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"I'm scramblin' around on the floor,
Searchin' for some new fresh metaphor,
All the words to describe this just do not exist"

The sun was setting out over the water. Canalave sunsets were always so envious. Blotches of orange and purple bled through the clouds, flowing over the town. Will and Teagan walked across town peacefully, trying to take it all in. They were heading over to the pokecenter because Charlie had taken a pretty sizable hit.

Will was a little nervous, he was scared to see if Charlie was alright. He couldn't help but feel responsible. He was unsure in his abilities to guide and raise a pokemon.
"It won't take more than a minute," Teagan explained. "They're really friendly there too."
Will shook the hair out of his face and nodded. "Yeah well, I can't help but feel that this is my fault. What if he's really hurt?"
"You can't hold yourself to that. It was your first experience with your pokemon and it was your first battle. How could you have known?"
Will shrugged, "I could've done more. I could've done better."
"Well," Teagan continued, "I think it's important to go out and experience things for yourself and to make mistakes, because honestly, how else do we learn?"
Will scoffed under his breath. She was right but then, when wasn't she? "We know that better than most."
"We certainly do, kiddo."

Will had never been inside the center. It was a simple building, basically a big lobby. There was one large counter that spanned from wall to wall, and a single receptionist stood behind it patiently. Behind her was a very large machine built into the back wall, it was fitted with six small inlets. Vending machines and couches lined the walls on either side.
"Hello there," the receptionist said though her large smile. "You need me to heal up your pokemon, yes?"
Will approached the counter nervously. He drew Charlie's pokeball from his pocket and set it on the counter reticently. "Yeah, I just came from my first battle," he explained sullenly, "I won, but I don't think I did nearly as well as I should've."
The receptionist chuckled, "But it was only your first encounter? You hold yourself to steep standards, don't you?" She took the pokeball and placed it gently in the machine. "This'll just take a moment."
Teagan came up behind him, she wrapped her arms around him and hung her head over his shoulder. It took Will by surprise, he wasn't used to this level of physical contact.
"He always thinks that he could've done more, or that he should've. What he doesn't realize is that more often than not, he does just fine."
Will looked down to hide a blush that could've set a cigarette, the receptionist smiled and turned back to the machine to retrieve Charlie.
"See now, that was easy right?" she said, returning the pokeball politely.
"Yes, thank you very much," Will said.

Just outside the center Will let young Charlie out of pokeball. The clumsy swinub stumbled out, and looked around slowly. Knot's of hair hung down past his short stubby legs and covered his eyes. The only discernible feature other than hair was his small tongue that hung out past the various tangles. Will looked down at him curiously. It hadn't been the hit he took during that battle. Charlie was just like that. Slightly relieved, Will let out a sigh. "What's going on Charlie?" Charlie looked up at Will, shaking his head to get the hair out of his eyes. He walked over and buried his head in Will's pantleg. Will knelt down and pet him. He was excited, like when you first get a new pet. He ran his hands though Charlie's abnormally long hair, pushed him around playfully. Will was content, Charlie was far from perfect, but then so was he.

The sun was getting dangerously close to falling underneath the horizon. He stood and turned to Teagan, who was sitting on the side of the road looking out at the water. "Ready to-," he started, but was immediately captivated by her presence. Her long black hair flowing behind her, she looked so happy. Teagan turned and his eyes caught hers, they were so wide and green and warm. He froze, longing to just get lost inside them. Will had never seen her in this light, and wondered how he'd missed it for so long. She was beautiful and he needed her. He just stood there, lost in the contours of her face.

Before anyone could say anything Vlad was on top of the pinsir and laying down a barrage of blows onto the poor beetle. "OK! Enough I've seen enough you win." The collector said returning his pinsir to his pokeball. "It was a good fight. It was nice to see a scyther in action with my own eyes. But if you will excuse me my Pokemon require my attention now." The collector said pushing his glasses up once again and walking quickly by Eraku trying to avoid any conversation.
"Jeez what was that guys problem. He was the one that wanted to fight. Oh well Good job guys!" Eraku said smiling. Hurricane was sitting on his trainers shoulder and gave a chirp and a affectionate n** to his trainers head.
Hmmph wasn't even really a challenge! That guy gave up on us way to easily. Vlad thought, though he did have to admit his new trainer did a good job at giving him commands. Maybe this kid did have what it took to be Vlads trainer.
Eraku noticed out of the corner of his eye that someone was watching him. He turned around to see a girl who had apparently been watching his fight. He gave her a quick smile and a wink. "Hey Hurricane this girls pretty cute I think we should go introduce ourselves." Eraku muttered to his trusty companion. He walked over to the girl and gave a wave and said "Hey hows going? Were you watching the fight?"

