Pokébook

Jack Preston
6:00pm, Day 4
Towards Goldenrod City

Jack had taken advantage of the hype surrounding Kent's big match with Abel to sneak away. There was no doubt he owed Whitney a chat, and he wanted to find Kingston and Fists and apologise to them as well. He approached the Gym with some apprehension, but steeled himself as Citrus quietly voiced its support behind him. He pushed open the glass door and with a quick glance stepped inside.

Not a second had passed before he was set upon by someone quite a bit larger than him.
"You have got some nerve coming back here, you little jackass!" Jack froze, scared out of his mind. Citrus moved in front of him defensively and growled as best it could.
"Oh, leave the kid alone, Victoria," a second voice said. Now that Jack had composed himself, he saw that a woman had shouted at him, and a younger girl was now defending him.
"Cathy, he made Whitney cry!" Victoria whispered loudly.
"Everyone makes Whitney cry," Cathy responded calmly. "She cries when she's defeated in a battle, she cries when she watches soap operas... and she cried yesterday when you ate her last liquorice. Plus, Whitney won the battle, and the condition was that the kid owes her a chat. So move aside and let him through."

Victoria scowled, but turned and walked away with her nose in the air. Cathy smiled apologetically at Jack and pointed him towards the table Whitney was sitting at before following Victoria. Jack squared his shoulders and stepped forward to tap Whitney on the shoulder. She turned around, eyes widening as she took in the sight of Jack.
"You came back."
"I had to," Jack replied, struggling to read Whitney's expression. "Like... you won. I agreed to talk to you if you won."
"Right." The girl pushed the seat across from her out with her foot, indicating for Jack to take it. He sat down and they looked across at each other for a few seconds. Then...
"I'm sorry."
They stared at one another as they both said the same thing. Then Whitney continued.
"I know what you must have been thinking. Whitney's the same bitch she was back in school, right? Don't expect any mercy from her if you challenge her. You'll never hear the end of it if you lose to her even once..." Whitney's voice started to wobble as she remembered her earlier childhood years.
Jack took over. "No. I mean, yes, I thought that, but... I shouldn't have. So maybe you were like that, what, five years ago? I didn't even give you a chance - I didn't even wait to see what you were now."
"But I did see, in the end," he continued, "with you and your Pokemon. I expected it to be like when you bossed the guys around back at school and they'd fall head over heels to comply, but what I saw... it was like, your Pokemon wanted your guidance during the match, and you gave it. I only saw it afterwards, though... I... I don't know what happened to me..."
"You lost your temper," Whitney finished. "It happens to everyone. I won't hold it against you, it's ok. But - I think you also want to apologise to these guys..."
She held out Jack's Premier and Heavy Balls as she finished. Jack smiled.
"Yeah... I do. Thanks."

Fists and Kingston stood in front of Jack, looking at him curiously.
"Guys," Jack began. "I - I'm not sure how to say this, but... I lost control of myself back there, in that battle. I kinda went wild and... I treated you without the respect that you deserve, and that I should have given. I'm... really sorry, you guys."
Fists was the first to react, almost instantly, running up to Jack and tackling him. But he had a smile all over his face; he clearly didn't even think Jack should be apologising. Kingston held back, though.
"Kingston... buddy?" Jack ventured. The Pupitar closed its eyes. Jack put a hand over his mouth as he struggled to hold back tears, and returned Kingston to the Premier Ball.
"He always did like my mom more," Jack muttered to Whitney as he pocketed the Balls, deciding to let Fists walk with him a while. "Maybe I should just take him back to Saffron."
Whitney embraced him. "Maybe. But I don't think you should give up," she said softly. "Try and win him back. You can do it if you really want it."
Jack felt better looking around at Citrus, Fists... and the egg the Day-Care man had given him. He gave it a little squeeze... perhaps too big of a little squeeze. It began glowing and making a cracking noise.

"Eeeyaah!" he shouted as he hurriedly placed it on the table. "I didn't squeeze it that hard!"
"No, it's ok!" Whitney assured him. "That's how a Pokemon egg hatches naturally. You can tell by the glow."
The glow intensified as the top of the egg popped off and fell to the side. As the light dimmed down, the sides of the egg shattered and a small form popped out.
A little reptilian-looking thing stood before him. The first thing he noticed was the humongous teeth the little beastie boasted. He didn't really notice anything else for a while after that. Red spikes ran down its blue back, right down to its wagging tail. It bounced a little as it cried out "Toto!" Jack opened his PokeGear and scanned it.
Totodile, a Water-type Pokemon. Commonly lives in lakes and rivers. Evolves into Croconaw and Feraligatr.

"Totodile, huh?" Jack smiled as he picked up the grinning gator. "How about I call you... Jaws?"
"Eugh," Whitney said. "Too Hollywood."
"Good point." Jack thought for a second. "Oooh, how about Niles?" The baby wiggled and shouted "Toto!" elatedly.
"Sounds good," Whitney giggled, watching Niles squirm. "Oh, so Jack, uh... I dunno if you want a rematch, soonish... or at all?" She seemed to be trying very hard not to offend. Jack smiled at her.
"Oh, I'll be back," he said as he turned to the door. Whitney looked curiously after him. He stopped just before he stepped outside and grinned back at her.
"You're too strong," he said. "I need to prepare."

Tyler Cohen | Goldenrod Daycare | 5:15PM

"I'll bet you a golden Beldum that your brother wipes him out in one move," Max whispered to Sam, his eyes focusing on the fight on the verge of birthing in front of them. I turned my eyes to Sam, who just stared ahead without a word. And it dawned on me that she was hurting.

But why?

Standards.

Her entire life was built on standards. Be a champion like your brother. Be a winner like your brother. Beat Kent like your brother.

But never be Sam.

I frowned and jerked my gaze away from her before I started crying. What an awful life to have...constantly comparing herself to a god in the Pokemon world.

Luckily, the daycare couple's grandson took his place in the judge's box and held out his right hand. "The rules are simple! This will be a two-on-one match. The challenger, Kent, will use two Pokemon at once. The house trainer, Abel, will restrain and command only one Pokemon."

Abel nodded and pulled out a Pokeball, not letting it leave his hand as it released an impressive Venusaur onto the field. The green beast roared and stomped its feet, lowering its head in a readied stance. Abel kept his best Poker face on as the boy dropped his hand. "Begin!"

Kent shoved a finger out into the air and yelled at the battlefield. "Pilo, hit it with a blizzard! Veo, be ready to follow through with a quick jolt!"

That's when I caught the reflected sun in Abel's eyes. Just as Piloswine took in his deep breath for his Blizzard, Abel snapped his fingers and Venusaur nodded. The hoary white plume of snow blasted out at Venusaur, but with a single word, two syllables, Abel quenched its power. "Endure." The green dino braced itself and seemed to soak in the brute force of the snowstorm. Abel grinned and pointed at the Piloswine, and Venusaur readied for a command. "Frenzy Plant on both of them."

Venusaur slammed its vines into the ground, cracking the loamy soil all around him as wild, thorny plants began to snare his opponents. Piloswine gave out a roar and discharged a bit of snow, but fell under the strength of the attack. Jolteon tried to avoid it, but the swift vines got it before it could escape. And to the ground fell both of Kent's Pokemon.

And I wanted a camera so badly, just to capture the look on Kent's face.

And then the look on his face when his knees hit the ground.

But that was all just before I looked away for what couldn't have been more than three seconds and saw a Scyther walking up the road in front of the Daycare. I did a quick double-take and nearly dropped my Pokeballs when I saw that it was a man in a Scyther costume.

...Scyther costume?

A Bugsy aid!

_____________ _______________
5:25PM | Fifteen Yards Away

"So a double battle izzz what you want?" The aid stared at Sam and I through his thick-rimmed glasses and grinned. "That seemzz reazzonable enough." Out of his Scyther costume he pulled two Pokeballs. "We'll begin whenever you want."

I looked at Sam and she nodded to me and we both took out one Pokeball a piece-- my Haunter and her Charmander.

The aid flung his Scyther-arm out and released a shiny, bug-shaped rock onto the field along with a fully-grown Ariados. I whipped out my Pokedex and scanned it for info.

Foretress, the steel nest Pokemon. Primary powers: Iron Defense, Attack Order, and Rapid Spin.

I nodded and released Haunter right beside Charmander. The purple ghost seemed ecstatic to be out in the open, even if it was daytime. But his celebrating was cut short when the Aid gave his first orders. "Foretress, start upping your defense; Ariados, hit Haunter with a Faint Attack!"

Haunter phased out of the battlefield just as the spider leaped forward, phasing back in behind him before bloating himself up three times his normal size with a Night Shade attack. Ariados turned around just as Haunter opened his huge mouth to engulf him with the darkness. There was a quick sputtering and a few spidery noises, but Ariados quickly grew silent.

Blaze didn't waste time, either. Sam had given him a stray command and he had flown into action with a dead-on flamethrower to Foretress in the face. And I could tell by the Aid's expression that it was the most devastating thing he could've done. Foretress grew eerily still, burnt to a crisp.

My attention flew back to Haunter and Ariados when I saw them swapping Suckerpunches back and forth, trying their hardest to get the upper hand. Ariados swung to the left and I yelled out, "Haunter, shadow punch!" And the ghost-head threw his fist around his head at the unsuspecting Ariados, sending him into point-blank range for Charmander's flamethrower.

Sam kept her blank stare on her face and nodded to Blaze just before the black lizard torched the poor spider, sending him reeling back into the Aid's pokeball.

Needless to say, he was pissed.

After a bit of an argument about overpowering our Pokemon, he held out a Scyther hand with two Hive Badges dangling from the fake blade. Both of us took them without a word and the Aid left rather miserably, trudging onwards to the Pokemon center. I turned to Sam to smile before seeing her brother over her shoulder, calling up a flying Pokemon to take him to the sky. And the first instinct told me to stop him, to make him celebrate with Sam and me. But it wasn't my place.

