to the satisfaction of the loud duo. Steven grinned mischievously. It was good to do something you weren’t normally allowed to in a place you wouldn’t normally be in. The sense of freedom that comes from being out on a journey with your best buddy was one only matched by gaining financial independence, though considering he wasn’t getting any more allowance from his parents (and partially the fact that he now had to loot it off the bodies of trainers he’d rendered unconscious through the sheer shame of losing to him (That’s how the stories always pitched it, anyway)), he technically already had some measure of financial independence.

In fact, a pokemon journey was kind considered to be a journey into adulthood, when one breaks away from their family to learn life lessons by journeying through the land with a trusted friend by their side. It should be a journey to learn about the world they lived in, to know what lay outside of the comfortable bubble of family, to see what life really had to give you. It was a feeling that could only be felt once, and Steven felt lucky that he was feeling it now. If you’re too old, you wouldn’t enjoy it (probably), and if you were too young, you’d probably taste failure more times than you’d care to count. In many ways, a pokemon journey a pivotal moment in any person’s life. If you succeeded, then you’d be showered in accolades and prizes, and if you crashed and burned, you’d live a normal life, knowing what to expect of society and what it expects of you. At least, that’s how the stories pitched it. For parents that really wanted him to be a trainer, having that aspect told to him when he was young did seem a bit odd, but he didn’t really mind in the end. He didn’t really care.

Steven walked enthusiastically into route 2, despite the strange looks he got from passing civilians. Tim warbled excitedly, eager to finally start their adventure. So eager, in fact, that he didn’t notice the looks he was getting from the kid trainers, which were very similar to the ones Tim levelled at pretty much every trainer’s pokemon back in the pokemon lab. One of credulity, mixed in with the judgement, as if deciding whether to spring him or not. One of them decided that they would.

Steven’s romp through the grass was interrupted as a gang of three kids brought stepped in front of him.

“Hey you!” The one in the middle said, a weedle emerging from his pokeball. “Fight me-”

“Peck.” Steven commanded, not bothering to slow down.

Tim sprang into action, leaping off of Steven’s head, streaking towards the hapless weedle like a brown arrow of death. Tim stopped just shy of the weedle, scaring the small creature and making it fall back, before his beak snapped down for a vicious peck. The weedle instantly went unconscious from the force of Tim’s peck which sent its unconscious body sailing towards the torso of the shocked trainer. It was likely that the young trainer and his weedle did nothing to deserve such a fate. Maybe the young trainer and his weedle worked hard every day, training to make themselves stronger while bonding with each other, strengthening their might and friendship. Perhaps Steven just forced the young kid to undergo a tragic realisation; that he was too weak to take on the world right now. Not like Steven cared, though. At another time, Steven might be more sympathetic, but he was on an energy high. Being out and about for the first time in a while made him extremely energetic.

As the unconscious weedle was caught by his unfortunate trainer, Steven had also gotten there. Grabbing the hapless child’s shoulder, he vaulted over the poor child, managing a forward somersault before landing on his feet behind the kid.

“Tim, did you see that?!” Steven said, smiling in disbelief.

”Caw!” Tim said, voicing his approval.

The spearow, attack completed, came back to his roost on Steven’s head. As Steven and Tim celebrated their moment of epicness, the other two children went to see if their leader was alright. He wasn’t. The hapless (and nameless) kid got up quickly, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Get him! My weedle! Kick his butt!” He said, sentence structure all but gone in between his sobs.

“Rattata!”

“Pidgey!”

The two equally nameless kid goons brought out their respective pokemon and made as if to rush him with both of their pokemon at once. As they began to give their orders, however, Steven issued his second command.

“Scary face.” Steven said.

As a spearow, Tim face wasn’t exactly giving off the most harmless vibes in the world. Combine that with his disposition and Tim was pretty fierce compared to pretty much any pokemon his age. But when Tim uses his Scary face move, the fear factor multiplies. Granted, on one stronger than Tim, it wouldn’t work so well. To those around his level, or those who know what they’re doing, it would still considerable advantages. To one weaker than Tim, it’s the face of nightmares.