"Your Charmander is pretty fast," Christina commented with a nod. "Even without the speed boost from her dancing."

"Thanks," Kasiya answered, grinning. It was a nice change to battle someone who was polite. "Your Ryu is pretty tough too," she added, idly wondering how Jaeshan's Bagon was doing. She hadn't seen the little dragon in a long time, and she wondered if it had managed to evolve at all, if capable. It probably has, she thought, smiling to herself. Jaeshan takes good care of his Pokemon. She looked back at Nova, who seemed to be quite enjoying the battle so far. "Dragon Dance again, Nova," she called, nodding. She heard Dante's attempt at cheering, and she laughed, looking over at her friend and giving him a thumbs-up. He was trying, at the very least.

Nova was quite happy to execute her special move again, and even as she twirled and spiraled into the Dragon Dance her steps were quite lithe and elegant. Ryu's wild and reckless attacks weren't even coming close to landing, and Kasiya's smiled widened with pride. "Take him down, Nova," she said firmly, her right hand slashing through the air. "Dragon Claw!" The tiny lizard snarled fiercely as she rushed forward, a light purple aura emanating from both her arms. She quickly closed in on Ryu and lashed out with her right before finishing it with an uppercut from her left. The Bagon was lifted a few feet into the air before he crashed heavily on his back, out cold. Nova spun on a heel and looked up at her trainer, grinning broadly. "You did it! Great job, Nova!" Kasiya laughed, running to scoop up the Fire-type in her arms.

"Dragon Claw... I didn't see that one coming," Christina said, shaking her head as she recalled her fainted Bagon. "It was still great though," she added, walking over to Kasiya and Nova. "You did well, little lady," she said, rubbing the Charmander's scaly head. "I hope we get to battle again someday, when Ryu and Nova are all grown up."

"I hope we do battle again," Kasiya replied, though she wasn't quite sure where a Bagon's evolution line went. Christina smiled, gave a little nod to Dante and headed off, presumably to the Pokemon Center to get her Bagon healed. Still excited about Nova's victory, Kasiya turned back to Dante. "So, on to round three with you then, right?" she asked, grinning broadly. "You'd better hurry up and win that Up-Grade so that I can evolve your Porygon."

=-=-=-=-=

A small smile found it's way onto Jaeshan's lips as he watched Seviper launch herself into the air. That's just what I was expecting Ken to do, he thought. He'd seen a few contests on TV before, as his mother had been a fan of watching all the showy appeals and moves, so he'd had an idea of what to expect from a coordinator like him. "Blaziken, don't move a muscle," he said quietly, eyes still fixed on Seviper as she barreled down on the Blaze Pokemon. Blaziken hadn't stared directly into Seviper's nasty Glare, but she was still perfectly aware of the snake's position. "Not yet," he whispered, clenching a fist as the snake drew ever closer. "Wait for it, not yet, not yet... Now, Blaziken! Flamethrower!" he shouted, punching the air. "Full power!"

Flames spouted from Blaziken's wrists as she looked up, and she opened her beak and expelled a tremendous jet of fire directly into the face of the oncoming Seviper. Her fangs still managed to penetrate the flesh on Blaziken's shoulder and she winced, but kept the Flamethrower going strong. That's the way, Jaeshan thought, unable to get over just how far the Fire-type had come since they'd met.

The sound of Pan's thick tail impacting with the Kecleon's stomach could be heard from where Keegan stood, and the redhead smirked and puffed away at his cigarette. The Kecleon easily had a bigger move pool than Pan did, yet Pan was much better at utilizing the moves he did have, and though he knew he shouldn't enjoy beating a newbie trainer too much, he couldn't help it. The opponent staggered back, looking a lot weaker than before, though it continued to stare at the Treecko with determination. "It's got spunk, I'll give you that," Keegan commented, flicking a bit of ash to the ground. Though he'd taken a few hits, Pan still looked eager to continue, and his yellow eyes were narrowed at the Kecleon. He wasn't going to lose, not today. Before either trainer could issue another command, Pan had dashed back towards Keegan, his eyes seemingly searching for something on the ground. The Treecko let out a happy-sounding noise when he found what it was that he wanted, and he whirled around on one foot, holding a long, thick blade of grass in his fingers. "Pan, what are you doing?" Keegan asked, even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer.

Pan simply looked back at Keegan and winked before he looked over at the Kecleon again and brought the blade of grass to his mouth. Within seconds the gecko had begun to play a soothing melody, and it didn't take long for the song's effect to become apparent. The Kecleon's eyes drooped and he started to look very sleepy, but somehow it managed to fight off being put to sleep, and it wobbled a bit on it's feet.

