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"My baby boy!"

The sobbing woman in the doorway of the small house in Cherrygrove City brought her hand in front of her face, tears streaming down her cheeks as if she were at a funeral. Heck, she'd might as well have been, letting her sweet, innocent child run off into that unforgiving world all by himself.

Scarlet and Cindy, however, weren't anywhere near as sad as that woman. In fact, the expression on the teenager's face was expressed annoyance at its best. Arms were locked to his side, eyelids were lowered halfway, his jaw was clenched. The crimson tint in his cheek almost matched the spiky red hair sitting atop his head.

The tiny little cyndaquil standing to the future trainer's side was standing on her hind legs. She folded her arms and let out a huff, which seemed to have the bonus effect of making the formerly nonexistent quills on her back flare out, like a patch of blazing grass.

"Y-You two be careful! There are horrible pokemon out there who want nothing more than to hurt you for walking in grass!"

If Scarlet could've, he most definitely would've driven the palm of his hand into his face. But his mom would probably make him stay home, what with the grievous brain injury she'd believe he'd incurred upon himself.

"We'll be fine, Mother. I promise, we'll come back in one piece." Scarlet cringed when Mom responded with a wail.

"SO DO MOST CORPSES. NOW YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF." The woman fought back tears. Her boy, her one and only child, about to go into a world filled with Zubat and Beedril and all other sorts of flying animals with a penchant for stabbing kids. She reached out and started fixing Scarlet's hair. So messy. "Okay... Now what do you do if you see a wild Steelix coming for you?"

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Is that even-"

He was cut off by a bark from Cindy, whose quills flared up again. She spit out an adorable little wisp of flame from her snout. The answer was clear: Set the giant metal rock monster on fire.

It was apparently enough for Mom. "Okay... Have fun... And catch lots of pokemon..."

After an exchange of Pounds and Scratches, Kilik could easily tell that both fighters were getting worn down. But he wasn't about to turn in and fold the match to this Barry kid. "Chimchar, finish it off with a Brick Break!" With his superior strength, and attacks, this should be the final blow! The monkey didn't even bother distancing himself to prepare the attack. Such an act could leave open a possibility of him missing! He reared his fist back and slammed a solid punch straight into the Piplup's face. That was it. The moment he felt his fist connect, he knew that Piplup was down. "Yes!" Kilik cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

"D'wah?!" Barry looked shocked, seeing his Piplup fall to the ground practically in slow motion. "Aaalright, alright kid. You're not toooo bad. I guess your debt is wiped clean." He recalled his fallen penguin and clipped the ball back to his belt. Debt? Kilik thought, looking rather perplexed, As if you actually expected me to pay you a millon smackers. "WELP!" Barry pulled his backpack up a bit and stretched, "I'm off to Oreburgh to get myself a badge! See ya 'round, buhh..." "Kilik." "Kilik!" And with that, Barry walked away, whistling to himself.

"Not even six hours in Sinnoh," Kilik said to himself, crossing his arms, "And I already have a new rival. Am I really that standoffish?" He looked down at his Chimchar, who was panting heavily. Yet he lifted his arms in triumph, pounding his chest. "Oohoohohoh!" He cried, stamping his feet as well. Victory was his! All challengers would fall to him! As Kilik was about to recall his Chimchar to take it to the Pokemon Center, he snapped his fingers. "Just a sec," he opened up his side bag and pulled out a purple bottle. "C'mere," he knelt down by Chimchar, "Close your eyes. This might sting a little but it'll heal up your damage." He squeezed the nozzle and used up the Potion to save himself some time. Shuddering a bit, as the Potion was pretty cold, Chimchar looked right as rain afterward. Good thinking on Kilik's part! That trainer must be one of the most prepared in the world. He came with a brand new move for him, as well as something to heal him with after his very first battle! Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all. Chimchar hopped up to his trainer's shoulder, his foot pressing down on Treecko's Pokeball on his way up. She popped out a few moments later, yawning. That monkey woke her up, and now he was sitting on her favorite spot! She clammered up to Kilik's other shoulder and pouted. If that Chimchar wanted to throw hands, she'd throw hands, by golly!

