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Peine made his way out of the Pokémon Center, and headed north, into route six and hopefully to Saffron as quick as possible. Route six was one of the shorter routes in the Kanto region, and it should only take him about twenty minutes to get to Saffron. The train ride should only be about an hour and a half, and he’ll just stay in Goldenrod for the night and start travelling towards New Bark Town so he could pick up his Pokedex.

Peine making good time through route six. He noticed a lot of the wild Pokémon that made their home on the route, common Pokémon such as Pidgey, Ratatta, common bug types like Weedle and Caterpies, and a couple Magnemite. As for trainers, he knew what he had to do to avoid battle. No eye contact meant that there wouldn’t be a challenge, and no challenge meant less time spent here. Though that changed when Peine overheard two bug catchers arguing.

“My Pokemon are better than yours!”

“No they aren’t, I just beat you in a battle.”

“I was going easy on you, and I have another Pokemon. I bet you I can beat any guy on this route so easily it won’t even be funny. I bet even Lt. Surge would even tremble at the mention of my name.”

“You lost kid, face it, go home.”

The bug catcher who was losing the argument turned around and yelled at Peine, “Hey, you! The loser with the straw hat and the fishing pole!”

Peine turned to him with an enraged look on his face. He’s been called many things before and let them slide, though if he was ever called a loser, they crossed the line. “Whatever you want from me, it better be good,” Peine said, his voice as sharp as a knife, his eyes glaring at the boy as if he was trying to make him spontaneously combust.

“Ya, I wanted to beat your sorry butt in a Pokemon battle, so send you Pokemon out and lemme beat ya!!” The bug catcher said in return, confindence overflowing in his voice. His partner though seemed to be intimidated.

“Buddy, I don’t think we should really mess with this guy.”

“Why not, I called for a battle and due to the league rules, he has to battle me.”

“You’ve just recently caught your Pokemon man, and besides, they didn’t do squat against mine.”

“As I said, I didn’t even use my strongest.” The boy took out a pokeball and sent out his Pokemon, which was a Metapod. “Crysla is more than capable to take on whatever he has.”

“You really think that?” Peine said, his hand going for his pokeball and his good rod. “You know, now that you sent your Pokemon, we are in battle, so you should expect anything!” As Peine finished his sentence, he casted the rod out, Sel’s pokeball attached to it. The line went skyward, the capsule releasing Sel midair. “Sel, use your scratch, let’s make this quick!!” Peine commanded. Sel dove downward; her claws back to scratch the living hell out of her opponent.

“Crysla, use your harden attack!!” the bug catcher commanded. Crysla glowed silver, her shell seeming to look harder as she gleamed in the sun. Sel’s attack finally landed, the attack, though did barely any damage due to the harden.

‘If I let this guy harden anymore, then he’ll be able to wall this whole time and run Sel out of PP. I’ll stop that problem real quickly.’ “Sel, use taunt!” Sel turned around and spanked her butt looking back at Crysla, yelling some very degrading things to it in Pokemon language. ‘Now he can’t defend, so I weaken it now. “Leer!!” Sel looked at Crysla with a glare, the targets defense decreasing back to normal. ‘Now for the win.’ “Ice punch, finish this clown!!”

“Crysla, umm…string shot, no, tackle, use a tackle attack!” the bug catcher said with a frantic look on his face. Crysla jumped up and headed right towards Sel, while Sel sprinted towards Crysla with an icy fist. Crysla made first contact, pushing Sel back, though Sel managed to hit Crysla, the Metapod being lucky that she was able to hit first or it was game over.

“Ice Punch again Sel!!” Peine yelled as Sel dashed towards Crysla, this time hitting the Pokemon before an order could be uttered, thus winning the battle.

“I can’t believe it, how could a newbie trainer beat me?? You had to have stolen your Pokemon, they don’t give starters this good and you can’t catch Pokemon better than mine.”

“Well maybe if you raise your Pokemon from scratch, you’d understand true strength. Sel, you made me proud bud, return,” Peine said as he returned his friend into her ball. “Now, due to league rules you have to give the winner money. So pay up now before Sel starts attacking you,” Peine said with a smirk on his face, holding out his hand. The bug catcher gave Peine his money, and then Peine walked away, heading towards Saffron so he could heal up and then catch the train to Goldenrod.