Just like it wasn't my place to be league champion or a Pokemon master.

It was all a set of standards to live up to...and Sam had set her bar as high as she could by begrudging her brother. But I didn't have anyone to hold my achievements against. So did that make me a weak trainer? Or was it all a matter of motivation?

Samuelle Park - Ecruteak City, 9 AM

Sam loved being a girl. Kisa and her shared a room all to themselves in the hotel, and that was the best part about it. She was in a foul mood when they arrived yesterday, but when they got to their rooms and she heard Kent and the others arguing about who should sleep on the beds and who would sleep on the floor (they were too cheap to get two rooms), her day brightened.

It wasn't as if Abel had stuck around anyway. He was gone now, and she was more determined than ever to squash that stupid little team of his.

She glanced around the room one more time, watching the sleeping Kisa on her bed. Ecruteak's weather was bleak, and even with the window closed and the heater cranked up as high as possible it was somewhat cold. Sam shivered and grabbed a coat from her pack, waited for Kite and Rhyhorn to slip out of the room and shut the door.

Outside the hotel was colder than she expected, and Sam was forced to don her coat at once. And even then it wasn't enough. She looked at the brochure in her hands.

"VISIT THE KIMONO THEATER!" it proclaimed in loud red letters.

Sam strolled down the street, her attention buried in the brochure's directions. Turned left, stopped. Looked up and saw the huge traditional building towering over her.

Abel said something about battling these girls who owned Eevees. Sam glanced at the egg in her hands. Why hadn't it hatched yet? Almost everyone else's had already hatched.

Was she that crappy at raising Pokemon? None - NONE - of her Pokemon had evolved, and the others already had a handful of evolved ones.

Kite ran around in circles, obviously excited for the battle he expected lay ahead. Rhyhorn simply watched his new friend with a baffled expression. Sam sighed and smiled. Never mind. It didn't matter if Kent had evolved Pokemon. She had Kite, and Blaze, and her Piplup, and they were all that mattered. Plus, Rhyhorn adored her (even if he refused to enter a pokeball).

Kent's Pokemon sucked anyway - even Abel said so - and they hardly ever listened to him.

The egg in her hands was heavy, and Sam avoided looking at it. This was the right thing to do. It would be in better hands with the Kimono ladies anyway. They would raise it into a majestic Espeon, or an Umbreon, or maybe even a Glaceon. Sam couldn't even make it hatch into an Eevee, much less evolve it.

Sam stepped inside the theater to hear tinkling music. A perverted old man was the only one in the audience. He clapped whenever the one dancer onstage twirled around. To a corner, Sam saw a familiar person stuttering around a Kimono-donning lady. Kent.

She rolled her eyes, and Kite whined in disapproval.

"You have an Eevee egg!"

Sam almost jumped. She hadn't noticed a third lady approach her. Sam glanced at the egg in her hands and smiled nervously. She held out the egg. "Do you want it?"

The Kimono lady gave Sam a baffled look. "I already have an Espeon."

Sam frowned. "Then maybe you could give it to one of your students?"

"Ah. You want to be one of our students?"

This lady was getting on Sam's nerves. Kite nudged Sam's hand to remind her to stay calm, and Sam scratched its head. "No, no. Look, lady, just take the egg." She wanted to be out of here before Kent noticed her trying to give the egg away.

"Why?"

"Because. ARGH." Sam tried to shove it into the Kimono lady's hands, but the dancer refused to take it, pushing it back at Sam. The cycle went on and on, with the two pushing the egg to each other.

Finally, the Kimono lady sighed. "Look. There's only one reason a trainer gives away her pokemon, and that's when she thinks she's no longer good enough. Let's make a deal. If you win a battle against me, then I'll take the egg if you still want to give it up."

Sam tensed and nodded at Kite, only for a familiar sound burst into a room. Shrapnel flew everywhere, and Kite dove into Sam's arms.

When the smoke and rubble cleared, two figures appeared at the door.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

At that moment Sam's eyes readjusted to the light and she saw something quite disturbing. Team Rocket's uniform was designed to fit younger women, and although she was quite pretty, the forty-something year old in the Rocket uniform (complete with a miniskirt) was terrifying.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite...uh..." The blue-haired girl glanced at her mini-skirt donning friend, looking nervous as the other grew increasingly impatient waiting.

"Don't tell you forgot again, James."

James? ...Wait. That was a dude?

Whatever. Sam wasn't going to wait for these morons. "Bagon, zen headbutt that meowth!"

At the same time, Kent released his Politoed and said, "Politoad, Hypervoice!"

"HEY. Don't interrupt us," screamed the Meowth.

That took almost everyone by surprise (well, everyone but the Kimono girls anyway).

But the pink-haired cougar was quick, and she released an Arbok and a Seviper, which wrapped themselves around Politoad and Kite, respectively.

Sam's throat constricted. She couldn't lose this fight. Couldn't lose Kite. Just then, Kite was enveloped in a white light, and it burst out of Seviper's grip.

Only, it wasn't quite Kite anymore, but a huge shell-like thing. And when Sam said huge, she meant it. It was almost three-fourths of her actual height, and way, way bigger than her. Big enough for her to ride on, actually.

It took her a while to realize that Kite had just evolved, and when she realized it she simply stared in an almost hysterical, paralyzed state of excitement.

"Hey Sam! The battle's not over yet! Politoad, ice ball!"

Oh right. Battle. But who freaking cared about the battle when Kite just evolved? Sam wanted to test out Kite's new strength so badly. "Dragon pulse, Kite!"

Kent| Kimono Girl Theater | Day Seven, 9:40am


"Politoad, give it another hyper voice!" Kent commanded. He held the envy from Sam.

Kite evolving was just another reminder of Gible. He was raised as a Dragon and Ground type lover. He was envious of Sam and her soon-to-be Salamance. He would never admit it, but he was jealous of Sam. Aside from Pilo and Fang none of his Pokemon really liked him. Heck, he could tell two of them hated him, one of them was just cheery, the other two neutral and lazy. And Fang was gone. It was eating Kent up inside.

Sam gave out one more command. The two aging rockets were not done yet. They seemed better at taking on Pokemon attacks than most Pokemon.

"Siviper! Yanmega! Arbok! Dustox! Wobbefeut!"

"Cacturne! Weezing! Chimeco! Mime Jr.! Carnivine! Vctrbell!"

Wow, they had some muscle with them too. It was a eleven versus two match, right now. The kimono girls were a bit occupied, and so not able to help. The big entrance had caught the studio on fire and they had their hands full dealing with it.

Only Sam and Kent were there. Max, Kisa, Jack and Tyler had went to go pick up the lunch, they were going to eat at the theater. Sam released her own team, and Kent let out Pilo and Lax. It seem pointless for him to try the rest, right now. Scizz and Veon would probably kill him.

"Pilo, go in with an Ancient power! Lax, Gunk shot! Poli, Hyper voice!"

"Rhyhorn, thunder Bolt(:D)! Kite, Dragon Breath! Blaze Flamethrower! Piplup, bubblebeam!"

The mix of attacks exploded on contact. Unfortunately none of them made it further than a few feet. An overload of attacks equals too much going on, which is bad. Very bad. The smoke came back right away, and in a jumble of evil sounding growls team rocket's Pokemon rushed in.

Kent and Sam got ready for the worst. First Poli was thrown out, knocked out, needles decorating it. Kent solemnly returned it. Next was Blaze, followed by Law. Both of them had scratches and light bite marks on them. Finally Piplup was thrown out of the place, to which Sam gave Kent a look. "Where are your other Pokemon?"

Kent thought she was being sarcastic, maybe mean, but he realized it was genuine. He shrugged with an uneasy expression. He knew this would have been better, if only he had an actual team, and not a few Pokemon that put up with him.

The smoke cleared, revealing Pilo, Ryhorn and Kite holding strong. Their tough exteriors and size had gotten them this far into the battle. But how long would it last them. the two snakes got ready to pounce on Pilo. Kent was helpless, he wanted to scream, but it was too late. They clamped down onto him, fangs glowing purple. Kent looked away. All his fault.

"Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilo!!!! Kent looked up, surprised by the sound of his Pokemon. It was not a cry of pain, or a cry of weakness, it wsa an cry of power. It began to glow and slowly grew. It's tusks grew out, and curved upward first. Its body began to round out, away from the rough, hill like, shape. It grew to about five times its original size. Finally eh glow dimmed, and its color changed. It was a new Pokemon, to say the least.

Maaaaaaaaaaaaamo!!! It gave a loud cry and shook its attackers off, with persistence. They landed on top of the flying bugs around it, taking them down in a heap. Sam picked up after it. "Kite,Dragon pulse!" The blue, orange ball hit the remaining grass type Pokemon, the small, cutsie ones had been taken out in the smoke, and took them out.

The only Pokemon left were a floating purple gas ball and a blue...something. Sam was about to call out the final move. A powerful stream of water suddenly blasted away the gas ball, followed by a bolt of thunder. Sam and Kent both turned around, the kimono girls were standing behind them, their Eevee team in attack mode.

Team rocket was gone in a blink of the eye. They didn't feel like being blasted away.

_______________

"Hey, Kimono girl!" Kent ran up to the girls. "Um..Kimono girl with the Jolteon?"

One of them stepped forward towards Kent. "Yes?"

"Um...well...you see," It was hard enough for Kent to say this normally, but in front of a Kimono girl. Yikes. "I recently hatched and evolved my Eevee. And, well, it won't exactly...listen to me. In fact it shocks me when I try to use it. When it was an Eevee it was lazy. And now it is plain stubborn."

"Let me see it."

