She stepped out of the cave, blinking as her eyes adjusted again to the sunlight.

"Oh, hey!" called a girl's voice. Lucki shaded her eyes and looked to the sound, seeing a fourteen year old girl with dark green hair braided tightly together with a silver ribbon threaded through it that sparkled in the light. By her side walked an odd pokemon on delicate golden cream colored legs, blinking large brown eyes set in a face of the same color with odd fur that tapered into twin sideways peaks on either side of its head. It had a long, thin tail ending in a tuft of purple fur waving back and forth gently, purple ears, and around its neck what looked almost like a fur collar that had two small balls sticking out on either side. After a moment, Lucki recognized it as a delcatty. She was familiar with the rare preevolved form, but the evolution was rarer still, which was why she had had trouble remembering it.

"Hi," Lucki called back as the girl walked over.

"Is that your pokemon?"

Lucki nodded. "Her name's Silver."

"Hi," added Silver.

"You're a trainer then?"

"We just started," Lucki explained. "My name's Lucki."

"I'm Atki, and this is Princess," she introduced, gesturing to the delcatty. "Want to battle?"

Lucki glanced down to Silver. "Are you up to it?" she asked. Silver nodded. "Okay then."

"Body slam," commanded Atki once that had been resolved.

"Dodge and use tail whip," Lucki countered.

The delcatty ran forward and leapt into the air. Silver darted right just before Princess slammed into the ground, then smacked the normal type in the face with her tail, forcing the prim pokemon's eyes closed. Quickly, Lucki ordered a tackle while the evolved pokemon's defense was down, and Silver charged forward, striking hard into Princess' left side before she could recover. The delcatty retaliated, swiping at Silver with her tail in a sharp doubleslap move.

"Quick, flash!" shouted Atki. "Then double-edge!"

Princess stilled a moment, closing her eyes. A moment later a sudden burst of light came from the feline pokemon. Silver stood dazed, blinking blankly in confusion. The normal type opened her eyes and ran forward, picking up high speed in a double-edge attack.

"Get out of the way, Silver!" Lucki yelled quickly.

Silver rolled to one side blindly, the delcatty shooting past her. She rubbed her eyes, which were still displaying a blur of afterimages from the flash attack. They cleared just in time for her to see Princess barreling towards her. Startled, she stood frozen a moment, barely hearing Lucki telling her to dodge, just staring at the pokemon about to hit her. Then suddenly, she shot out a blast of water, striking the catlike pokemon hard enough to make her swerve away. Princess stopped, shaking herself to dislodge the water.

"Great!" called Lucki. "You learned water gun!"

Silver nodded proudly. She sent another one towards Princess, but the prim pokemon jumped over it and twisted around to doubleslap Silver with her tail again. Silver struck her with a third water gun, but the normal type jumped away quickly to break free of the move. The delcatty's fur was soaked and she was breathing heavily, but she was still able to fight.

"Faint attack," Atki decided.

Princess vanished. Silver looked around, and then was struck suddenly in the back by her again visible opponent hard enough to send her flying. The tiny turtle lay dazed on the ground.

Lucki sighed. "I guess we lost." She looked to Atki. "Good battle. Your delcatty's really something."

"You two are pretty good too," the girl responded before heading off.

"Sorry..." Silver apologized after she'd recovered and received a potion, looking downcast.

"It's okay. You did great for your first battle against another trainer. And you learned a new move."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Lucki nodded. "We'll train more and get stronger."

"Right!" agreed Silver.

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