Practically paralysed, the kids showed their fear on their faces. Their legs shook, matching their pokemon’s own fearful trembling. They were simultaneously scared and transfixed by the intense glare of Tim’s fierce gaze. While the kids were quaking in their boots, Steven was fiddling around with his pokedex.

“Let’s see… Aha!” Steven said as the screen flashed.

The device booted up quickly, and Steven found the GUI was quite user friendly. He picked the scan option and pointed it at the pokemon of his opponents, including the poor weedle.

“Oh, so is this how it works…” Steven said as the information appeared.

”Rattata, the mouse pokemon.” The pokedex droned. “When it attacks, it bites anything it can. Very hardy, and can be found living almost anywhere. Current status: scared.”

“Aw, that’s cool.” Steven said. “Let’s see…”

Steven scanned the pidgey and the pokedex beeped.

“Pidgey, the tiny bird pokemon.” The pokedex said. “Since it dislikes fighting, it will often kick up sand to protect itself. Current status: scared.”

Steven then pointed the pokedex towards the fainted weedle, and it made another beep.

“Weedle, the hairy bug pokemon.” The pokedex reported. “Its main diet is leaves, and the spine on its head is poisonous. Current status: fainted (you monster).”

“This is so neat!” Steven said, laughing at the little comment at the end.

The kids didn’t know what to do as Steven laughed. He did eventually stop, however, and just as Tim’s scary face ran out. At first, the kids were relieved, but they remembered the fear and immediately went on guard. Steven, meanwhile, had simmered down to think things through rationally and apologise. Yeah right.

He was on a roll, and nothing could stop him now. He was the on the zenith of his life. His first taste of real freedom for a while, and he loved it. Right now, he felt like unstoppable, and it showed in his smile.

“One at a time, guys.” Steven said, grinning. “I’m feeling pretty good today.”

Steven normally sported an easy going grin, but judging by the kids’ reactions, it must’ve been an evil one. The expression on Steven’s face drove more fear into them than Tim ever did.

“You can either come at me one at a time, or, if you want to go, you can just go.” Steven said, still smiling.

Today was a good day, and nothing would stop him.

---

Steven stretched, refreshed after beating the three trainers. He’d managed to cool down enough to be more rational now, but he was still elated. It finally felt like his pokemon journey was starting. Guess there wasn’t anything like beating on someone in combat to really get that feel of freedom. Don’t try this at home, kids.

Tim warbled a cheerful, slightly out-of-tune song. Steven reached back into his bag for a well-deserved oran berry and chucked it up to his buddy. Tim snapped it up in mid-air, gulping it down gratefully. He warbled his thanks and continued cheerily singing. The kids of course fought him, because they were kids. To put it kindly, they were largely untroubled by the complexities of life. Not that it mattered much, though.

Steven and Tim had managed to finish the fight relatively unscathed, to say the least. It was more like systematic annihilation. And while Steven felt kind of bad for possibly destroying their hopes and dreams, he knew they would probably just get up. He was a kid a few months ago, and he’d been their age only 2 years ago. Okay, it was a pretty long time, but children were petty and didn’t think things through, so he might meet them again one day. Then again, it would be unlikely considering they were basically nameless and faceless, and also considering that Steven didn’t care.

He was happy right now, breathing in the fresh air, feeling the wind carrying him to distant adventures. It was his journey, and it made him feel good. Speaking of journeys, however, Steven remembered what he set out to do.

Opening up his pokenav map, he checked the town he was going to once again. Dune town, the town next to the desert. It seemed that a gym lay in it, and Steven wanted to challenge it. He wasn’t really trying to win, though, he just wanted to see what was up. Besides, he’d never been there, and he planned to make like a tourist with the money he got from the kids. He should probably feel bad about that too, but it’s not like he asked for it, they just threw it at him and ran off. An unexpected bonus, really. But at least he knew what he wanted to do right now. Go to Dune town, make like a tourist, inspect the competition.

