March 12, 2010
Wild Area Several Miles Outside of Motostroke, Galar
James, Abigail and Viktor were all sitting by a lake as they waited for Leon to arrive. They were waiting for ten minutes as Leon had yet to show up. Abigail had her headphones on as she was listening to some music while her Grookey was tapping her side with it's twig, James was watching as his Scorbunny was running around burning small patches of grass with its feet and Viktor was looking around for Leon as his Riolu was meditating on the grass.
"Do you two actually think he is going to show up? It's been ten minutes already." Viktor questions as James simply shrugged.
"Relax Vik, he'll be here. Maybe he's just running late." James responded to him as Abby was just focused on her music when both James and Viktor could hear some footsteps followed by someone shouting in the distance. James then waved his hand in front of Abby's face as she quickly looked up wondering what was going on.
"Crap, I'm so late!" They all turned to see Leon and Charizard running towards them.
"I told you that we should've gone this way Leon." They could hear as his brother, Hop, was right behind him
"Ah, there you are." Vik replies as Leon stops to catch his breath.
"I am so sorry guys...directions are not my strong suit at all." He says as his Charizard just shakes his head in response. "But I am here now. I wanted to show you all some of the basics of being a trainer."
"I'd be happy to learn sir" Vik responds to him.
"That's great! I also brought along my little brother to help me out." He says as Hop nods.
"He is correct about that. We didn't have much time for any introductions yesterday but like my brother mentioned, my name is Hop. I'm an assistant to Professor Sonia and a Pokemon Professor in training. It's nice to meet you all officially." He shakes Vik's hand followed by Abby's and James'.
"Nice to meet you too." James says to him as Hop then takes a step back and lets Leon lead.
"Alright guys, I'm going to tell you guys the first step in being a Pokemon trainer. It's that you have to understand that our Pokemon are more than just creatures or tools, and that they are our partners. We work together to achieve our goals and dreams, which in turn builds a strong bond between people and Pokemon. So I want you three to form a strong bond with the Pokemon I gave you yesterday and treat them with love and care." Leon explains in a rather serious tone to the three as they nod. "Excellent. But the major way to build up trust with your Pokemon is to battle other Pokemon."
"You always have to refer to battling don't you big bro?" Hop chuckled a little.
"I'm being serious though Hop, you know it and I know it." Leon tells him as Hop simply shrugs.
"You aren't exactly wrong. So what, are you going to have all of them participate in a battle?" He questioned as Leon had a smile on his face.
"Exactly. Good to see we are on the same page." He says as he turns to everyone as James, Abby and Vik all look at Leon a little confused. "So, how about it? Want to try your hand at battling?"
"Of course! I've been looking forward to this." James was excited about it
"But there are three of us sir. Who would be the fourth trainer?" Abby asked him curiously.
"That is where Hop comes in. He will be the one who challenges the leftover trainer. How about you face Abby, James and then that leaves Hop and Viktor?"
"That's fine with me." Vik replies, turning to see Hop looking through his team.
"Hell yeah, I'm down for that!" James responds as Abby nods.
"Then it's decided, let's have James and Abby go first." Leon had the biggest smile on his face as both James and Abby got into position and Leon stood in the middle to referee the match. "Alright you two, let's begin the battle!"
"Alright Scorbunny, let's show them what we got!" James shouts as his partner dashes onto his side of the field.
"Um...let's do our best Grookey" Abby says nervously as Grookey does the same and stands ready to battle. As it stood ready, the area around them began to glow a greenish color. "What is this!?"
"That's your buddy's ability, grassy surge. When a pokemon with this ability enters the battle, it sets up a grassy terrain. Use this to your advantage." Leon explains to her as she nods.
"We're gonna strike first, use quick attack!" James shouts with confidence as his partner takes two big steps before dashing with an incredible amount of speed towards Grookey and uses the momentum to slam into Grookey, sending it back a little with the impact. James had a large smirk on his face. "Perfect"
"Grookey!" Abby shouted toward her partner as he stood up and gave Abby a reassuring wave. "Oh thank Arceus. Um...what to do...use branch poke!"