“Told you that you shouldn’t of battled him Alex.”

“Shut up Liam.”

“Fine by me, I guess.” In his head, Scarlet ran through what he’d have to do to win. And with that, he realized he just wasn’t ready. Cindy was his only usable pokemon, what with flying types generally being half normal and Terumi’s only attack being an almost useless ghost type move that would be categorized as sexual assault in almost any other situation. “Okay. After you kick Falkner’s a** and get your Zephyr badge, we’ll go get our Pokedexes.”

He grinned over at Cindy. “And we’ll train on the way to get strong enough to beat him ourselves, right?”

Cindy nodded, answering with a fierce bark.

“Till then, I guess I can check out how this guy battles. I hear he’s really good.”

Sam had started to follow Miharu when the boy came up. She stood silently watching. She avoided eye contact with the new kid, instead looking at the ground and scuffing her toes. She wasn't too trusting of new people at the moment, especially boys after what had happened at the Breeder's Gala.

'Stupid Orion...' she thought, suddenly irritated. Sam didn't want to be stuck with a new companion, but how was she going to get rid of this kid? He obviously wanted to go the same way she was going, but Sam wanted to only travel with Miharu for now. Trying to stay fairly normal for one person was hard enough. Sam finally looked up, nodding a curt hello to the boy before looking away again. He had on a charming smile, but Sam wouldn't notice. She wouldn't blush...'I won't...Won't...' she thought as she felt color rising to her cheeks.

"Everyone ready?" Mike called out to his friends as he circled around them on Nitro. When the hell did everyone get these Pokemon? he wondered. The only one he recognized was Bahamut, Kilik's Flygon that he received from Dante. But when did Keegan get a Skarmory? And when the HELL did Kasiya get a Flygon? That wasn't a Pokemon you just up and caught. You had to work really hard to get one of those, and he knew all of her Pokemon by heart. Who knows? Maybe she got it in a trade just like Kilik, or it was a gift from her father. Wait, a ground Pokemon as a gift from Kanto's leading Electric Pokemon expert? No way. Mike shook the thought from his head. He'd ask later.

Once everyone had gathered, Mike ordered Nitro to take off for home. By now, he had gone back and forth from Hoenn to Kanto back to Hoenn so many times that he didn't even need to look at a map anymore. Just by remembering what Kanto town or city was compared to the others was all the bearing he needed. With a powerful flap of the Charizard's wings, they were off.

Just like his trip here from Mt. Ember, Mike began to feel nauseous as the wind rushed past his face. He drew his cloak over his body and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. "Deep...breath." he said, feeling his stomach churn and roar like a furnace. "You can do this. You've done it dozens of times. This is your body now. You'll have to get used to it."

The pep talk was useless, and soon Mike leaned over the side and expelled a molten, flaming mass of vomit that rained down and peppered the sea below.

------

There wasn't a moment where Sasha was more frightened about the mission at hand then when she sat atop Kasiya's Flygon and it began to take off. Z'his iz eet. she thought. No going back now. Her heart jumped as Sirrus left the ground, and she threw her arms around Kasiya instinctively. "Ne me laisse pas tomber!" she wailed, squeezing her friend so hard she was sure she'd have to make a wish.

After the battle, it took Peine another ten minutes to get to the Southern Gate of Saffron City. He passed through the gate, the guard seeming just looking at a magazine, not even noticing the trainer passing by.

‘They would be amazing if this place ended up getting taken over by some criminal organization.’ Peine thought as he chuckled. After he went through the gate and into Saffron, he was struck in awe by the huge buildings in the city. On the Sevii Islands there wasn’t anything like this. Maybe Quest Island with the Battle Tower, but it was nothing in comparison with Saffron. ‘Where the hell is the Pokemon Center, or the train station...’ Peine thought. ‘Maybe one of the people here would tell me...’ “Excuse me sir, where is the Pokemon Center here?”

“See that huge building there, the Sliph Co. building??”

“Yes, right there isn’t it?” Peine said as he posted to the tallest building in the city.”

“Yes, that one, it’s to the right of that.”

“Thank you!” Peine said to the man who helped him out and started to walk away.” ‘Hey…how do I get to Sliph??’ “Sir, I have another question,” Peine called out as he turned around, though the man already left. ‘Looks like I’m on my own.’