Kent reluctantly released Veon, wincing preemptively. The kimono girl lent down in front of it, and stroked its fur, whispering something in its ear. It growled back. "I believe it was evolved too quickly. It seems it is still a baby, in a grown Pokemons body. Its shocks are not hatred...more of crying." Kent nodded, looking away. "Just take your time with it. This is why you wait to evolve your Pokemon...to avoid tantrums that are dangerous. Never yell. And try and baby it. It will warm to you."

Kent nodded, again. He was obviously hating himself, right now. "Do not feel bad. All of us make mistakes. When I started out I did the same thing. I was so excited to have a Jolteon I grabbed my older sister's stone and used it on it."

Kent nodded, giving a light smile.

Tyler| Ecruteak City, Random Restaurant | 9:00am

"You seem like an expert around here," Jack noted. Tyler was leading the group around the town. Suddenly Sam stopped, and walked away, Kent followed, though he seemed reluctant to have to follow Sam.

"I used to live here, for a bit," Tyler said. He really didn't want to talk about his past, not now. It was bad enough he was this close to Morty...could he beat him? His team was barley coming in. Casper and Gumbo were strong, but could they hold their own?

"There is a great restaurant up ahead," Tyler said to avoid the subject. "Let's get something to go and then hunt down Sam and Kent."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Wow....what the heck happened here?" Tyler and the gang walked over to the kimono theater, in wreckage. There was smoke, and parts of the walls were gone. It wasn't destroyed but it wasn't in the best shape, either.

Sam walked out, a weak smile on her face. She seemed both happy, and a bit off, at the moment. "Team Rocket, I think. The people were old."

"And they looked like hookers," Kent strode out of the building, proudly polishing a Pokeball. What was it this time? A new Pokemon? Had another evolution happened? Or had he just single handedly taken out a group of thugs. Tyler doubted the last one but didn't cross it out.

Tyler then noticed two overly circular, bulky figured inside. He noticed the bigger one first, it nwas massive, with pearly white tusks extending outside. No way. No Way. No. Way. Kent evolved Piloswine already. A Mamoswine already...they had barley started and his team was getting power house heavy.

The next figure took a bit of time to get. The gray, hard and rocky looking exterior was more foreign. He ended up needing the Pokedex to identify it. "Shelgon, the rocky cocoon Pokemon. Within its rugged shell, its cells have begun changing. The shell peels off the instant it evolves."

Tyler was speechless. "Congrats guys!" He finally shouted. "Looks like your teams just got mega boosted." Jack cheered in the background, as well, an Max even managed to smile.

"Eh it was no--Wow Tyler, check your egg!" Kent rushed towards Sam an tugged off one of her Pokeballs, without even asking. "Mamo, stomp out a mini pool over here. Piplup use Brine to fill it. Poli, chill it out with some ice balls."

Tyler grabbed for his Egg, it was glowing bright, blinding, almost. Small cracks were beginning to spread around it. He ran over to the pool, which Kent was sitting next to, crushing berries up. He gestured for Tyler to put the egg in the water. "Sea type Pokemon, like Horsea, are a bit more complicated to hatch. If they aren't in water they tend to...freak. And they are more comfortable in their schools, so you need to calm them, fast."

The egg burst. It dissolved in the water, foaming and bubbling around the Pokemon, like a cushion of air. Tyler took a cautious step into the make shift pool, an crept toward the newborn. It was nestled, unmoving in the water. Kent handed him a bowl of better mush for the Pokemon. The pokemon began to stir, and began to move around, little by little.

When it finally opened it eyes it seemed off. It looked around, in a vulnerable fear. Bubbles flew to the surface in a mild panic. Tyler ran over, a bit too fast. The Pokemon dashed backwards and shot a blast of water towards Tyler. He collapsed into the pool. "It's okay, buddy, here, have some food," Tyler said in a gentle whisper. He let the bowl drift toward the Pokemon. It nervously took a nibble. "Sree!" It cried and devoured the rest.

Tyler Cohen | Ecruteak City | 9:35AM

"Easy, now..." I reached down beneath the water, petting Horsea on its spiral tail. It turned its huge red eyes up to me and I saw tears welled up. The Pokedex didn't lie.

A Horsea without a school to live with at birth learns within the hour to be an isolationist, which gives it a lonely nature. With a lonely nature, the Horsea will have an inherently higher, aggressive attack force, but at the cost of defensive prowess.

"Sreaaa...?" It recoiled a few inches, fluttering its eyes lazily before sneezing out an inky black bubble into the air. It hovered up around me, but began gliding over to Kent slowly before bursting in his face. And Horsea had its first laugh. "Seaa! Seaa!" I grinned and pulled out my Pokedex, getting a gender reading for it. Horsea. Perfect.

I retrieved the Dragon Scale from my backpack and slid it into place along the rows of fresh scales, watching it glisten in the morning sun. Beautiful. And Horsea, she looked at me with her huge eyes again and silently begged me to be a good trainer. In my mind, I saw how the Rockets had stormed the Daycare when her egg was freshly lain. And how the rocket goon had tried to break the egg for a premature, aggressive hatching. And the fall into the river. And the journey downstream until two hands reached down and grabbed it out of the current. And the tears suddenly made sense.

I reached into my backpack and pulled out a Pokeball, dropping it into the water to let it float around Horsea for a minute. The tiny sea dragon blew a ring of water around it, making it spin on its axis. I looked over at Kent, who was gawking at his Pokedex. "You lucked out. That was a water pulse...that just timed in at 97MPH. That's nearly the speed of a fully-grown Kingdra's Water Pulse...even though it's been around for only a few minutes."

I smiled and looked back to Horsea, who was still playing with the Pokeball. It leaned down and tapped its tubular nose on the ball, enveloping itself in blue light before vanishing. The ball sank to the bottom and I leaned in to get it. When I stood up, I stayed in the pool until the water on and under my clothes stopped dripping for the most part. I just couldn't stop smiling. Not for the life of me. So I looked up at everyone else and looked at their faces. Not a single person smiled back at me. So I looked off to the side and tried to suffer out the bleak feeling. Horsea made it easier. I looked at the ball and just stared for a minute, not listening to any of the sounds of the city around me.

"I'll call you Rain." I whispered to the ball, keeping my deep blue eyes on the axis of the ball. Just remember the water pulse... Remember how jealous Kent was. And is. Yes, he'll always be utterly jealous of how strong Rain is.

The ball shrunk and I put it on my still-dripping-wet belt with the other two.

((I'll finish later; I'm sleepy.))

So, I do have Internet down in the Hotel, so I will be here.

Kent|11:25, Restaurant


“We gonna go or what?” Kent tapped impatiently on the table. He was itching for a battle. “I want that new badge.”

“Kent, let us eat first, okay?” Sam said, holding back a lot.

“Fine…might as well get Lax his motivation now.”

Kent reached down and picked up out Lax’s Pokeball. “Yo, can I get a Munchlax sized order?” The waiter nodded and took off into the kitchen. “Lax, get ready for a big ol’ feast.”

“Laaaaaaaaac. Mun-Mun-Mun Lax!” He cheered. As soon as it saw the food around the table it went mad, trying to grab at the group’s meals for himself. Kent sighed and told it to calm down and wait for its food. Sam rolled her eyes, whil she also tried to convince Kite to eat something.

“Come on buddy, why won’t you eat anything?” Sam whined, wafting the kabob in front of it.

Kent chuckled to himself. Shelgon didn’t eat by nature, it was the whole reading for evolution, they starved themselves for their body to kick into over drive and try and force early evolution. Kent was never going to tell this to Sam, however. He was enjoying her freak out of this. On top of it he could see she wanted to ask him if it was normal, or wrong, or anything, because of his whole Dragon Type raising expertise but it would kill her to do that.

After awhile she gave up, throwing the kabob to Rydon, instead. Tyler was shining his new Pokeball, he seemed to love the new Horsea, Kent had to agree with the fascination. Horsea were one of his favorite Pokemon to raise…hell he loved all the dragon types, or dragon types to be, he brought up on the farm. Jack seemed a bit down, still a bit broken up about his lost gym, but he seemed to be cheering up, Rotom was hovering around him, giving little shocks. Kent finally noticed his egg was gone.

“Hey, Jackie boy, what happened to that egg of your’s?”

“It hatched…awhile ago,” He said and took another bit off his plate.

“Well, you haven’t exactly shown it off to us, yet,” Kent pushed in. “You wanted it to be a surprise, or something? Show it off at this gym?”

“Sorta….” Jack said.

‘Well let’s see it!” Kent cheered, but his attention was changed, leaving Jack alone. They never got to see the Pokemon. Behind him four waiters struggled to carry a huge platter of food. Munchlax dove at it before it reached them, eating up every bite in a minute, flat.

“…did your Pokemon just eat this fake food display?” one of the waiters asked, shocked.

Kent was speechless. “Wel…I would like to cancel my order, please.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on body,” Kent said, shacking Munclax awake. “You’ll be fine. I bet a battle would help fix you up good and proper!”

“Louux…” he trailed off. That fake food didn’t settle well, at all. Munclax was laying still, sick and pale. “Dammit, I think we might need to skip the gym.” Jack said.

“No, he can do it…he has to…he and Pilo are the only ones who have a chance to win this for me,” Kent said.

“Kent, stop being so selfish, we need to get Munchlax too the next town, the Pokemon center there is the best in Jotho.”

“…Laux…Lax!” he said again. It picked it self up and waddled away. “Laaaux.”

They followed the slow, sickly Pokemon away and into the town. They finally stopped at a large, old fashioned building. There were oil lamps spread around it, all dimmed in the day. The wood creaked softly in the wind, and the paint was wearing away ion many placed. There were even two gargoyle statues in the entrance, large, grey, creepy as hell statues.

“Um…I think it wants me to fight?” Kent said, with a weak smile. Same looked like she was about to say something, but the way Munchlax was smiling made her shut up. It wanted Kent to do it. For some reason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Um….I’ll wait out here,” Tyler said. “I have to go take ccare of something before I see Morty.”