[ENCOUNTER REQUEST: APPROVED!]
Steven was suddenly yanked out of his musings by a rustle in the nearby long grass. Quickly shutting off his pokenav, he dropped down and eyed the bushes cautiously. Looks like his old hide-and-seek tendencies were acting up again, perhaps with good reason.

Tim and Steven stayed deadly silent, listening for more signs of movement. The sounds of movement shifted further away. Steven followed the sound while it moved, entering the tall grass as quietly as he could. Listening intently, Steven moved when the creature moved and stopped when it stopped. Strangely enough, even when it wasn’t moving forward, it emitted a constant humming sound. Steven had a hard time placing the noise as he was focused on stalking his prey, but then it hit him.

A bug pokemon! He thought.

As the pokemon moved, the bushes stopped rustling, as if it had disappeared, but the buzzing sound was still there. Steven quickly popped up from the bushes, as quietly as he could, and found that his guess was right. A strange collection of hexagons was buzzing away in front of him, seemingly engrossed with a nearby berry tree. Steven recognised it from a lesson he had in trainer school about pokemon common in the nearby regions.

”Combee.” He mouthed quietly.

While the wild combee was busy doing who knew what, Steven readied a pokeball. Tim quietly warbled a question, but Steven’s mind was already set.

”Gonna try catching it, buddy.” He whispered quietly.

This would be a good chance to test out the pokeball’s mechanics. After all, if he screwed up in a crucial moment, there was no telling what could happen. They did, of course, teach him how to use one in trainer school, but theory was much different to practise. The ball was lighter than he’d expected, certainly considering its size.

Now, press the button… Steven thought.

Press the button, then throw. That’s what he’d been taught. Steven pushed the small white button and was a little surprised when the button stayed down. Not knowing what would happen, he quickly threw it at the distracted combee.

Time seemed to slow down as the pokeball sailed through the air. Steven’s eyes tracked its progress as it flew towards the unsuspecting pokemon. The pokeball hit the combee and bounced off ineffectually. For a few worrying milliseconds, nothing happened.

Did I do it wrong? Steven thought nervously.

His worries were misplaced, however. As the combee turned and the ball bounced off of it, the ball opened. Things sped up to normal speed as the ball opened to its full size, emitting a strange red light which engulfed the confused combee. The red light retracted and the pokemon came with it, shrinking down to an almost impossibly small size before disappearing into the ball, right before the ball shut.

Did… Did it work? Steven thought.

The ball shook once and paused. Then it shook again, and again. A nervous pause followed as Steven wondered if he’d done it or not. The ball finally settled with a brief colour change followed by the sound of a clasp snapping shut. Steven finally got up, surveying the results of his labour. A single red ball sitting in the clearing. Walking cautiously to where he pokeball sat, Steven brought his right hand down to pick it up. It felt a little heavier now, as if it had some weight to it.

As Steven picked it up, the pokedex beeped in his pocket. Swapping the ball from his right hand to his left, he dug into his bag and fished out the pokedex. It seemed that it had a new entry.

Combee, the tiny bee pokemon. The pokedex droned. A trio of pokemon since birth. It collects honey for its queen, Vespiquen.

Steven was about to dismiss the entry when he noticed that there was more information on the pokedex. Combee’s entry included its height, weight, and the region it was found in, and it even had the status of the current one he had.

“Oh, It’s female.” Steven said.

Tim bent down to look at the pokedex in Steven’s hands while Steven switched his attention back to the pokeball. Steven pressed the button again.

To release the pokemon, just press the button and hold it out, button facing away from you. Steven said, mentally going over the instructions again.

Steven turned the pokeball so the button faced the ground and this time, white light appeared from within the pokeball. The white light retracted as quickly as the red did, but it left behind a new friend. Steven’s new combee. The insect seemed a little disoriented, understandable considering the events that took place just now. The combee looked around, always coming back to Steven and Tim, as if noticing that Steven was his master now. Steven carefully brought his hand out to touch his new pokemon.

“Take it easy now, I won’t hurt you…” He said, trying to sound reassuring.

The combee didn’t shrink away from Steven’s approach, so Steven took his hand closer. Suddenly, Tim hopped off of Steven’s head and onto his arm, bringing an involuntary flinch from Steven and the combee. Steven hadn’t expected Tim to do that, but he didn’t have time to take his hand away.

