Just Starting Out

Kara smiled, bringing her hand up in mid-wave as her brother Joey snapped a picture. Charter made some noise from her shoulder, gesturing to see the camera, as Kara got off of her Rhyhorn, Elli. Joey laughed, handing it to Kara instead, enjoying Charter's play-pout as he didn't get what he wanted (yet again).

Kara looked at the picture on her new digital camera and said, "It looks great Joe! Although you could've waited a couple seconds until I actually had my hand all the way up."

Joey laughed. "It'll be just fine, Kara. You'll look back on this in a couple years and be thankful I was even here to take the picture."

"I think you're just thankful that I'm finally getting out of your house." Kara teased playfully. Charter jumped from her shoulder to examine the eggs that sat peacefully in the 'saddle' bags. Kara and Joey watched.

"You know," Joey said, "I think that Seel egg is about to hatch."

"You think?" Kara said, "It's been ready to break out for the last week. I just think that little boy is being stubborn and doesn't want to come out of his shell."

"He? It could be a she." Joey said.

"I'm pretty confident that he will be a boy- I already got a name picked out for him! 'Jonah'- like the 'Jonah and the Waillord'!"

"Yes, it will be perfect for a Seel- probably even better for a Dewgong." Joey said, rolling his eyes.

"Bun-bun!"

Kara looked down at the Buneary at her feet, who was still looking just as unhappy as he was in the picture. She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Tayte- I'll put you back in your pokeball now." Tayte rolled it's eyes, and was soon sucked into whatever comforts awaited him in the pokeball.

"I can't believe that Tayte still hasn't warmed up to me yet..." Kara said sadly.

Joey put his hand on her shoulder. "It will be just fine Kara. I know you had been hoping for a female buneary, but most of them are like this anyways. It's one of the reason's why they know the move 'frustration'- they don't like being caught. Hey, at least he respects you enough that he doesn't run away anymore."

"Ugh! It's so hard to catch him- especially BECAUSE he knows the ability 'Run Away'!" Kara said.

"It will be fine- besides, you have Elli and Charter to keep you company until the eggs hatch." Joey said. "And Elli will never abandon you- she was the first pokemon you started to raise. She's loyal to you and only you."

"Rhyhorn." Elli nudged Kara, showing her that she would be there to support her.

Kara smiled and pet Elli. "Thank you, girl. And thanks for enduring having us all on you for that picture- it was an idea I couldn't resist! And you look great in the picture too- see?" Kara brought up the camera so Elli could have a look. "There you are, with Mr. Grumpy-Tayte, Charter, and me. And there's the house in the background!"

Kara looked up at the house. "Joey, I'm going to miss you. Maybe I'll get a flying pokemon next, and I'll start sending you messages."

Joey smiled and pulled Kara into a hug. "Just promise me you'll contact me when you find a computer, okay?"

Kara nodded. "Of course I promise."

Joey pulled away and nodded. "Good. Now get going, or you won't make it to town by sundown."

Artist's Comments:

For the 33rd contest. The theme is that you draw a team of pokemon (at least 3+ pokemon in the picture) in their unevolved states. I decided to draw my new Platinum team- Charter the Chimchar (male), Elli the Rhyhorn (female), Tayte the Buneary (male), Cassie the Seel (female- egg), Lexi the Pichu (female- egg), and Victoria the Hoothoot (female-not shown). Because I didn't add Victoria here, I added the wind-showing-thingy on top of the house in the form of a Hoothoot as a tribute to 'Tori. She was the last pokemon I caught, but the first one to evolve.

So a bit of history behind Kara: She's an older teen instead of a ten-year-old who lived with her brother Joey on his pokemon ranch. She decided to wait a couple years before starting her own journey because she wanted to get used to training pokemon so that she could 'do it right' when she went off on her own. That, and she didn't know anything about pokemon when she was 10.
She got Elli the Rhyhorn about a year ago, and it was slow-training with her. She's about level 20, and still has a long time before she evolves (lv. 42), but she is not a newby. Charter was given to her as a gift from Joey for her birthday, and they easily clicked. The small fire pokemon is super energetic, and always has an ear to listen to Kara's commands. Tayte, on the other hand, was not happy to have to have Kara as a trainer. As a her first wild-caught pokemon, he doesn't like having to be so 'constrained'. But he is getting used to his leash, partially because of his new collar- a collar that happens to be attached to a soothe bell.
In this picture, she is about to head out on her adventure with her three pokemon and two pokemon eggs that she chose herself. One contains a female pichu (Lexi) that will love her and Tayte (to his dismay) at first sight. The other holds female Seel (Cassie) (much to Kara's dismay), who will become close friends with Elli and a solid fighter for Kara.

If Tayte seems familiar, it's because he's been drawn and featured before here: [link]

All of these pokemon are apart of my actual pokemon team in my Platinum game.

What I Like about the picture: The setting. I wanted to create a picture that has a 'genuine' feel to it- one that wasn't just showing off my pokemon. I wanted to show off my pokemon's character and a bit of Kara's history and personality. I enjoy how the 'in photo' feel to the picture frames it, and I think it does a great job. I like how I included all my pokemon, even though only 5 of them are actually there and how 2 of them are still eggs. I enjoyed making the background. And making the initial sketches. I seriously loved making Tayte's expressions though!

What I Don't Like about this picture: I had to redo this picture after I lost the data. While I love coloring, I dislike the inking-process. And when I had lost the data, I had JUST finished the inking. So I had to recreate the picture from scratch. I'm also aware of how Elli seems a little... 'flat' (not color wise- she's just... squished). Well, I know why, but I don't really care about going back and fixing it. I'm also a little annoyed with Charter's face color- the yellow doesn't seem exactly right.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this! Thanks for reading this whole thing if you did! Sorry for any misspellings Tell me if I did misspell something.

And good luck to everyone who's entering the contest!