“Your lose, bra,” kent said and pushed in. Pilo’s Pokeball in hand. He was faking all sorts of confidence right now.Kent knew Mamo was strong, stronger than ever, but it couldn’t take on three in a row. Kent was screwed.

“Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb!” Kent turned in surprise. “Fang?!?! Fang where are you…did you come back?” Kent looked around in surprise, Gible was back. He had a shot to make it in the battle. His pal was back. Or was he? Kent looked around for another minute or two before giving up. He kicked at the floor. “Geeeeeeeeb!” came the groan. Kent frowned. It was not his friend, but the old, rickety house.

“I bet you’re glad nobody saw that,” came a voice from above. Kent looked up to see a tall blond man. His hair was just long enough to be cool, and just short enough not to be hippie like. Dressed in loose fitting, casual, sort of skater seek clothing.

“Well, Hello Nobody,” Kent greeted. “I’m Kent, any chance you no where Morty is?”

“What a coinicidence, my friends call me Morty,” he said with a grin. “Pleassure to meet you, Kent.”

“I think you know why I’m here.”

“Well, the battle are is up here,” Morty said and gestured for Kent.

“The battle will be three versus three. The challenger can switch his Pokemon at any time he wishes in the match.”

Kent had already released Mamswine onto the field. It was going to be a gamble for this battle, but it was a gamble Kent would have to take.

“Haunter, go on in!” Morty called and released the haunting creature.

“Mamoswine, start this thing off with an Avalance!” the giant charged forward, pounding stomps nearly cracking the flabby wooden field. The ice slowly formed around its back, spears of frost ejecting from itself. Morty was taking his time to call out an attack, soon it would be too late. Tha haunter seemed calm, but was slowly becoming panicked.

“Now, us shadow claw!” Morty commanded. The Haunter faded for a moment, Mamoswine stuck charging, now towards the wall. The ghost appeared above it a moment later and faded under the ice. Mamoswine cried in pain, as the ice physically was torn away from its back by the shadow claw.

“Now, go in with a dark pulse to finish it off!” The haunter floated backward, into the air. “Hauuuun!” it called as the black ball formed in front of it. The shadowy figure charged forward towards Mamoswine, behind the wave of shadows. It formed around the ghostly body, like a protective barrier. “Endure!” Kent cried last minute. Mamoswine formed a ball, or as close at it could get to one, a redissh green tint then overtook it’s fur. Haunter hit the field and bounce backwards. “Now, Ancient power!”

Mamoswine gave a stomp and a group of stones appeared around it. One more stomp and they charged right towards the Haunter. It was out cold.

“First point to Challenger Kent.”

Morty smiled. “don’t get cocky kid, it’s not over till the fat lady sings.”

“Oh, can I get you mom’s number then?”

Mort sneered and thre out his next pokemon. A shadowy blob appeared on the filed, slightly humanoid, but far from it. “Gang! Gang Gar!” it cried. Morty wasted no time to use it. “Use hyper beam, Gengar!”

Kent freaked. Since when did gym leaders use hyper beams? They were supposed to be tough, not this tough, though. Mamoswine was defenseless and was hit head on by the beam. “Sorry Kent, but I could see that thing’s pain. I couldn’t be happy letting it get more hits in it’s condition.

Kent nodded, though reluctant. “The score is tied at One to One. Challenger Kent, choose you next Pokemon.”

Kent froze. Munclax, his reserve was sick. Jolteon was still too young…it couldn’t win this, it didn’t even like him. Kent hadn’t even seen Scizz…but the only time he id it almost cut his head off. Maybe Gliscor…except it was sleeping, it didn’t care enough about Kent to try and change it‘s schedule, let alone do it too battle. . Politoad? Maybe…no…he didn’t want Politoad…he wanted Fang…he wanted him back.

Kent was lucky he wasn’t in Vegas. He just lost his bet. Kent backed away. “I …I don’t…I don’t have any other Pokemon to use…I don’t have…I don’t have Fang.” Kent backed away slowly, almost on the brink of tears. “I’m sorry for wasting you time,” he said before running away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dear Tyler, Jack, Max and Sam,

I need some time away from the group. I know you probably don’t mind, or care that much, Heck you are probably glad to have me away for awhile… maybe forever….I need some time to think and reflect on myself…I’m headed to Cianwood to get Munchlax some Medicine…I’ll be there for awhile…see you whenever.

From Kent.



(P.S, to fit this I think we should do the Lugia arc we were talking about on the way back for Cianwood. In the state I am trying to get Kent into he wouldn’t exactly fit into it. Miond if we push it off a bit?)

Tyler Cohen | Tin Altar | 12:40PM

I couldn't run from it anymore. The letter... It was here...

I rummaged through loose planks of wood and leaves, keeping watch over my shoulder for any of the Monks who may have seen me. But I was in the clear. I was all good. I took off my belt and laid it on the ground, getting down on my knees to dig into the loamy soil. And after a few heaves on the loose roots, I retrieved my secret box I had made a year ago out of an Apricorn case and tin wiring. After brushing the dirt off my knees, I sat down in the leaves and tapped on Haunter's Pokeball, releasing him into the air around me. Once he realized where we were, he calmed down and hovered silently beside me, watching me intently through his bulgy eyes.

So I looked back at the box and started brushing the dirt off of it. "There's no running, Casper." I straightened my back and took a deep breath, already fighting back tears. And, as if I were talking to someone who wasn't there, I began talking to the box. "I know that dad sent this letter last November and Morty never asked me anything about it. And I know what he wanted to say, even though I never read it." And a knot formed in the back of my throat.

"Mom was sick when we left home. That's why dad wanted us gone." I bit my bottom lip and slowly opened the box, retrieving a letter printed on gray paper. It was sealed with a white rose. "I knew I'd have to come face to face with this someday, and today's that day, Casper." I manned up and swallowed the knot in my throat and unfolded the letter.


Dear Tyler,

Son, there is no way to put this that won't hurt either of us. But the truth can't be avoided and it'll be easier for both of us if I make it simple. You left a year ago to live with Morty because your mother was very, very ill. Some time after your departure, we learned that she had several brain tumors that were causing her body to shut down very swiftly. And your mother, Tyler, she couldn't let you see her like that. And so we sent you off. Understand, please, that it was out of love.

Tuesday, your mother passed aw-...

My hands balled into fists and I stopped breathing, losing my composure somewhere between the boiling hot tears and the choking heat in my lungs. My shoulders began to shake and I doubled over, letting my sobs come out in heaves. I didn't even have to finish the letter. I didn't even have to finish that word. As long as I never read the whole thing, my mother would still be alive somewhere in my mind. Somewhere in the blissful ignorance of childhood, my mother sat and rocked me to sleep. And she sang all night long if she had to, as long as her darling son was safe in her arms and sound asleep.

That was my mother. She was alive. And I was in her arms, safe and sound.

I had never learned of what a Pokemon is. I had never learned of water or ghosts or anything that would take my mother away from me.

And as I heaved and sobbed and cried, Haunter kept a ghostly hand on my shoulder, handling some of the immense burden. But my hands clenched my stomach and my forehead touched the ground, bringing the stinging, salty tears into my hair and into the dirt. And it all stained me black as the grave.

But it was alright, though. Because I was breaking. And my heart was tearing. And my world was collapsing.

Is this enough motivation for you? the letter would say, written in bold black letters.

So I sat back up after what felt like hours on the ground and put the letter back in the box. But before I could put it down, something shiny and silver fell out of the folds and between the spaces of two wooden planks. With a dirty hand I wiped my vision clean and dug under the planks for the shiny silver object, reaching it just before a baby Rattata bit my hand. I winced, but retrieved the tiny little...wing? I looked it over carefully and let Haunter see it. He gave me a strange look, almost like he knew what it was. But it was just... a shiny silver feather.

I stashed it in my backpack and took one final look at my old box before shoving it under the planks. But I knew that, one day, I'd be back. And I'd have to face the truth. But for now, she'd stay alive in my memory and die a little more every time I cried at night.

But the others would never know.

They'd never know what destroyed Tyler Cohen's spirit.

Jack Preston
1:05pm, Day 4
Burned Tower

Tyler had gone off somewhere, Kent was probably showing off his new badge by now, and the rest of the group was Arceus-knows-where. Jack had wandered off on his own, knowing he could call one of them on their PokeGear if he couldn't find them. He now stood in front of the once-majestic Brass Tower, a now-ruined building that rivalled the Tin Tower in the east. After a terrible fire, the Brass Tower had become the aptly-named Burned Tower, and all that remained was the ground floor and basement.

Jack glanced around. There was a signpost nearby ordering civilians to stay out, but Jack had heard some weird noises coming from the area of the building and definitely wanted to check it out. The place seemed deserted, so Jack quietly stepped through the door. A hand immediately grabbed his shoulder; he slapped a hand across his mouth to stop himself shouting. The tall, strangely-clad man looked down at him.
"So, you ignored the warning sign?" Jack nodded. No point denying it. The guy grinned.
"Yep. Me too. Were you drawn here by the sounds of the legendary beasts?"
Jack shrugged. "Those weird noises were being made by something."
"Correct," the man said. "My name is Eusine; I'm looking for the Pokemon that made those sounds. I know they're in here somewhere. You're welcome to help me look."
"Sure," Jack said, introducing himself.

The duo spent almost an hour treading softly on the broken floorboards. Eventually Citrus floated out of a hole in the floor, a hole that neither human had noticed earlier. Eusine put his face to the hole and gasped.
"What?" Jack whispered, almost running across to where Eusine was. "Did you find them?"
Eusine nodded, put a finger to his lips and pointed to the hole. Jack looked down and an incredible sight met his eyes.
Three Pokemon, as big as horses, slept on the basement floor. One red and orange with sabre-like teeth, one yellow with lightning marks and a zig-zagging tail, and one blue with a shining crystal crest on its head.
"Entei, Raikou and Suicune," Eusine whispered. "According to the Ecruteak legend, three Pokemon were killed by the fire that destroyed this building. But Ho-oh, the phoenix that visits Tin Tower from time to time, brought them back to life as the three Pokemon you see before you."