Tim hopped into Steven’s open hand and stopped, studying the combee. Unlike his gaze with the other trainer’s pokemon, Tim’s gaze was one of curiosity. Tim tilted his head this way and that, sizing up the confused combee. The combee flittered its wings slightly, unsure of what to do, while Steven looked on in slight confusion. Tim brought his face close to the slightly scared combee, causing another involuntary flinch. He sat there for a few tense seconds.

Steven wondered if he should pull his hand away. His worries were unnecessary, however. Tim suddenly relaxed and stretched his neck out to rub his face on the surface of the combee. The combee initially flinched, but relaxed as soon as it realised that Tim’s gesture didn’t have any ill intent. Tim stopped after a few seconds, satisfied, and warbled a friendly greeting. The combee buzzed a greeting back, finally smiling, realising that Tim wasn’t a threat. Its three faces licked Tim’s own face, returning his friendly gesture. Steven smiled, happy that Tim was getting along with the new addition. When Tim rubbed another pokemon with his face, it typically meant that he liked them. It was a sign of his affection, and a good sign of budding friendship.

Tim smiled as best as a spearow could, hopping up from Steven’s hand back onto his head. As he went, Steven smelled the faint scent of honey. Steven smiled brightly, happy that the two were friendly with each other.

“Heya, my name’s Steven.” Steven said, waving at the combee.

The combee was less nervous now, and buzzed a friendly greeting in return.

“Glad to be working with you to.” Steven said with a broad smile.

The combee flew around Steven happily, expressing his relief at meeting new friends. Tim followed, jumping from pose to pose, tracking the combee around and around.

”Hey, guys!” Steven tried to keep up, making a fun little game for the two pokemon.

They spun and spun, trying to catch each other for a little while, before Steven and Tim got dizzy and the combee finally settled in front of Steven.

”You sure are energetic,” Steven said, staggering a bit but still smiling. ”But hey, so am I today.”

The combee buzzed happily, and offered Steven a jar of honey.

”Hm? Oh.” Steven said, noticing the gift. “But I can’t just take that. Hold on a sec.”

Steven fished around in his back pack before finding what he wanted.

”Ha ha!” Steven said, revealing his prize. ”Oran berry! Here.”

Steven swapped the two gifts, Steven giving the Combee an oran berry while taking the honey and putting it in his bag. The combee chewed the oran berry delightedly and buzzed its satisfaction to Steven.

“Good, wasn’t it?” Steven grinned.

The combee nodded. A sudden warbling from Tim told Steven about a current predicament.

”Oh right, that was the last one. Wait a second…” Steven said.

He turned to where he’d just captured the combee and, lo and behold, there was a berry tree. Steven cheered and headed towards the bountiful copse. The combee followed behind him enthusiastically. Steven reached the berry trees and stopped just short of them, taking a deep breath. The tasty smell of fresh berries dangling on the leaves was quite tempting. Tim mirrored Steven as he breathed while the combee was a little late in copying him. Steven exhaled and smiled.

Steven began looking for the ripe berries, searching through the branches. Tim searched with him, poking through the higher branches with his beak. Even the combee helped, searching through the bushes next to Steven. Steven was rewarded for his efforts. 3 ripe oran berries emerged in his hand. He quickly bagged the berries in his berry pouch.

”How’d you guys go?” He asked his two pokemon.

Tim took his head out of the bush, a fresh oran berry in his beak. He tilted his head up, gulping down the oran berry with a gulp, before letting out a satisfied caw! The combee also emerged from the bush, mouths covered in berry juice.

“Looks like you got the big score!” Steven said, laughing.

He wiped the three mouths of the combee and was met with grateful licks in return. Now that Steven was close, he could smell the honey more, and the combee’s wet tongues left faint traces of the smell on his clothes. Steven laughed, as its tongues were also very ticklish.

“Hm, you seem to eat a lot of honey, and you’re a girl…” Steven said, pretending to go in a thoughtful state.

