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Laughing at the fact that he had scared his sister Stephen jumped around excitedly. It was finely time to start his super cool ninja journey! He and Sparky were going to become the best pair ever and no one could say anything about it. "Yeah! It's about time sis!" Stephen stuck his tongue out at her a movement which Sparky imitated. Without waiting for anything else Stephen and Sparky charged through the house garden yelling and whooping in excitement.

Suddenly a wild Pidgey showed up out of no where! "All right Sparky our first battle! Use your Ice Punch!"

The small plug pokemon charged forward and delivered a mighty icy blow to Pidgey killing it in one hit. "Elekid!" Sparky cried waving his large arms around in the air in victory.

"Woohoo Sparky! You are all ready the strongest pokemon ever!"

Kasiya closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree, wondering what her new little Pokemon would be like. It was amazing how Pokemon were all different not only in species but personality as well. Like how Mike's little Magby, Napalm, was a playful little bundle of fire and Kilik's Elekid was a little on the timid side - a trait he would no doubt grow out of once he was older.

Kasiya watched as Serenity recalled the sleeping Oddish and smiled, unable to stop herself from wondering if Serenity would someday evolve her into a Bellossom or a Vileplume. "Yeah I think it's about that time," she nodded, stifling a yawn. Today had been a busy day and she was feeling quite drained by now. The thought of sleeping on the beach tonight wasn't exactly appealing to her but then again she didn't have to rush off to Slateport in such a hurry. After all, the party didn't start until tomorrow.

"Levi! It's time to come in!" she called out to the water. Even Levi's silhouette seemed to be disappointed, but the Marshtomp decided not to question authority. She gave George that 'we'd better go now or we'll be in trouble' look and began to swim for shore. I wonder if Keegan got my message about me going ahead... and if he'll come to Slateport too... her thoughts tumbled around in her head as Levi's form grew larger and larger. Kasiya had to rub her eyes - for a moment she could swear she saw a Swampert swimming towards her but the illusion lasted only a moment. Maybe someday, she thought, greeting the mud fish as she reached the beach.

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Jaeshan laughed out loud at Robin's bad pun - he'd been thinking something similar as they started walking. Mightyena obviously didn't think it was funny and he just kept walking. It didn't take them long to find the Slateport Bazaar, and Jaeshan was a little surprised to see that it was indeed open - and there were actually people shopping. Are they looking for late-night bargains? Jaeshan thought as they approached the many stalls lining the area. He looked around somewhat casually, wondering if he should spend some money - it wasn't as though he hadn't earned it, but a part of him felt a little bad about going shopping. His father had always tried to teach him to be careful with his money.

As he passed by the TM stall, Jaeshan couldn't help but have a look through the rows upon rows of glimmering discs. Without even realizing it he picked up two for Mightyena, subconsciously knowing that the canine needed more diversity in his attacks. He also picked up one for Shelgon and one for Combusken. He didn't know enough about Beldum yet to be buying TMs for it, so once he'd studied up on the Steel/Psychic-type a bit then maybe the odd Pokemon would gain a new move or two. He handed the discs to the woman behind the stall, who checked them over before handing them back. "Ooh, big spender," she giggled playfully as Jaeshan handed over the cash.

"Yeah, but it's been a long time coming," he replied with a smile. His wallet felt a little flatter but he knew that each TM he'd selected would be used well by each of his Pokemon, and that was enough to justify the purchases in his mind. He stepped off to the side to wait for Robin and M.A. to do their shopping, deciding there was no time like the present to teach his Pokemon their moves. The first two discs he applied to Mightyena's forehead, and the Pokemon growled appreciatively as the knowledge of the two moves settled in his mind. Next, he taught a move to Shelgon, and finally one to Combusken. He then recalled them each into their Pokeballs, a smile etched on his face while he waited.

Sentret just sat on the ground and moped, and Kurine hesitated, not sure what to do. But, in that moment of hesitation, the Hoothoot Tackled Sentret, knocking the the Pokemon over, and also causing it to become even more annoyed.

"Sentret, Scra--" Kurine started, but Sentret angrily cried, "Sen!" and swiped at the Hoothoot on his own. The wild Hoothoot staggered back from the attack while Kurine stared uncertainly at her Pokemon. But the Hoothoot got over the attack quickly and a gave low Growl, lowering Sentret's Attack.

"Defense Curl!" Kurine said in a hardly firm voice, but Sentret simply ignored her completely and lurched forward to scratch at the Hoothoot again. "Sentret, why won't you listen to me?" Kurine cried unhappily. The wild Hoothoot used Tackle again, sending Sentret tumbling backwards. Sentret regained his feet quickly enough, and used Foresight before Kurine could even begin to speak, obviously trying to hear her voice as little as he could.

Levi started to come in and although George had no intention of going back into shore right now he also had a sneaking suspicion that if he didn't go in with Levi then his trainer would come out to get him, and she wasn't sure if Serenity even knew how to swim. Insted of having to see his trainer flounder around in the water trying to get to him, he waddled out after the marshtomp. When he got up to where the two trainers were sitting he noticed that the oddish was no longer on Sere's lap.

"Mudkip?" George said poking Serenity's lap.

"Hi sweetheart. I put Raddish in her ball. She was sleeping." She said. She pat the mudkip on the head. "That means your space is free." She patted her lap. George took that as a sign to jump up and make him self comfortable on her lap. He hadn't realized how tired he was until he got into the folds of his trainers skirt. Very soon he was snoring away.