Jack marvelled at the sight. If only his PokeGear was one of the new models with a camera... Maybe one of the others had a camera. He got up -

- and his foot went straight through the rotting floorboard. Before he could even steady himself, he broke right through the basement ceiling and landed on his ass in front of the three legendary Pokemon, who awoke with a start and leaped to their feet.
The orange one (Entei, Jack noted shakily as his PokeGear beeped) emitted a low growl, and the yellow one (Raikou) actually took a step towards him as its whiskers sparked. Jack grabbed his Poke Balls and prepared for the worst...

The blue one (Suicune, Jack concluded) stood before him, facing the other two. It barked loudly, once, twice, thrice. The others halted their advance. Suicune turned and looked at Jack, its eyes piercing him as he stared, terrified, back into them. Then, in a flash, the room was empty save for himself and Citrus.

"Are you all right down there?" Eusine called. "I've got a rope, but it's no good if you're injured." Jack climbed to his feet.
"No, I'm fine," he called back. "I got lucky."
"I'll say you did," Eusine muttered as he threw it down. Jack pulled himself back up and Eusine added, "I'd kill to have had that experience you just had."
Jack rubbed his sore butt. "You sure about that?"

Kent| 12:00pm, Route 38| Day 9

All alone. Maybe it was better like this. Maybe it was meant to be like this. Kent was not the most likeable person, he knew that, he did not try and fool himself. But he always thought, in the back of his mind, he had friends. His Pokemon. Until today. He only had one friend now...and he wasn’t even a good friend to it.

He forced it to battler, he made it fight when it was not fit too. He was not a good trainer. He got some luck. Some luck he didn’t deserve. His Pokemon had talent, not him...and he couldn’t even get them to use the talent.

Kent sighed and sat down. He took out his Pokegear and scrolled down the contacts. As childish as it sounded, he needed his Dad. Kent died a bit with each dial tone, every moment his dad ignored him. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. “Hello you have reached the Warner resident. We’re probably busy getting blasted by a Dragonite right now, so leave a message.” Kent sighed and put away his phone. No luck.’
Kent got back up and headed back towards the route to Olivine City, and then over to Cianwood....and who knows from there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yeah, first ticket to Cianwood, please," Kent stood at the dock. He was all ready to go. He was ready to get Munchlax all patched up. All ready for...for what?

Kent took his ticket and walked onto the boat. It was a decent sized boat, the trip to Cianwood was not long enough to warrant a big boat, so people just sat and waited. Kent found the bathroom and just sat in the stall the whole time, thinking. or rather trying not to think.

He took his phone out again and called his home. No answer. Again. Nothing. One more time. One less pick up. Twice? No dice. Kent hung his head and put his phone away. he was on the verge of tears. Why wouldn;t his dad answer him? Why?

"You know why!" Kent told himself. "He told you why. He said you were on your own. He said not to come to him. He said I need to become a man...and that I couldn't trust him if I was going to be a real one." Kent hit the stall wall. "Not even your father wants you around, Kent. You are pathetic."

Tyler Cohen | Morty's House | 1:30PM

The walls were a midnight blue. I closed my eyes and imagined myself just a year before, laying back on this bed with Jerri, trading Pokemon cards and pretending to be ace trainers. And she would lose the game and fall back on the bed in fits of laughter. And I would fall back on my pillows, laughing too. And I remembered how happy we both were back then. Morty would sit in the living room half-asleep and talk to Jerri's brother half the night. And all of us were so happy. We were all a big happy family.

And then, when the letter came, Morty stopped treating me the same.

I knew Morty had gotten one, too. And that he knew what had happened. But Jerri stopped coming to our house and suddenly, I had no one to talk to.

And the ceiling was the same midnight blue with stars painted all around like the night sky. I opened my teary eyes and sat in my desk chair, pulling open the drawers to search. But I paused first and released Haunter from his Pokeball, squinting as the lights dimmed in the room with the presence of oppressive darkness.

"Okay, bud..." I filmed through the contents of my old desk drawers, searching for the thing. Morty had told me long ago that it would allow a Haunter to fully evolve if used. And he even gave me one for when the time was right. And I had to think to myself that the time was right. I didn't imagine that my dreams would get better in the coming weeks, so having a dream-catching Pokemon around would be perfect for me. And so I looked Haunter in the eyes as he floated next to me and just took in his presence. And I think he knew, somehow, what I was thinking, what I was feeling.

His head leaned forward and nudged my shoulder, pushing my hand against a small, diamond-shaped purple shard of glass. I pulled it out of the desk and looked back at Haunter, on the verge of tears. "Do... Do you want to?"

The ghost just hovered, not answering me. But maybe it was for the best. If he had said no, then it would be too hard for me. I looked at the shard, and then back at Haunter.

At the shard, at Haunter.

I wondered for a moment what he would be like as a Gengar. With those giant red eyes and the spikes on his back. Would he still smile without being cynical? Or would he grow distant and cold like Jerri?

With the cuff of my sleeve, I wiped away a falling tear and looked back at Haunter for a long minute. And, slowly, I stretched out my hand that held the purple shard.

But a knock at the door sent the shard to the floor along with me, doubled over picking it up. The door opened and Morty stepped in, raising an eyebrow at me. "Did I come at a bad time?" he gave off a soft chuckle and closed the door behind him, sitting down on my bed with a hollow creak from the box springs. "It's good to see you again."

I slid the shard into my pocket, turning around to face him with the best fake smile I could conjure up. "Likewise..."

He moved his dark eyes from my face to Haunter and smiled softly, in the way that only Morty could do. "You must be a great trainer if Ghastly's evolved already." He stood up with another creak from the bed and slid a hand down the intangible surface of Haunter's back. The sneaky ghost laughed and made a face. I just slid further into my chair and tried to hide.

"I'm not all that great..." My voice trailed off, leaving an awkward silence where wit and activity should have been. "Aren't you supposed to be at the gym now?"

Morty nodded but then shook his head. "I took a break for the hour. I just beat two trainers in a row and I had a feeling that you were back."

I arched an eyebrow and looked up at him. "How'd you figure?"

He smiled and knelt down beside me. "The owner of the Ho-oh lounge came to the gym to ask me where to charge your lunch bill." He gave off a soft chuckle, still smiling. "How's your adventure coming along?"

I gave a real smile and let my stagnant breath escape, reaching into my backpack for my badge case. I pulled out the black case, displaying three shiny badges. "I'm three for three so far..."

He nodded, looking back at Haunter. "That's excellent." He gave a devious grin to me in return. "Want to try for a fourth now?"

I hesitated, looking over his shoulder at Haunter, not sure of myself. "I... Uhh..." But something inside said that it would do me some good. And suddenly, I wondered if it was my conscience.

Morty kept staring into my eyes as if he were watching the water for a fish to perch.

"Sure."

___ ___ ___ ___
the_gym.
___ ___ ___ ___

I shivered, taking my place on the elevated platform over the battlefield. There was way too much fog in here for anyone's good. But I had a cure for that off the bat. I didn't listen to the instructions because I had heard them time and time again. So from my belt I pulled Horsey's Pokeball and released him onto the field first. Mainly all I could see were his read eyes shining in the darkness. Morty nodded and threw a Pokeball onto the field, releasing a fair Misdreavous. I nodded and was instantly ready for the battle. Of course, I would go first. It was customary.

"Horsey, use smokescreen!"The tiny dragon blinked several times before spewing out a dense cloud of smoke onto the foggy battlefield. Normal instinct would say that Horsey couldn't see either, but the red eyes gave it away: Horsey could see through the smoke. Morty followed it up with his favorite move of all time--shadow ball. Misdreavous gathered dark light around it and fired it off in a random direction, but without the cry of a hurt Horsey, I knew it had missed.

"Horsey, fire off a few water pulses and get her confused!"

Horsey gathered up some strength from its baby muscles and fired off wave after wave of aquatic energy at the hovering ghost, smacking it over and over until he ran out of power. Misdreavous gave out some weird cries and fired off another shadow ball in the wrong direction. It's all luck, I thought, and nodded to myself. "Hit it again, Horsey..."

The tiny seahorse blasted off another three rounds of water at Misdreavous, stopping only when it ran out of energy itself. "Hoooors...sreeea..."

Morty nodded to himself and pointed into the fog. "Misdreavous, use Night Shade!"

The elegant ghost flew into the nothingness and gave off only the sound of pulsating energy. What followed was frightening. "Hor--....!!!" The referee nodded at Morty and flagged the battle to end.

"Horsey is unable to battle! Point to Morty!"

I pulled Horsey back and threw out Crawdaunt's ball, releasing him in place of Horsey. Not only could he take a hit, but their ghost attacks would do barely anything to him, if anything at all.

The huge lobster took his place and reared back for an attack already.

"Misdreavous, use defog."

The beads around her neck illuminated and the fog and smoke withdrew into them, vanishing without a trace.

"Crawdaunt, hit her hard with a faint attack!"

Crawdaunt leaped into action, faking out the she-ghost and attacking from the back with a terrific force. With wide eyes, Misdreavous fell to the ground, unable to move.

"Misdreavous is unable to battle! Point, Tyler!"

Morty nodded and withdrew Misdreavous, pulling out a distinguished pokeball marked with a purple H. With a quick flick of the wrist, a Haunter took the field proudly and swiftly.

"Crawdaunt, fill the arena with water with surf!"

