[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

I: Timeless Beginnings
tag: gojira & Egao, Egao Everywhere
credits: Jinari Region by GLMax



Joshua contemplated how the first step of his exciting journey should begin. Becoming one of those competitive trainers never crossed his mind but as soon as he merged the thought with the image, it latched onto him with claws. He decided he still wasn't going to become like those serious-looking people in TV and the newspapers. He was going to try not to but Joshua was starting to greatly doubt his dedication to the promise. Just staring at the grass for the past five minutes while crouched down, the red-and-silver sphere nested on his hand, was already giving him ideas. Joshua smiled to himself, chuckling at his silliness, to let loose of the excitement that he did not want to take over.

He went back to his original question to take his mind away of this and make progress. How should his first step be? Should he stroll around the forest looking for Pokemon that he most likely have encountered before, having spent his time here plenty of times before? Or should he bolt into a run or swing from tree to tree? Because this would be his first step since he was a toddler, a first birthday that he would make and remember. Joshua purposely entered the trainer world not knowing a thing but now he was wishing he knew just a little about it. Did new trainers do anything special on their first step?

He dropped the weight of his head to the back, turning his face parallel to the sky. His starter Pokemon belonged there. A Skarmory. Out of the birds Joshua had encountered, he'd never seen one like it. 

"Hmm," he hummed to the heavens, "Erinyes is perfect but I've always liked the name Sir Reinbach the Eleventh..."

[gojira]

He lifted the mug to his mouth and took a sip. Hot chocolate, near-boiling temperature. He felt like his palate was singed. His tongue too, maybe. He clicked it once, twice. He probably wasn't going to be able to taste anything for the next two days. He pulled a face. Hot chocolate was tasty, but it wasn't when it was scalding. He lifted a croissant to his mouth and took a tentative bite.

He was right. There was no faint, buttery scent to it. The milky aftertaste didn't register either.

He frowned. Next to his mug was his eevee. It was nibbling on his unwanted croissant, tail batting lazily against its pokéball.

As if sensing his discontent, two of the many zigzagoon that loitered within the treehouse came to snuggle up against his legs. They were fluffy and rather cute to behold, but he couldn't say that he was pleased with this turn of events. He glanced down at the raccoons, who looked back at him innocently.

"We shall leave now," he muttered. He single-handedly scooped up his eevee and placed it on his shoulder. The pokéball went back into his pockets.

He proceeded to scale the ladder down from the treehouse. He had gotten used to it after two nights in the area. (It was something of an embarrassment to admit that he had not set out immediately after getting his starter pokémon after falling ill shortly after doing so.) His eevee hopped off his shoulder a few feet off the ground, and landed safely.

Meanwhile, the zigzagoon from before watched him from above. He tried to ignore them.

Shuffling along the well-worn path, he headed deeper into Petiri Forest.

[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

Joshua continued to idle by his spot for fifteen more minutes, though he had plopped down on the grass on his rear. He hadn't done so out of a pair of strained, leg muscles; the amount of walking and trekking Joshua did everyday was nothing compared to squatting for forty minutes but he thought shifting to a new position would give him better ideas. He knew that was only the reason he wanted it to be. If he were honest with himself, he'd just given in to the temptation of doing nothing. He trashed his zealous whims and rebooted his mindset.

Geez, why was he going about this again? Joshua didn't like to think and for his sanity's sake, it was best that he didn't. It frightened him how easy he'd already fallen to it. He wanted to go back to the lazy days sleeping on trees with the neighboring Pidgey nests but he'd already made the choice. Joshua wasn't going to run back. He'd lose what little respect he had with his little brother. Joshua closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"You've changed," he told himself. "Don't screw up. You made a promise to yourself a long time ago."

At last, Joshua stood up, clear of excitement and fanciful plans. He raised the Pokeball on his hand. If there was something he should do first as a trainer, it was to meet his Pokemon. He'd already seen the Skarmory but the bird had been soundly asleep back in the lab. The professor was against of having Joshua take it without warning but he thought it was rude to wake her up. Had he not been trying to catch his lunch break, Joshua wouldn't have gotten away with it.

Joshua no longer made himself wait. He clicked the Pokeball, promptly exploding with a bright light.

So that's why trainers threw them first.

He didn't expect the Pokeball to catapult from his hand. He had no idea where it was now but he was certain it had rocketed inches past his face, and must have been the sound that caused the grasses behind to shiver. Joshua caught up with those small details all the while his Pokemon was rising to the sky, the white light pouring out of her like water.

Joshua had seen a lot of bird Pokemon in his life. He'd always watched them flying in flocks in the sky, seemingly moving in a slow motion when they were in fact soaring like arrows. What he knew made a 360 degrees turn with what he saw. Regretting becoming a trainer? Nope.

His eyes barely followed after Erinyes but they realized something in a split-second when she circled high above the trees.

Joshua's awe was replaced by alarm.

Erinyes dived into the trees, disappearing out of sight. A shuddering noise growing fainter by second followed her trail and Joshua had a feeling she wasn't going to come back.

"...oh my."

[gojira]

"Hurry up."

There was a tree that had fallen across a creek. He had already made his way across to the other side, but his eevee had adamantly stayed where it was. He was trapped between exasperation and patience as he stood where he was.

He eyed the creature, wondering where to put his hands. He could cross them before his chest to strike a figure of authority. He could slip them into his pockets and put on a smile as a display of friendly coaxing. 'No hurry in getting over, at your own pace,' that kind of thing -- but he didn't trust it to be effective. Certain pokémon species were known to be quite fickle. Surely an eevee that evolved into one out of various evolutions would possess a fickle mind as well.

Unable to reach a satisfactory answer, he exhaled through his nose and wondered why he had arms and hands in the first place. They now dangled awkwardly by his torso. At least he kept his back straight while looking at his pokémon.

"C'mon."

There was a rustle amongst the trees as a body of shimmering silver sliced through the network of branches that spanned the canopy. A bad feeling rose in the back of his throat. Several woodland pokémon scurrying out from the shrubbery confirmed his suspicions that things weren't what they seemed to be.

"C'mon." Urgency seeped into his voice.

By the time the eevee hopped onto the trunk and trotted over, he was half-expecting a brute of certain proportions (plus wings) to walk rather calmly out of the foliage in search of prey. His jaw set itself. Once the eevee crossed the waters, they would get out of there.

The eevee made it over. He was ready to bolt. He immediately scooped it up and placed it on its usual perch on his shoulder.

He walked deeper into the forest, ignorant of the cries and squeals of startled critters. His pace was brisk as he was keen to remove himself from the potential carnage.