"I guess he's done for today." Sere yawned. "I think that I'm almost done too."

Artemis continued to circle around above the battlefield, looking down at Loki as she thought of a plan of attack. Loki, meanwhile, seemed to hunker down and wait, his body glowing a little as energy seemed to be absorbed into him. Stockpile, Keegan thought. He'd forgotten Loki could even use it. Doing so had given Loki a temporary boost in his defenses, so when Artemis dive-bombed him with a Quick Attack the blow was somewhat cushioned. He Stockpiled again, feeling more energy flow into him as he continued to watch and wait. He was a snake, and snakes were excellent hunters, blessed with an incredible streak of patience. Not only that, but snakes were quite fond of dining on birds. Not that he actually would try to eat Artemis. Probably.

Artemis, meanwhile, wasn't very fond of the way Loki was just sitting there, waiting. It made her nervous that he wasn't attacking. Just then, to the right of the Arbok, something shiny caught her eye. Now Artemis wasn't the type of Pokemon to be attracted to shiny objects, but for some reason this one caught her attention. She focused her attention on it and dived down once again, but this time instead of attacking Loki she spread her claws wide and snatched the glimmering object from the sand. Loki's eyes opened wide as the speeding Swellow careened past him, kicking up a bit of sand as she did so.

"Sand-Attack?" Keegan questioned aloud, scratching the back of his head. He'd never heard of a Swellow being able to use that kind of move before. However, his thoughts were cut short as the red and blue bird flew over to him and dropped the item she'd grabbed from the sand onto his head, screeching with laughter as it bounced into the sand at his feet. Grumbling from the pain Keegan bent down to pick up whatever it was he'd just been attacked with, and his eyes opened wide when he realized what he was holding onto.
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Somehow the confused Pidgeotto managed to make it to the ground without hurting herself, but she found that even standing was practically impossible. The world kept tilting and slanting, and the Pidgeotto's head was so clouded that she didn't hear her trainer calling to her nor did she see the Umbreon coming at her like a streaking, black comet. The Quick Attack hit home and Aska tumbled across the ground, coming to rest at Miharu's feet. She cooed weakly as Miharu bent down beside her. "You were awesome, Aska! You deserve a good rest." She gently kissed the bird's forehead before recalling her, and she stood up, brushing the dust from her knees.

She then selected a different Pokeball and enlarged it with a click of a button. "Alright Tingle, it's your turn!" she shouted as she threw the sphere. Tingle appeared in front of her, for once facing the right way. The Metang carefully eyed the Umbreon in front of it, flexing its sharp, metallic claws as it prepared to fight. Miharu closed her eyes, remembering that Tingle's psychic type attacks would do nothing against the dark type Umbreon, but it still had a lot of other attacks at its disposal. "Tingle, start off with Metal Claw!" Tingle rubbed its 'hands' together before shooting off like a rocket at the Umbreon, its right claw extended as it prepared to strike. The Umbreon didn't even really have time to react as Tingle's claws dug into its shoulder and it howled in pain. Miharu smiled - she'd forgotten how much she loved battling with Tingle at her side.

As Keegan held up the glimmering object his Pokemon all gathered around him as though they'd discovered a lost, ancient relic of power or something-or-other. It wasn't the case though, as the familiar lightning-shaped pendant hung down from a broken silver chain, slowly spinning around helplessly. Keegan looked up at the Pokemon, specifically Artemis and Loki. "Aren't you two supposed to be training?" he asked, closing his left hand around the pendant and nodding at them respectively. "Get back out there, you slackers," he added a bit playfully. Artemis ruffled his hair with a wing but did as told, and for a moment it looked as though Loki were planning something but instead he just slithered back out to join the Swellow.

Keegan sat back on a rock and studied the broken section of chain. It seemed like a pretty easy fix but he didn't have the proper tools to do so right now. I bet Kasiya's going crazy looking for this, he thought as he slipped it into an inside pocket of his jacket and zipped it closed.

Loki, still feeling the effects of his previous Stockpiles went back to his 'watch and wait' game, looking up at the Swellow with a devious look in his eyes. Seeing an opportunity he Stockpiled for a third time, liking the nervous way that Artemis was flying around overhead. Artemis shot a nasty glare down at the Arbok before deciding that she wasn't going to let him play these mind games with her anymore. She tucked her wings close to her body and dove at him, planning to smack the cobra around with a Wing Attack once she got in close enough. This was just the opening Loki was waiting for and once the Swellow was within range he shot up out of his coils and opened his mouth, spitting up a large amount of what couldn't be defined as anything but pure energy.
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"Umbreon, fight back with Shadow Ball!" Temayo shouted. She looked rather uncertain about the Metang that Miharu had released, but at least she knew now that she could have Umbreon use the special attack she had taught it, long before it evolve from an Eevee. The dark type planted its feet firmly before a sphere of dark energy began to form at the golden ring on its forehead. It let out a cry and the black orb was fired, growing larger as it traveled towards Tingle.

"Aerial Ace!" Miharu commanded. She hadn't expected an offensive move to come from a defensive Pokemon like Umbreon, but part of the fun was not knowing what kind of moves your opponent might have. Tingle didn't make a sound as the Shadow Ball slammed into it, and it quickly thrust out its arm and headed towards the Umbreon, preparing to strike.