Crawdaunt slammed its claws down on the floor and gave a quick tremor, jostling the gargoyles that lined the battlefield until they began to spew fountain water from the aquifer outside. Crawdaunt wasted no time in diving under the water, but Haunter was clever enough to follow the red color wherever it went.

"Haunter, use our black death combo!"

Haunter nodded and I swallowed the hard lump in my throat.

Black death was a combination of three shadow balls, a shadow claw, and a toxic attack, all within the span of five seconds.

Haunter spread its hands, gathering energy for the massive attack. Crawdaunt was swift-swimming around beneath the waves, ready for my command.

"Crawdaunt........." I hesitated, piecing an idea together. "Faint attack and surf!" Crawdaunt swam behind Haunter who was still charging energy and leaped from the water, slamming the ghost with a shadowy claw, only to be blasted back against the wall by an array of three shadow balls. But before Haunter could follow through with shadow claw, a huge wave came crashing down on it, knocking it out for the count. The referee, who was previously busy putting on a rain coat, flagged the battle's end in my favor. Morty recalled Haunter and didn't say a word, just nodding before releasing his strongest and most deadly Pokemon on his team.

"Gengar! Gen!"

The notorious battle ghost took the field above Crawdaunt with a huge, wicked grin. It pointed at him with its stubby arms and cackled, ready to blast him to smithereens.

"Gengar, use Thunder."

Gengar's eyes coated over a violent yellow before releasing a double-voltage of electricity dead-on at Crawdaunt, shocking him until he could barely move. "Paralyzed..." I whispered to myself, shaking my head. But he could still battle. I knew that much. "Crawdaunt, hit him with a water pulse!"

Crawdaunt struggled to move against his muscles will, but opened his jaw wide enough for a blast of seven...eight...nine rings of water to encompass Gengar in a confusing torrent.

"Thunder again, Gengar!"

Gengar's eyes glossed the same yellow as before, but something was wrong. When he released the attack, it just stuck to him--to the wetness on his ghostly skin. And with a wicked cry, he began writhing in pain under a strong paralysis.

"Gengar!"

...but it was still able to battle. Crawdaunt glared up at Gengar and Gengar fought against the paralysis.

Morty grimaced and shook his head. "Gengar, shadow ball!"

And that was an attack that any ghost would understand, even if confused.

Gengar spent no time gathering energy; no, that was for amateurs. It sent the spiraling orb down into Crawdaunt's gut without a second guess and laughed as it shook off the paralysis. But the damage to Gengar had already been done and it was the final battle.

"Point to Morty!"

I recalled Crawdaunt and nodded to him, keeping my composure as sure as I could...then I released Haunter.

The playful ghost took the field in a fit of adrenaline, seeing the ghost that was, quite literally, its daddy.

Haunter nodded and Gengar nodded back, and I nodded to Morty, who just stayed still, too engrossed in the battle to give any pleasantries.

"Haunter, use flash!"

Haunter opened up his huge mouth and blasted out a ray of light that made Gengar fly back in fear. Of course light was his biggest fear. It had to be.

Haunter took quick advantage of Gengar's handicap and went on an attacking spree with several shadow punches without a command. But it wasn't disobedience; it was genius. Gengar reeled back in writhing pain, falling into the tides below. Haunter just watched the place where the bubbles surfaced until he could attack again.

"Haunter... Intoxicate the water!"

Haunter heaved into his stomach, belching out a wave of purple acid that was poison in its purest form. The waves below quickly took on the color and Gengar came flying out of the choking mess with much gagging and heaving.

Morty shook his head, pointing a finger at Haunter. "Gengar, take it down with shadow ball!

"Haunter, deflect it with flash and attack with shadow punch!"

Both attacks were launched at the same time.

A ray of light versus a blast of darkness.

The two met in the middle and exploded in a cloud of nothingness.

But due to my combo, Gengar met the explosion with a perfectly-effective jab to his ghastly jaw.

And into the toxic waves fell Gengar.

"Gengar is unable to battle! Point, set, and match go to Tyler!"

___ ___ ___ ___

"Your battling is superb, Tyler."

I couldn't help but smile at him. "Thanks, Morty..."

"Your mom would be proud."

I stopped dead in my tracks, a heavy, iron knot in my throat.

"Tyler, I..."

I shook my head, dropping my eyes to the floor between us.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean..."

But nothing could break the shell I was in. I fought back tears and only looked up when he handed me the Fog badge. I looked at him in his dark eyes and lost all composure. And, for the first time in my life, I fell into someone's arms crying. And for the longest time in history, I just cried and he held me like a brother. . . . . .

Kent| 3:00pm| Cianwood Docks





Kent sighed. In front of him were two kids, about his age, arguing about Pokemon.

“Dude, my Raticate could so kick your Pidgeot’s ass!”

“No way, it couldn’t even reach it if it tried!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“I have an idea,” Kent said. He walked up to them, readied his fists and punched them both. “Shut up.” Before they could get up, or say anything the boat docked and Kent took off into town. He gripped at Lax’s and Mamo’s Pokeballs, the rest in his bag, unsure what to do with them. He would drop them off at the Pokemon center here, the best in Jotho.