After a good hour of wandering the city for the Pokemon Center, Peine finally found it. “Took me long enough,” the teen muttered under his breath as he walked through the sliding doors of the Pokemon Center. Surprisingly, it looked like any normal Pokemon Center, instead of the humongous one that was etched in Peine’s mind until now. He walked towards the front desk, taking out Sel’s pokeball. “Miss, could you please heal my Sneasel?” Peine asked, handing her Sel’s ball.

“Yes I can,” the nurse said with a smile, taking Sel’s ball and putting it in the healing machine. After a couple seconds, Sel was completely healed and was given back to Peine. “Just a question, is your name Peine Mononoke?”

“Um…yes…how did you know that miss?” Peine asked. It was his first day in the city, heck his first day in the mainland. He was extremely surprised that someone knew his name, and was worried that his mom found out what happened in the Pokemon Fan Club and would force him to go back home.

“Professor Oak called about an hour and ten minutes ago asking for you, he had a bit of information to share with you. I think he wanted you to call as soon as possible,” the nurse said with a smile on her face.

“Okay, thank you for giving me the message and healing my Pokemon,” Peine said with a smile as he walked to the video phones, calling Oak’s number. The phone rang a bit before the old professor picked up. “Oak, sorry I missed you call, I got caught in a battle, I won though, and then I got lost…” Peine told the professor. “So, what do you need?”

“About going to Azalea, it isn’t needed. There is a path that was originally blocked by a Sudowudo, though it seemed to have been cleared. Take that and you’ll be able to get to Violet much quicker, making your trip to Newbark go from a week to maybe even a day if you make good time.”

“Thanks for the info professor. Is that all?”

“Yes it is Peine. Well, just one more quick question, do you have a cell phone??”

“Um..no professor, I don’t, we only used video phones on the Islands.”

“Get one, I don’t feel like waiting for you to get to a place with a free video phone so I can give you your instructions. Good bye now,” Oak ordered, the video phone hanging up.

“Get a phone, that’ll be on the top of my priority list…my a**,” Peine muttered as he headed downstairs. He walked up to the nurse again, needing to ask her the location of the train station. “Excuse me miss, but would you mind telling me where the train station is?”

“I’d be delighted to sweetie,” the nurse said with a genuinely kind tone to her voice. “Take a left after you leave the center and walk to the northwestern most point in the city. There will be three buildings there; the station is the middle one.”

“Thank you Miss!!” Peine said as he ran out the door and followed the nurses instructions to the station.

"We are in need of training as well. We're actually entered in the contest tonight, but we haven't gotten to practice at all until now." A nervous giggle escaped from Ryka's throat, and she continued. "Since we'll be heading back into town afterwards, why don't you just follow us back to the Pokemon Center? If you're going to the contest tonight anyway, you're welcome to spend the time with us until then." Blitz jumped off of Ryka's shoulder and began running in circles, prepping himself for the battle ahead. Ryka giggled and made a little dash over to Allegra.

The Skitty was practicing diligently. By the looks of things, she was able to juggle the balls for 7 to 8 seconds straight, without dropping one. "Wow, that's amazing Allegra!" Ryka said with a clap. This threw off the Skitty, who dropped all of the balls, and let out a little whine. Ryka giggled yet again and started digging through her backpack. "Here, how about taking a break?" She pulled out a shallow bowl and a bottle of water, dumping half of the bottle into the bowl. "Take your time, you're doing great." With a poke of the Skitty's nose, Ryka made her way back to the battle field, where Blitz had taken his position and was eyeing up the competition.

"Do you remember that move that Riza did with her Kirlia, the Thunderbolt cage?" Ryka whispered to blitz, who nodded. "I want to try something similar to that, but don't worry about it so much. Just enjoy the battle, and try your best." She gave the little Pikachu a squeeze before getting in position.

"Thank you for your patience, Mag. Let's start off with a Thundershock, Blitz!" Blitz gave a smirk as his cheeks flared with a greater spark than before. His whole body glowed as the electricity ran through him. With a yell to the sky, a wave of electricity burst from Blitz's body and headed straight towards Sunfire.