"Hey, your Treecko knows Grasswhistle," the girl said. "My Grandma's Roselia used to use it to help me sleep when I was little."

Grasswhistle, Keegan repeated to himself. I'll have to remember that one. He grinned at the little gecko. He was really starting to like Pan, so what had that Ed guy meant by him being troublesome? he continued to ponder it as the girl prepared to set her Pokemon on the attack again.

"Use your Lick attack, Leon!" she called. The Kecleon crouched low and spat out his long tongue once again. Both Keegan and Pan were ready for him this time.

"Grab his tongue," Keegan shouted quickly, bringing his cigarette to his lips again. Having discarded the blade of grass, Pan gave a nod and reached out swiftly with his hands, holding tight to Leon's long, sticky tongue. Try as he might, Leon couldn't seem to free his tongue from Pan's grip, so he retracted it. This had been what Keegan was waiting for. "Hang tight and use Pound," he called. Pan didn't weigh much to begin with so it didn't take much effort for Leon to yank the Treecko back. Pan readied himself, using the momentum of his pull to spin around and smash his tail directly into Leon's head, sending the Kecleon into the ground. Pan landed safely on his feet and he knelt down, wiping the Kecleon drool from his hands before he turned back to Keegan and gave him a thumbs-up.
=====
Once more the Starmie sped through the air towards the awaiting Pinsir, who crouched into a defensive position, the sunlight glinting off her hard shell. She waited patiently, reaching out with her strong arms at the last moment as Starrie prepared to slam into her, and in a surprising turn of events Petunia grabbed hold of Starrie and held tight for a moment or two before she shifted her weight and hurled the Starmie to the ground with a Seismic Toss. Starrie jumped back up pretty quickly, as the difference in experience level was much in the water type's favor. Miharu clapped, quite impressed with the Pinsir. And she'll only get stronger, too, the green-haired girl thought with a smile.

After a few more Tackles from Starrie, Miharu had changed Petunia's tactic to dodging, though this was proving to be difficult for the relatively slow beetle. She'd managed to avoid only one of the three, and just narrowly, at that, and Miharu could see that the Pinsir was getting quite frustrated. "It's okay, girl, why don't you take a break," Miharu said, putting a hand on Petunia's shoulder. "You're doing great, so there's no need to worry." Petunia grumbled, but nodded and stomped away from the training area before settling herself in the sand. Starrie seemed eager to continue training so Miharu looked towards Tingle and Lily. "Either of you want to train with Starrie?" she asked. For a moment the Metang and Bulbasaur just looked at each other, but finally Lily jumped to her feet, and nodded. "Alright Lily, get into position, and we'll begin." The small girl smiled. It was good to see Lily actually want to do some training for once, and she wondered if it maybe had something to do with the gym battle they'd had in Goldenrod yesterday.

Sam cowered in a doctor's office. She had gone primal and bit the doctor who had tried to take her blood. He had gone to bandage his hand, muttering under his breath. Now she was keeping her anxiety under control....barely. Her head was swimming, and she knew if she didn't get it under control, she would faint, and they would test her blood while she was unconscious. That frightened her more than anything. The door opened again, and she backed into a corner. Her father, and Officer Jenny, came in. Her dad knelt by her side. Sam's eyes grew wide, and she whimpered. Her dad sighed. He wrapped his arms around her, and restrained her. Jenny stepped forward with a butterfly needle. Sam screamed, and cried out, but her dad held her fast. The needle went under her skin, in the crook of her elbow. It was held there for 20 excruciating seconds, and once it was removed, Sam fell limp. She wasn't entirely unconscious, but she didn't protest to being carried to a couch in the waiting area. Her dad left for a minute (or maybe longer; her mind wasn't processing time really well) but returned soon with her things, including her pokemon. He released Star, and Star crawled onto the couch beside Sam. She cocked her head, and waved her hand in front of Sam's face.

"Saaaaammmm...." she whispered. "Wake up sleepyhead." She frowned. Sam gazed around, dazed and confused. Star grinned mischeviously. She fired a tiny jet of water in Sam's face. Sam sat bolt upright.

"Ah, Star, what the!" She fell back on the couch, still dizzy. "Was that really necessary?" Her mind floated. Star sat back, giggling.

"Good to have you back, Sleeping Beauty. We gonna blow this joint or not?"