“Um, excuse me?” Kent stood at the counter. The nurse joy ran over. “Yeah…um I got two Pokemon who need some over night care. My Munchlax ate a full display of fake food. And my Mamoswine…well a nasty gym battle.” He gave them to the nodding, with a pout, Nurse who ran into the back. Kent sighed and wandered off. He would be back tomorrow for them. Maybe.

~~~~~~~~~

“Um, Sir!” someone called for Kent. “You need to pay to go into the Safari zone.”

“Huh….oh, sorry,” Kent said. He had no clue how he had gotten there, but why not go in? Safari zones were supposed to be beautiful.

Kent handed over the cash and bagged the Pokeballs they gave him for the zone. Kent didn’t plan on catching anything. He just wanted to find a nice lake front and nap. Maybe never leave. Who knows?

Right away Kent was blown away. All around him Pokemon were out and about. Butterfree were flying around with Beautifly, Donphan and Rydon were stampeding together. The trees were full of life, the land so unspoiled. Kent took a breath of the fresh, untouched, air around him. It was just what he needed.

But air only does so much. Kent wandered around the fields, through the trees and canopies, and deeper into it. He passed a lake full of bouncing fish, jumping in and out of the water, gilding on the surface. Even the Magikarp were having fun.

Kent found a nice willow tree, with a lot of Shade and sat down, watching the Pokemon jump around. It was calming. He missed just being able to watch Pokemon, to have fun with them. Back when his only worry was deciding which group to play with. Back when he could go back…but now he couldn’t.


Kent sighed and was about get up and leave. This was nice, but it brought back bas memories for him. Things he did not want to relive. “Ra-Ra-Ra,” a soft murmur made Kent turn. A small, toddler like Pokemon crept towards him. It looked like a 5 year old in a bad Halloween costume.

“Ral, Ral Ral!” it suddenly called out. It went from timid into a happy beast in two seconds, weird.

It it suddenly ran towards Kent and tugged his sleeve. It wanted him to go somewhere, WTF? Kent reluctantly rose and followed it into the woods. He silently pulled out his Pokedex, and set it to text mode. “Ralts, the timid Pokemon. Its horns on its helmet allow it to sense the emotions of those around it.”

Ah, so that was what it was doing. It must of sensed Kent was being all pathetic and set out to cheer him up. Kent gave a sneer, but then it lightened to a light smile. He couldn’t help it, the thing was so cute, tripping over itself as it ran, with its Murmuring cheers.

It pushed through the bushes and stopped. “Ral! Ru-Ru! Ral!” it cheered. Kent just smiled at it, unsure what he was going to see. It waved excitedly and twirled. It pushed into the bushes cheering. Kent waited a bit before joining it. What he saw made him laugh out loud.

It was the entire evolution family or Ralts. There were Ralts in the corners, cheering and smiling, signing softly. Kirlia danced around the center, with elegant spins,. Gardevoir song angelic notes, directing the Kirlia in dance. And the Gallade stood in the back, hammering hallow stumps like drums with they sword like arms.

Kent’s Ralts friend was dancing with the Kirlia, ushering Kent to join it. A Gallade eventually pushed him in. he was helpless, he had to dance. The Kirlia around him lead him in the dance, one even grabbing him from behind and pupating him for a bit. Eventually Kent joined in on his own. He had a blast.

By the end of it he was sweating, out of breath, sitting with all the others. He was grinning like mad as he drank and ate with them. They had welcomed him into their home, and it was like they only wanted to make him happy, even if it meant making him leave a comfort zone or five.

The Gallade got up suddenly, extended their swords and grabbed a sort of make shift net. The Kirlia suddenly got up and pranced into the woods as well, with the Granvoir shortly behind them. The Ralts just sat there, picked leaves off a series of branches, and making a big pile in the center of their area.


Kent’s friend ran over to him with a large grin. Kent smiled and gave it a pat before turning around and leaving. He wanted to stay, but a memory lasted forever, eventually life set into this place. He did not want to ruin it.

Kent drifted off again. It was getting Dark, and he didn’t want to be locked in here for the night. Kent was walked along the lake when suddenly something hit his back. He stumbled for a second, and looked over his shoulder. “Ru! Ru-Ru!” cried Ralts. Kent smiled.

“Do you want to come with me?” Kent asked softly. It nodded ecstatically. Kent kneeled down and went into his bag. He pulled out a Pokeball and pressed it to Ralt’s head.

“Okay, here we go!” Kent said and pressed it. A red flash blasted and a white form came with it. Ralts was pushed back as a form ejected from the Pokeball. Kent shot backwards from the force of it.

“Scy! Scyther!!!” It cried. Scizz crossed his blades, sparks flew off it. It looked at Kent with a death glare and charged at him, looking for blood. Kent rolled out of the way for the first one, barley dodging the blow. Another lunge and Kent was grazed by it. Scyther pinned Kent down and growled.

It pulled on of it’s arms out and pressed it to Kent’s neck. He felt warm, as a bit of blood gushed out, it stung but he would live. “RUUUUU!” Kent strained his neck to see Ralts slapped Scyther. “Ru! Raaaaaaal! Teeees!”

Scyther growled and turned back to Kent. Ralts kept crying and pounding at Scyther. Suddenly Scyther looked back, it’s eyes changing. He seemed to go soft for a moment and backed away from Kent. It smiled softly and looked away. Ralts smiled a big ol’ grin at Kent, which he retunred. He looked at Scyther uneasily and pulled out another Pokeball. “Scizz, when I catch ralts it means a gift for you.” It looked up for a moment. “Now, there is this guy named Professor Elm. You see, he has this big farm, there are tons of Pokemon there. He agreed to hold any Pokemon I have on me, whenever I can’t hold them. So, I’m going to send you there.” It smiled. It liked this offer. Ralts cheered and grabbed the Pokeball, and pressed to itself on its own. It got sucked inside. One. Two. Three. Four! Ralts was caught.

Kent smiled, and watched Scyther suddenly get sucked into its own Pokeball. Kent pulled out his Pokedex, there was a simple message on it. “The league only allow six Pokemon to be kept on you at once. Please select the Pokemon you wish to send to your Professor.” Kent scrolled through and found Scyther and pressed it. His Pokeball glowed white and suddenly disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Kent, and his ecstatic new friend ran over to the Pokemon center. He was out of his slump. He wasn’t fully back, but enough to smile now, and forgive himself. At least if his Pokemon could. Ralts ran up ahead of Kent and jumped up, trying to open the motion door of the Pokemon center.

Kent picked it up and ran inside. It happily sat on kent’s shoulder as he spoke with the nurse.

“Your Munchlax is all fine, we just needed to pump its stomach and give it a bit of medicine. Your Mamoswine was a bit worse off. We needed to re grow the skin on it’s back, and then the hair. We need to keep it for a few more hours, at least.” Kent nodded. “You should go see the site. Up north there is a a site, Suicune was sighted a few years back.”

Kent nodded and grabbed Lax’s Pokeball. “That sounds fun,” he said with a smile and ran out of the center.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Ah, so I am not the only one who enjoys the legendaries,” Kent turned to see some weirdo walk towards him. He was dressed in some weird costume, one you would expect a crappy magician to wear.

“Mhmm, I;ve always wanted to see Raikou,” Kent said.

“Ah, I recently saw, well sort of, saw Raikou, and all of the beasts,” the man said.

“Oh really now?” Kent said.

“Yes. But some snot nosed kid screwed it up. He scared them all off.”

“Wow, that sucks. Must have been a total noob,” Kent said with a chuckle.

“A noob?”

“He must have been an idiot,” Kent said.

“Ah, very true. The name is Eusine, by the way.”

“Kent. You know I saw Celebi a while ago. I was walking through Ilex forest and we passed the shrine. It popped in, and then just disappeared again,” Kent saw his eyes light up.

“Why is it everyone but me sees these things!” He cried, not whining but more a dramatic exclamation. “I dedicate my life to hunting down legendaries.”

“Sorry, man,” Kent said before walking away. Ralts, who Kent decided he would call Ru-Ru hopped off his shoulder and ran off. “What the, Ru, where are you goin!” Kent ran after him in a huff. “Come on!”

Kent glanced around for awhile, and finally saw Ru-Ru in the water. It was floating on the stop, alm ost walking on the water. Kent went to grab him when he saw why he had run over here. He glanced at a bright light, in the shape of some sort of animal. Kent’s jaw dropped.

Suicune has appeared to him. It ran over to him, and Ru-Ru for a moment, and nodded before running off, ”Nooooooooo!” Kent turned to see Eusine running over. “Dammit…why does everyone have better luck than me!” this time he was whining. Ru-Ru just smiled at Kent. “I like you, Ru-Ru,” Kent said with a laugh and walked back to town, ignoring the sobbing Eusine.

Samuelle Park - Route 43, 5PM

Familiar sights, faces, places. The trees glowed a familiar orange so reminiscent of home.

Oh yes. Sam knew where she was headed. Very well, in fact. And it was her only hope. Everything was so comforting, even the crunch of leaves under her feet.

Sam knew the leaves weren't really different here from other places, but she still relished the way they crackled anyway. To her, at least, they were different. A small village rose into sight and Sam cast a worried glance at Kite. Kite hadn't eaten a thing since ever, and she wished he wasn't hiding in his shell because she didn't know how skinny he was now. She had to know something, anything, about Kite.

She was worried to death.

Sam was anxious to get home and show Mom what Kite had become. She was ready for the scolding waiting for her. Mom must be worried sick. She would have run home had she not been so worried for Kite. Kite might not be able to make it to the village if she ran.

Then, she stopped dead.

A familiar Aerodactyl soared around the roof of their house.

She knew what that meant. Abel. AGAIN.

What was it with him and stalking her? She glanced at Kite. It was too late to double back and look for the others, who would distract Abel's attention away from Sam. Too late because Kite might not make it. Nurse Joy said there was nothing wrong with Kite, but Sam knew better.

Kite wasn't eating. Kite loved food. There had to be something wrong. So Sam ignored the buzzing the back of her head, the weights tied around her heart and the fear constricting her lungs, pushed forward and prayed Kite wouldn't fall over from exhaustion.

She wished Kite didn't evolve.

The sour autumn breeze gnawed at her. She pulled her jacket close and pushed open the door to their house without a word. It brought tears to her eyes.

She missed home. Missed the way the kitchen smelled of garlic, which Mom used generously in her cooking. The way the wooden floors creaked under her when she padded barefoot across them, but refused to make a sound when she wore shoes. The secret passageways grandpa built into it. The way home just welcomed her.

The dining room was filled with laughter, from her parents and Abel. It almost felt as if nothing ever changed. As if Abel never became one of the grand champions and never left home to travel the world. She was tempted to join them, pull out her seat and just sit on it, lean on the table and listen to all of Abel's ludicrous stories about overconfident trainers. She so approached the kitchen, quiet as she could.

Sam stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the girlish giggle. Abel's girlfriend Nerissa must be around to take Sam's place. The family didn't need Sam anymore.

Sam peered through the china on the shelves dividing the living room from the dining room. Through the plates and figurines she saw Nerissa sitting where Sam ought to be. She couldn't quite catch what Abel was talking about, but his eyes sparkled with happiness and something on Nerissa's hand glinted in the sunlight.

Oh. No way.

No. Way.

A strangled noise emerged from Sam's throat but no one seemed to notice. No one needed to notice, because they already found a replacement for Sam - Nerissa. Maybe Sam ought to just leave, forget Mahogany and wander off with her friends. If they were friends.

"Sheeeell!" cried Kite from outside. He was too big and therefore couldn't fit. Everyone at the table froze, and Sam fell over backwards in shock, knocking over one of Mom's priceless vases.

It shattered to the floor, splintering into thousands of pieces. Sam bit back a yelp and tears as her blood dripped from her arm. Instead she scrabbled away from the mess and tried to hide behind the couch as Abel emerged from the dining room. His tall figure stood proud and confident.

"Sheeeellgoon!"