It laid face down in the mud. The bug catcher family stands with their mouths wide open. Their amazement has become bitter, and worry has shot through their existence. Laichi and Zii may have killed the bug catcher's pokemon.

Laichi looks up at the two siblings and back down at the unmoving pokemon. Zii snorts while crossing his arms. He's seen his moments of death before him and Laichi met.

Zii remembers a lonely sandshrew who made it's way to a beach. Zii was watching from a large cliff. The sandshrew loved to play in the shallow waters. It did this day after day, until a large Gyarados created a tidal wave and pulled the poor sandshrew under the currents. Zii jumped from the cliff and dove into the water. He risked his very life to save this sandshrew, but the current was too strong. The sandshrew held it's breath till it bled from it's ears. Zii gradually made his way back to the surface and crawled to the beach. He leered at the Gyarados and the beast looked back as if saying, some things need to stay on land you should learn. Zii understood what the Gyarados was saying, and felt no remorse for the sandshrew.

Zii snaps out of his flashback, as Laichi yells at the two bug catchers.

"Hey! I know the rear of your wurmple is nice and tender, and it's a great photo opportunity, but you might want to pinch your sister's butt to motivate her to get that pokemon to a Pokecenter as soon possible before it's dead."

"Wha...wha...? It's already dead! You killed our pokemon!" the girl screams as tears fall from her eyes.

"You must have been a blond in your past you bimbo. Zii knows how to control his strength, he would not kill a pokemon. He would beat it to a pulp and leave that one hit point, so it can live to attempt another retaliation again."

The wurmple twitches. Both bug catchers run to the wurmple to give it some personal medical attention. Both of them are laughing in joy that the girl's wurmple was not dead, until a shadow rises over them.

Laichi has a deviant smile as she opens her hand.

"Get this straight, I beat you two punks. Rules state I must be given a compensation... so I need money."

The two bug catchers growl and scream a multitude of cusses at Laichi and bolt away toward Petalburg to heal their pokemon.

With a breath in and an unwinding sigh out Laichi looks to Zii, shrugs, returns Zii to his ball, and whistles while she walks toward the city in the bug catcher's foot steps.

"Don't worry, I won't let you fa-ALLL!" Kasiya squeaked as Sasha squeezed her tightly, her eyes bugging out in a near comical fashion. "Eep, Sasha, watch where you're grabbing!" she shrieked, a mad blush covering her face. Sirrus looked over his shoulder at the two girls and let out another happy screech, his tail swishing in the breeze behind him. Kasiya hadn't yet realized that only Mitsu knew how she'd obtained the powerful Flygon, and that she most likely would owe the others an explanation. Keegan's right, I have to tell everyone else about Shocker, she thought, a pang of intense pain stabbing through her midsection. It was almost unbearable to think that she was going into this terrifying mission without two of her strongest and most trustworthy Pokemon, though if she could make it through the Magma base alive, she fully intended to do everything in her power to rescue her Raichu from the clutches of Team Rocket. Hold on a little longer, Shocker, she thought, tears streaking down her cheeks only to be dried a split second later by the wind whipping at her face.

=-=-=-=-=

Though Camerupt was now painfully aware of his new-found paralyzed state, Flannery was far too riled up to notice. Her pulse was racing after that last exchange of attacks, and she knew that if she and Camerupt could score a lucky break with another powerful Magnitude 8 or 9, then it would definitely turn the tides of battle in her favor. She called for the often unreliable Ground-type attack a second time, still overlooking the fact that it took great effort for Camerupt to raise his hooves off the ground. With a grunt, his bloodshot eyes opened wide and he slammed both legs down on the ground, sending another shock wave through the gym's floor. This one was far less impressive than the last, as this amounted to only a Magnitude 5.

The tremors that followed were much weaker than before, as this time Hariyama didn't even have to fight to keep his balance as he charged across the battlefield. Flannery had been to keen on ordering her next attack to hear Robbie call for a Vital Throw, which was by far one of the massive Pokemon's most reliable attacks. The Fighting-type let out a loud grunt as he thrust his hands out, taking a firm hold on Camerupt. Flannery watched with shock as the powerful Hariyama hoisted up her Pokemon and effortlessly tossed him across the battlefield, where he landed with a loud thud. "Camerupt! Get up!" the gym leader cried. "You can't quit on me now!"