"Not yet, chica, they have to process my b-b-blood." She shuddered. She hugged Star tightly. She grabbed her other pokeballs. "Miles, Devlin. Come and join the party." She released the two. Devlin fluttered into her arms, terrified as always. His birthday had been a hectic day. Miles hung from the hanging lamp on the ceiling. He swung on it. Sam laughed, although the action brought pain to her head and chest. A few minutes later, Jenny and her dad re-entered the room.

"I'm so sorry I had to do this to you Sam. But you'll be happy to know you are completely cleared. Not a trace of alcohol in your system, very little Xanax. Even less then Orions's. You're free to go." Sam sighed gratefully, and stood. With her dad's help, she left the police station, free to travel and continue her journey.
============

The road to Fuschia was filled with strong trainers and maze-like routes. Eztli tried to avoid the trainers, intent on getting to Fuschia, but wound up lost on Route 13. She was faced with a large patch of tall grass. She could already see some of the buildings of Fuschia on the other side of the grass. She took a deep breath. If she was lucky, she wouldn't be accosted. She dashed through, fast as possible. She hopped over small holes in the ground, and ducked through some long reeds. She had Fuschia in sight when she was suddenly bowled over by something purple. She got shakily to her feet, in just enough time to dodge another charge. Apparently she had angered a Nidorino by entering his territory. She jumped out of it's way. She couldn't run through Fuschia with it chasing her. She would have to battle it.

"Xipil, let's take care of this quickly, alright?" Xipil emerged, and nodded happily. Even though this was her fourth battle of the day, she was still raring to go. "Good, Mach Punch!" Xipil flew forward and punched the Nidorino solidly on it's flank. But it hardly reacted, it's armor deflecting much of the power. Eztli thought for a moment. 'Oh right, Fighting against Poison is no bueno.' The Nidorino furiously launched a Poison Sting attack, slicing Xipil's face. She cried out in pain.

"RiiiNOOOO!" It breathed heavily in anger, and charged forward again. Xipil leaped high in the air, over the Nidorino. As it charged again, Xipil waited, then disappeared. The Nidorino skidded to a stop, confused. Eztli looked around, just as confused. Where had Xipil gone? Without either noticing, Xipil reappeared at the Nidorino's side, at swiped at a weak spot on it's side. The Nidorino jerked back, out of anger and pain, but it didn't seem that injured.

"What was that Xip?!" She brought out her pokedex, and looked at Xipil's entry. A new attack was listed. "Faint Attack..." she whispered. She looked back up to the Nidorino. It's head glowed bright blue, and charged. "What is that? Xip, move!" Xipil dodge it, but barely. She felt the Nidorino's horn whistle past her body. "What move was that? It didn't look familiar!" The Nidorino's head glowed blue once more. Eztli looked at her pokedex. It said, "Head Smash". Eztli stared in horror. She looked back up in time, but wasn't able to get an order out. Xipil was barreled over by the Nidorino, the super-effective attack taking all her energy. The Nidorino fell back, the recoil damage taking a huge toll, but not enough. Eztli recalled Xipil. "That....was...amazing. And scary. Zolin..."She had to think. She hadn't looked at Zolin's pokedex entry yet, but it was a Cubone. They always had special moves. "Zolin, Bone Club!" Zolin emerged, and howled, the skull rattling eerily. The Nidorino didn't pause though. Zolin rushed forward, and smacked the Nidorino on the horn with his bone. It stumbled a bit, but didn't fall. "Tough guy...I had hoped this would be over."

While Serenity wanted to spend more time doing what she could to get to know her new pokemon, there was something else that she needed to take care of before she left for the farry. She headed to the pokemon shelter so that she could say could by to the pidgey she had rescued the day before. She was a little shocked to find that he was still curled up with the Dragonair. Both pokemon stirred when she came in the room.

"Hi Lily and Rocky." she said quietly. Sere got down on one knee and held out her hand. She hoped that the bird pokemon would come to her. "Rocky, I know you don't know me very well yet, and I hope that changes, but..." She hesitated. It had taken her most of the night to come to this decision. "I'm going to leave you here for a bit. I think it will do you good to hang around some of these pokemon, so you can get a change to see what it's like to be healthy. So you can see that not all trainers are mean." She moved forwarded and petted the bird.

Lily looked up at her and nodded, giving Sere the impression that she agreed with the statement. "Thank you Lily. I know you'll take good care of him."

She got back to her feet and shuffled out of the shelter. George had now become extremely interested in the Lapras that sat in the middle of the yard. Sere smiled.

"Yes George she's coming with us." She said answering his question before he even thought to ask it. "Now, we need to get going so I'm going to get both of you to go in to the pokeballs for now. We'll get to know eachother soon Bryny." She said petting the new pokemon. George looked too distracted to notice the fact that he was going to be going into his pokeball.