Abby's Grookey begins to charge towards Scorbunny with its twig in hand as he extends his arm out to hit its opponent with the twig. As Grookey was just a foot away from Scorbunny, it dodged the attack, jumping on top of Grookey's head as it fell to the ground.
"Now use ember." James says as his partner shoots out a weak flame from its mouth and it hits the now stunned Grookey. "Nice, a super effective hit"
Right...fire is very effective against grass types isn't it? Abby thought. I need to be more careful against fire types.
"Let's keep it up Scorbunny! Charge in with another quick attack!"
"Quickly Grookey! Use growl!" Abby quickly shouts as Grookey lets out a loud growl which disorients Scorbunny in its tracks. "Now, razor leaf while he is recovering!"
Grookey then uses its twig to send out several sharp leaves that all manage to hit Scorbunny as the grassy terrain had powered up the moves strength. James could tell that Scorbunny could feel that hit as the grassy terrain sent a rejuvenating blast towards both pokemon.
So the grassy terrain is able to give both pokemon some of their energy back...I need to keep that in mind as the battle drags on. Abby thought as Scorbunny made another run at Grookey and was charging up a kick attack. "Dodge it Grookey!"
Grookey jumps up as Scorbunny's attack hits the ground but then he glances over at Grookey before launching a second kick which connects with Grookey and sends him flying towards a tree. Grookey then slides down the tree and passes out.
"Grookey is unable to battle! So the winner is James!" Leon shouts as Abby runs over to her partner and picks him up.
"Are you okay Grookey?" She asks worriedly as Grookey looks up at her tiredly and gives her a reassuring cry. Abby let out a sigh of relief as James came over.
"That was a bloody good battle, Abby." He extends his hand out to hers.
"I mean...I didn't really do much. I was honestly nervous the whole time. It was my fault that we lost the battle." She just looked down in shame as her partner began to poke her face to cheer her up.
"It was your first time battling, so I wouldn't be so hard on yourself Abby." Leon says calmly walking over to her. "You aren't going to win every battle and I see it as an opportunity to reflect back and see what you could've done better. It's a good way to help yourself grow as a trainer."
"He's right, you know. James may have won this time, but you could come back stronger and kick his arse in your next battle with him. It all depends on how you see each loss." Hop explains to her.
"Both are right, it will take some time for you to develop your battling style. So don't be so down about losing. You did fairly well considering it was your first battle." Jame reassures her as Abby giggled a little before shaking his hand.
"Thanks guys. But I will be wanting a rematch in the future James." She says determined as James had a wide grin.
"Count on it mate." He says as Leon had a big grin.
"So, now I assume it's our turn Viktor?" Hop glances over at him.
"Yes and I don't plan on losing." Vik replies rather confidently as the two head to their positions. "I'm counting on you Riolu."
"Alright Dubwool, it's your turn!" Hop shouts as he sends out his sheep pokemon. "I hope you are ready."
A normal type huh? The type advantage is mine. Vik thought for a moment. "We'll go first. Riolu, use metal claw!"
Riolu charges toward Dubwool as his claws turn into sharp iron claws. He prepares a swiping attack as he winds his claw back and then swings to make the attack.
"Dubwool, use cotton guard." Hop says calmly as his partner expands the wool on his body which catches Riolu as he swipes his claws down, completely nullifying the attack. Riolu is then pushed back and Dubwool shrugs off all the extra wool particles as its defense power has been increased.
What the hell? I've never seen that move before. Vik thought in a moment of shock.
"An interesting move isn't it?" Hop asks, chuckling. "Cotton guard helps increase Dubwool's defensive capabilities. Which in turn means that any move like the one you used won't be able to topple it so easily."
"Oh really?" Vik growls a little. "We'll see about that."
"Now use take down!" Hop shouts as Dubwool charges toward Riolu at a relatively fast rate.