His smile gave him away, though, and Tim and the combee waited with knowing grins on their faces. Steven’s wide grin returned as he revealed his revelation.

“I’m going to call you Honey Queen!” Steven announced.

Tim warbled his approval, flapping his wings in delight for their new friend, and the combee buzzed happily. Steven grinned wider, if that was possible, thrilled at the prospect of having another new team member.

“Tim, Queen…” Steven said, pausing for dramatic effect. ”Let’s go on an adventure!”

The pokemon cheered and Steven made off back to the path of route 2.

---

It was back to the road for Steven, Tim and his new pokemon Honey Queen (Queen for short). Back to the refreshing breeze of the forest path, off to discover what might lie beyond. Steven walked briskly along while Tim sat on Steven’s head making light conversation with Queen, buzzing along beside Steven. Tim warbled to the combee while Queen buzzed the occasional reply.

“No, that was totally your fault.” Steven said, cutting Tim off.

“Caw!” Tim protested.

“I wasn’t even tall enough to reach the cookie jar.” Steven countered. “Yeah, I wanted it, but you were the one that pushed it over.”

”Caw!” Tim said.

“You didn’t even try to defend me! I was sent to grounded for a week!”

Tim warbled excuses while Queen chuckled (however bees do that), amused by their bickering. They were very close, of course. To Queen, they felt very similar to siblings, but it seemed to her that Tim didn’t have as senior a role as he thought he did.

It was still a relatively peaceful time in the forest. Steven and co were close to the middle of route 2, and few people from Estoria city now, as they often had little reason to go that far. That meant that Steven could go through the rest of route 2 relatively unmolested, normally. But troubled times make for troubled situations, and things probably wouldn’t go as smoothly as planned.

As Steven and co walked and talked, Steven got more and more distracted. Before his pokemon noticed, he’d dropped out of the conversation, and he suddenly stopped. Queen, surprised by the sudden stop, suddenly jerked back a little distance ahead. Steven meanwhile, jumped into the nearest tall grass and dropped to his knees. Queen floated over, a little confused, and even Tim let out a confused warble, questioning Steven’s actions.

“Steven, can you see them?” Steven asked. ”Them up ahead.”

As Steven asked, Tim stared ahead, wondering what could’ve bothered Steven so. Steven gestured for Queen to join him. The confused combee buzzed confusedly to his side, hovering next to Steven’s prone form. Tim’s gaze searched down route 2, finally settling on the uniformed people blocking the road. Tim’s gaze zoomed into the symbol emblazoned on their clothes, and he warbled quietly to Steven. What Steven heard, he clearly didn’t like as his expression turned sour.

“I hoped it wasn’t them.” Steven sighed.

Queen buzzed a question.

“Team Nexus.” Steven said quietly. “Best described as a bunch of weirdos who got together and wore matching uniforms.”

Steven and co sat in the bushes, observing the anomalous team Nexus. The group mainly consisted of virtually identical uniformed people, but there was a larger, slightly differently dressed man in the middle of them. Steven’s hide-and-seek instincts kicked in once more, particularly the seeking one. He felt that the man was different, probably stronger.

“Normally, they do stuff around the region, bothering everyone somewhere else.” Steven whispered. “But what are they doing here?”

Queen buzzed nervously. As Steven and co observed them, some of the grunts argued hotly with the large man, but Steven and co were too far away to hear anything. Their intentions were made clear, however, when some grunts retreated back down the path, down to Dune town. The large man stayed, along with some grunts. There were less now, but not enough to deal with alone.

What are they waiting for? Steven wondered.

It seemed that Steven would have to play the waiting game. Steven closed his eyes, sighed and relaxed. Opening them again, he refocused them on team Nexus, glancing back to the way he’d come from on route 2. They were facing his direction, after all, so what they expected had to come from that direction too. He was sure it wasn’t him, though. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t think himself important enough to chase.

Tim, despite being on Steven’s head, was hidden well enough by the long grass as Steven lay there. Queen was small enough for the grass to cover her as well. Steven settled in, prepared to wait. He’d wait for whatever team Nexus was waiting for as well.