"Whad'ya mean the gym leader isn't here?" Matthew barked. It was early, earlier than Matthew was used to in all honesty, but today was a special occasion. Today was to be the day that Matthew got his first Gym badge. Since arriving in Kanto three days ago, all he could think about was arriving in Viridian city and challenging the gym leader here. It was to be the first in a long series of triumphant victories, shared between him and Hope. The two of them were going to become the greatest Pokemon trainer duo ever. That was the dream. Every night as he closed his eyes, he could see an image of him, standing in the Pokemon League arena, waving to his adoring fans with a might Mienshao by his side. Eight gym badges, that's all he needed. Five measly gym leaders that he needed to wipe the floor with and then he could face the Champion. It was going to be a piece of cake.

"S-sorry kid. He's been out of town for a while." The name-plate on the Janitor's read 'Steve', and Steve was more than a little taken aback by Matthew ambushing him at the door to the gym. Matthew had been waiting outside the gym since the crack of dawn, practicing the way he would eventually challenge the Gym leader. He was getting strange looks from passer-by's as he dramatically pointed into thin air, screaming 
"Battle me!" to an invisible opponent with different inflections in his voice
"But... Where am I going to get my first badge? I need eight to become the champion." Matthew whined. Steve raised an eyebrow at the mention of becoming champion, but eventually he shrugged.
"Guess you could always trek through the forest to Pewter, there's a gym there. My cousin works there, says the gym leader nearly never leaves." Steve mumbled, fumbling with his keys "Now if you don't mind kid, I gotta get to work."

Pewter city.

Within a second, Matthew completely forgot about the time he had spent preparing for his battle with the gym leader here, grabbing his bag from the ground where it had been resting and sprinting towards the north of the town. Of course! The forest! That was it, he would begin his Pokemon adventure with a hike through the forest and catch himself some amazing Pokemon before arriving in Pewter city and obliterating the gym leader there! That was the way his journey would begin. He darted up the hill towards the mouth of the forest, practically collapsing against the first tree he found to catch his breath. The forest was practically alive with the sounds of Pokemon, nearly every shadow he could see twitched slightly, as if there was some sort of Pokemon hidden just out of view. Matthew wondered just how many wild Pokemon were hidden withing the trees of the forest, the mere thought of it made his heart pound faster and his grin grow wider. Quickly, he scrambled for the Pokeball clipped to his belt and pressed the button with his thumb.
"Now this... This is a challenge worthy of us, eh Hope?" He beamed with a grand flourish to the forest entrance. The Mienfoo looked up, eyebrow raised skeptically, but Matthew was far too preoccupied with his own excitement to notice. "Come on! Let's do this thing!" He practically yelled into the darkness before marching straight into the nearest thicket, choosing to completely ignore the path. Using the path was the opposite of an adventure, of course.

Within minutes, Matthew regretted his decision to ignore the path as he forged his way through knee high grass and thick roots. Hope followed with ease, waiting for Matthew to carve his clumsy path before taking a step. With every second step, Matthew was sure he felt something run past his legs, but he convinced himself that he was merely paranoid. He swallowed hard and considered turning back and picking up the path but his pride denied him every time. Should he turn back now, it would look weak and he didn't want to show weakness in front of Hope. With a deep breath, Matthew prepared himself to continue barging his way through the wilderness when he felt something rather large plop onto his back. At first he thought he was imagining things, but as he turned to check, his gaze was met by a Spinirak the size of a dinner plate that was sitting peacefully between his shoulder blades. 

It took Matthew a second or two to process what was happening, the Pokemon didn't seem to be aggressive, it probably just fell of a branch Matthew nudged. Hope, on the other hand, saw it as a threat. The fighting Pokemon moved with great speed and slammed into the Spinarak, causing it to drop into the grass unconscious. The blow took Matthew by surprise, knocking the wind out of him and sending him spiraling forwards. His already unstable feet met a root in the grass and he tripped, stumbling blindly onto a muddy slope. He tumbled freely down the hill, yelping slightly every time he found a rock or twig to roll over. After what felt like an eternity of falling, the hill leveled out and Matthew flopped into a patch of grass. It took him a couple of attempts to stand up, he was more dizzy than he was in pain, but the trip down the hill was almost certainly going to leave him with a couple of bruises. Once the world returned to focus, Matthew grinned excitedly.
"Hey Hope!" He yelled to the Pokemon who was calmly plodding down the hill that Matthew had previously rolled down "I found the path!" He exclaimed proudly.