"Brace for it Riolu!" Vik shouts as his partner braces for the impact of the attack. Dubwool strikes Riolu hard as he was pushed back a few inches, but endured the attack. "Now use rock smash! Break through those defenses!"
Riolu then charges up a punch and then releases it onto Dubwool. The weak, but firm attack hits Dubwool directly on the head as Hop could feel the slight damage the super effective hit did.
"How was that?" Vik crossed his arms as Hop stood his ground.
"Stand strong Dubwool!" He chants to his partner as Dubwool lets out an energetic cry.
"Dammit, I thought that move did more damage than it did." Vik said in an irritated tone as Dubwool started to dash recklessly towards Riolu and hit it with a powerful retaliate which sent Riolu flying. "Riolu!"
Riolu let out a loud yelp as he hit the trunk of a tree and fell down to the ground. Leon stares intently at Riolu, wondering if he should make the call or wait to see if the fighting type still had some energy left in him. Vik looked over at his partner worried that the attack might've been too much for him. A few seconds passed until everyone noticed Riolu's arm twitch a little as he stood up, but he looked very exhausted.
Riolu isn't looking too good...what do I need to do to defeat such a strong pokemon? Vik questioned as he realized that his attacks aren't going to do much with Dubwool's high defense.
"Now, let's wrap this up with wild charge!" Hop commands as Dubwool charges up a powerful charge attack.
"Stand your ground Riolu!" Vik shouts to Riolu as he looks back at Vik for a moment and nods. Dubwool fully charges up and dashes to Riolu covered in electrical energy. Vik and Riolu wait for their opponent to get closer as Dubwool soon becomes inches away from Riolu. "Now use counter!"
Riolu begins to glow in a reddish light as it steps out of the wild charge attack and lands a brutal uppercut to Dubwool's stomach. Dubwool cries out in pain as both the recoil from wild charge and the damage from the counter sink in.
"WHAT!?" Hop is in shock as he was taken aback by how easily Riolu was able to dodge the attack.
"Now let's finish with another rock smash!" He shouts as Riolu lands another punch to Dubwools head as the latter is sent back a little bit before falling down to the ground.
"Dubwool is unable to battle! So the winner of this battle is Viktor" Leon calls out as Hop kneels down next to his partner.
"Thanks buddy. You deserve a good rest" He rubs Dubwools side for a moment before recalling him as he stands up with a slight smile. "That was a good battle Viktor. I had a whole lot of fun with that."
"Yeah, it's a start to many battles to come." Vik replied. "But Riolu is exhausted and I'm sure everyone else's teams are too."
"True, how about we have some lunch and allow your pokemon to rest up before I show you all how to catch wild pokemon?" Leon suggests.
"Yes, that would be nice." Abby agrees as Grookey lets out a cry which causes her to giggle slightly. "Grookey could use some rest"
"You bet!" James replied excitedly as everyone went to set up several cooking supplies.
Motostroke City, Galar
A young man in his early twenties was getting off a plane and heading through the airport to exit into the city. He gripped his bag tightly while taking out his Rotom phone to look at a map of the city.
"Damn, this place looks very different from the likes of Castelia or Opelucid." He comments as his Pokémon just randomly came out of its pokeball and glanced around as well. "What do you think Emboar?"
Emboar gives his trainer a nod, agreeing that the sight was something to behold. The trainer had a smile as he gave Emboar a slight fist bump.
"I haven't felt this excited since the beginning of our journey all those years ago bud." He says as they walk out of the airport. "First things first, I think we should go find a place to stay for the night. That plane ride took a lot out of me. What do you say?" He asks his partner as he nods. "Perfect."
The two wander out and around the city to find some areas to check out. However as they were walking, he could spot some individuals huddled up together close to a back alley. The trainer watches for a moment as he raises an eyebrow feeling very off about them.
From my days as a champion, those individuals give off a concerning aura. I may want to keep an eye on them for now... He thought as Emboar gave him a stoic look as well.
A/N: I'd like to thank devoncruz23 for letting me use his OC in this story.