Sam wished she could tell Kite to shut up, for once, but didn't dare make a sound. She bit down harder on her lower lip. Shut her eyes and prayed Abel wouldn't find her so she could leave.

"Gotcha, Sammy."

Sam's eyes flew open and she scrambled away from Abel, shrieking when one of the shards from the vase cut into her palm. This time she couldn't hold back the tears and started crying. It hurt like hell, okay?

Abel shushed his little sister. "Don't cry," he murmured. "Let's see how bad it is..."

"No," Sam snapped, pulling her arm away and sniffling self-righteously. She cradled her injured arm (and hand), huddling to one corner of the living room.

Abel simply stayed where he was, with that infuriatingly kind smile on his face. Her parents came out from the dining room.

"Abel? What's going on?"

"It's nothing," he called back. "Just Sam."

Silence.

"Sam?!" Mom's hysterical voice broke through the silence first. "Sam?" She scuttled over towards Sam, who was resolutely huddled in her corner, snubbing her parents. They didn't want her, fine. Nerissa was so much better, wasn't she? "Sam, are you all right?"

"I broke your vase," Sam said miserably.

"You break things everyday," Abel snickered. "No big deal. Let's see your wound."

"I can take care of myself." Why did Abel have to treat her like a baby? It wasn't as if he was so much older than her.

"Let me see," Mom insisted.

"No," Sam said, pulling her arm away from her mother.

Her mother gave Abel a helpless glance, and he simply nodded at her. She left the siblings alone. Sam sniffled again. Stupid. Why did she have to cry?

"Sammy, Bagon evolved, didn't he?"

She wasn't gracing him with an answer. No way.

"That's pretty impressive. It took me a year to evolve Bulbasaur."

No answer, but Sam now glanced at her brother. She quickly huddled back, though. He was probably just trying to flatter her.

"You came back home," he tried. Why wouldn't he quit?

Ignored him.

"Mom and Dad were worried for you. I spent the entire time looking for you, you know. Came back home right after seeing you at the daycare, just to let them know you were all right."

"I can take care of myself," Sam repeated.

"We know. But we still worry about you."

"No, you don't. You have Nerissa." Boy, she sounded bitter. Even to herself.

"SHEEELLL!"

Tears pricked at her eyes.

"Yes, we do. Nerissa's not my sister, Sammy."

Sam pressed herself against the corner, leaned her head against the wall. The wound really hurt now, stinging her. "You didn't think I could make it on my own."

"We knew you could. We just wanted to make sure you were ready to go out on your own."

"Mom would have never allowed it if I asked her." Sam's lower lip trembled now. Dang it. Why was she so weak?

"Maybe, maybe not. You never asked. We can talk about that later. For now, why don't we have that arm of yours checked out?"

"Kite."

Abel raised an eyebrow. "What about Kite?"

"He won't eat. He needs help." She curled up into a tighter ball.

Abel only smiled knowingly. He won, and he knew it. "We'll see to him after we get you cleaned up. Come on."


Samuelle Park - Ecruteak City, 8 AM

She was going to kill Kent. Where was that loser? He never told her Shelgons didn't eat, and he knew. He had to know. He was a dragon type trainer.

Going to strangle him and hang his body from Ecruteak's tallest tower.

In the midst of ransacking the city in her efforts to find a ticket for Cianwood, she literally crashed into a familiar face. "Get out of my way," she snapped, in a foul mood.

To make matters worse, Kent didn't just not tell her about Kite. He also left. Her. Alone. In Ecruteak.

Going to stab him a thousand times.

"Sam? Sam, it's me! Tyler. Where are the others? I haven't seen them in forever."

She blinked at Tyler. Oh right. Him. "Cianwood," she managed. "Didn't you read the note he wrote?"

Tyler shrugged. "It was from Kent. His handwriting was so bad I didn't understand it."

Somehow, Tyler looked better. Happier. Sam was glad. She felt lighter too. A huge Aerodactyl flew above Ecruteak, blotting out the sun. Sam smiled.

"Looks like it's just us again," Sam said.

Tyler shifted uncomfortably. "Not exactly. See, Jerri here..."

Wait. Jerri? The name rung a bell. Sam raised an eyebrow. "You mean Jack?"

"No, Jerri. We plan on leaving together."

Jack Preston
8:10am
Ecruteak Hotel

Jack sat up and stretched. Must've been the last one to wake up. Again.
He climbed down off the bunk and glanced at the other beds. Max lay in the one opposite his, but the other four were completely deserted. The beds clearly hadn't been disturbed all night. There weren't even any clothes or bags belonging to the others.

Jack groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. I am NOT going trainer-hunting today.
Ten minutes later, he stepped out of the shower, got dressed and was just in time to see Max exiting the front door of the hotel. He scooped his Poke Balls into his pocket, whistled to Citrus, grabbed his bag and flipped his hat on as he raced out.
He was too late. Max had vanished. Oh, COME ON.

Right. If they were all going to ditch him, he'd take it in his stride. He strode through the east exit tunnel and found himself before a long stretch of water. A gaping hole in the enormous rock to his left was labelled by a nearby sign:
MT MORTAR
EAST TO MAHOGANY TOWN
Mahogany Town. As good a place as any to start his solo quest. Jack looked at the water before him; Niles is much too small to carry me across that. Would the cave turn out to be a tunnel that would lead to the other side? There was one way to find out.

Keyword being "was". As he approached the cave, a muscular man in kung-fu robes stomped out, closely followed by a pair of humanoid Pokemon.
"I would not even bother, puny trainer!" he said loudly as he passed. "There is a blockage in the tunnel, preventing access to the town of Mahogany!" The Pokemon echoed his emotions as they banged their fists together. Jack just had time to scan them with his PokeGear before they entered the exit tunnel, heading back to Ecruteak.
Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, the PokeGear beeped. Two of the three evolutions of the fighting Pokemon Tyrogue. Nearby locations of these Pokemon are unknown.
Jack shrugged and followed. The west exit would have to suffice.

Before he could think about the west exit, he finally spotted a familiar face. Tyler, thank Arceus, Tyler was there! And he was talking to Sam! Half the group was back! And they were with... well, he didn't know who the hell that girl was, but still! He ran towards them ecstatically.
"Finally!" he panted as he reached them. "You guys will not believe what I did yesterday!"
They looked at him in surprise. "Who the heck is this?" the strange girl asked.

Kent- 9:40am| Cianwood beach


Kent sighed. Ru-Ru was bouncing around him, spinning one minute, disappearing the next, only to pop up somewhere else to do the same. “I get it, you can dance and sing, and teleport, but come on, time to meet Mamo,” Kent looked around again and sighed. Where had he thump Kent smiled as Ru-Ru sat on his shoulder. “Ru!”

Kent grabbed Lax’s ball and let him out as well, the little blob smiled wide. It saw Ru-Ru and gave a shocked face “Laaaax!” it cried and tried to jump on Kent’s free shoulder, it managed to do it, too. Kent collapsed from it’s weight. Kent returned the thing and started back to the centre. Ru-RU appeared on his shoulder, again.

“Yes, my name is Kent Walker, I am here to pick up my Mamoswine,” the nurse turned away to retrieve the Pokemon.

“Hey! You!” Someone came up to Kent and grabbed Ru-Ru. “How dare you take my Ralts!”

“Dude, this is my Pokemon. I caught it last night,” Kent grabbed his Safari ball to prove it. The guy still held onto Ru-Ru.

“Ralts, tell this….whatever to go away! Use Hypnosis!” Ru-Ru gave a weird look and vanished from his grip, back on Kent’s shoulder. “Ruuuuuuu!”

“Ralts!” he cried. Another nurse came over and tapped him on the shoulder. “We apologize sir, we found your Pokemon. See during the prosier it evolved, and so there was a filing error.”

“So my precious Ralts is okay?” He said giddily. “Better, a Kirlia!” he shouted. He seemed to totally forget Kent, who went furious.

“Dude, you gonna apologize?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, whatever,” he said and hugged the Pokeball. Another nurse came over and gave Kent his Mamoswine. “Whatever, freak.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What the hell do you mean he isn’t here?” Kent had arrived at the Cianwood gym only to have this random lady tell him her husband was away.

“Sorry, but in the last battle his Pokemon was injured, it is at the Pokemon Center now. It will be an hour before he is ready,” Kent sighed and walked away, bitter. Ru-Ru tried to cheer him up, but eventually just returned to his shoulder.

“Seel, use Aqua Jet and Ice Shard together, five times and then report back. Butterfree, use the Silver Poison combo! And Snover Energy Hammer!” Kent walked over to see the kid from the Pokemon centre again. He now realized just how white he was. He was dressed in white cargo shorts and a V neck, surrounded by a series of, mostly, white Pokemon. All of them were busy, buzzing around him. Over and over they did the same exact attacks and combinations, in the exact same motions, over and over. And Again and a Again. One after the other.

“Great job guys, by noon we should be ready for the Gym, keep at the training,” the kid said. He was just lounging, sipping lemonade and watching the attacks.

“I got a better idea for training,” Kent walked in front of him. “You and me, battle.”

“I’ll save their energy for the gym,” he replied.

“No problem, he can’t take anymore challengers today, injuries from a match,” Kent smiled and grabbed Mamo’s Pokeball.

“Okay then, you got a match.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mamoswine, charge in with a Mud Bomb!”

The beast stamped at the ground with an ice sole, turning the soil into piles of mud. It grabbed them with it’s tusks and flung them into the air towards the Butterfree. The balls iced over as an ice beam hit them, pushing them forward. The bug flew into the air to avoid it, but the ice beam snagged it. Andrew, AKA the OCD kid, called of a Poison wind, and Kent smiled. He waited until the Poison powder was gliding on the waves of gleaming air, and directed Mamoswine only a foot to the right. Andrew gave a look and smiled.

“Use Poison Swarm!” The Butterfree began to spin, emitting the poison all around the field. A multi colored beam then followed, levitating the powder, like a puppeteers’ string. The clump of purple dust ran around the field, like a swarm of purple locusts.

Mamoswine put up an Endure field and tried to wait it out, but the shield didn’t do jack around poison. It dropped the shield and before Kent could do anything a mix of Bug Buzz and Silver Wind hit, knocking it out. Kent sighed and pulled out Lax’s Pokeball. “

“Charge in with Zen Head butt and Thunder punch combo!” Kent called. Munchlax popped out already running. Pink-white rippled of power covered its body, yellow sparks coming from both hands. It jumped into the air and jetted towards the butter free. It’s charged arms grabbed it by the wings and it back flipped above it. The paralyzed Pokemon plummeted down and Lax fell towards it, ready to finish it off.

When the smoke cleared both were done. Kent half smiled, Lax had at least taken out a Pokemon.

Kent saw Ru-Ru on the field, waving to him. He had planned to use Veon, but whatever. He Didn’t know if Ru-Ru was a good battler….he didn’t even know his attacks.

Kirlia pranced onto the field as well. Time to see who was better.

“Magic Leaf!” Kent and Andrew both commanded at once.

Both Pokemon jumped into the air and swirled, covering themselves in a glowing leaves. The attacks collided and covered the filed in glowing bits of grass. Kent was about to call out another attack when Ru-Ru flew towards him. Kirlia was still pumping out its attack.

Ru-Ru gave a weak smile and charged back in. “Icy Wind!” Ru-Ru jumped up and blew a cold front towards Kirlia. It easily dodged and came at it with a Will-O-Wisp. Ru-Ru was hit head on and knocked out.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Good battle,” Andrew said as the headed to the center. “Your got some good Pokemon, you just need more Stra-Stra-Strategy. Brute force is well and go--goood, but only goes so far.”

Kent nodded, though he gave Andrew a strange look. He was pulling at a thread on his shirt. “I hate loose ends….oh crud, mind nabbing the one on yours’, actually I got it.” he grabbed at Kent’s shirt and sliced a thread off with his nails. ‘There.”

“I am so glad that was not on my zipper,” Kent said with a smile. Andrew laughed.
“So, where you from?” Andrew asked. “I’m from Goldenrod.”

“Um, I guess I’m from Blackthorn, but it’s a little complicated,” Kent answered. Andrew motion for him to continue. “My dad raises Pokemon, we live in the mountains. Mostly Dragon type, for the monks.”

Andrew sopped. “Aw man, that is awe-awesome.”

Kent shrugged with a cocky smile. The strode into the center and handed over their Pokeballs. The Nurse nodded and walked away, saying it be just a moment.