"Okay, you two," Kilik said, looking at the two of them, "You're gonna have to settle down. I'm not gonna go on this journey with you two hating each other. Understood?" Of course she understood. Treecko would never do anything to upset Kilik. Yeah, yeah. Don't hate the green thing. Of course. "Alright, so here we go!" He pulled off his backpack and set it on the ground, assembling the Mach Bike that he never seemed to ride. Rydel made the best, and fastest, bikes in the world. Sure, the Cerulean Shop may have more branches. Maybe Sinnoh might even have a bike shop - but no bike in the world compares to Rydel's Mach Bike. Kilik hopped on and off he flew towards Jubilife, barely having to pedal at all.

Kasiya sighed and placed her hands on her hips as she watched the Piplup pout, not really sure why he was so upset after only trying twice. "That's what practice is for, Al," she called out to him, but her cheerful tone only seemed to bring the Penguin down even further. "Oh dear." She knelt down and dug through her bag once again, bringing up a container of Pokemon food. She gave it a shake, noting that it was only about a third of the way full, and she removed the lid. This was what was left of the Pokemon food she'd gotten from Keegan's mom when they were in Lavaridge Town, after she'd received Nova's egg. "Hey, are you hungry?" she asked, carrying the container of food over to the Pokemon. Alphonse looked up at her, and shook his head. Well, maybe he was a little hungry, but he didn't feel that two solid failures had earned him anything, especially not food.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that," Kasiya said, sighing again. This little guy really was starting to remind her of Keegan. "Look, if you're hungry, you might have a hard time concentrating. Have a few bites to eat and then try again, okay?" She smiled at the Piplup as he turned to look at her again, and she took a small handful of the Pokemon food and held it out to him. "This stuff was made by people who really know what they're doing, so you can bet it'll perk you right up." Alphonse couldn't help but catch the scent of the food his trainer was holding out to him, and he moved a little closer, sniffing intently. It did smell pretty good, and his belly was rumbling a little. Perhaps a little nibble wouldn't hurt.

Alphonse hesitated before taking some from Kasiya's hand, though he turned his back to her again as he nibbled at it. She was right; it really was good! He pivoted back and ate a few more pieces, deciding this would be good for now. He chirped before looking back over at that pesky rock - this time he'd blast it for sure! Concentrating hard, the little flipper bird summoned a glowing ball of water between his flippers, and with a loud cry he sent it forward. There was definitely more to it this time, as it easily covered the distance between him and his target, and just like that, he'd scored a direct hit on the rock, sending droplets of water shimmering in all directions. "There, see? I knew it would help!" Kasiya cheered, having never seen a more beautiful Water Pulse in her life.

=-=-=-=-=

"Thank you, Arturo," Karrigan said politely as the food was laid out before them. "Everything looks delicious." Zaira mewed in anxious agreement, and Karrigan gave the Shinx a few links of sausage before serving herself. Bill had been quite truthful about Arturo's ability to cook, for everything really was delicious, and Karrigan was pleased that her sense of smell had not mislead her. She was hungrier than she had realized, as it had been quite some time since the last time she had a decent meal. Not since before Isabelle, Tyra and I went our own separate ways, she thought, spearing a juicy piece of watermelon with her fork. She enjoyed her meal in silence, spending most of it in silent contemplation of where her friends were and what they might be doing now. I just hope they've kept out of trouble.

Sam sighed with relief. They had been crawling for awhile, when Sam decided to pop up and check on where they were. She could see the towers of Ecruteak not too far away from where they were, she could even see the little building that connected the city to Route 38. They were one step closer to Goldenrod, where Kya could see her family and Sam could head on to the next gym, though she still was not entirely certain whether she wanted to go to Azalea or Violet. She was pretty sure Azalea was the way to go, since even though Bugsy would probably have some Grass moves up his sleeve that would hurt Star, Falkner's Flying moves would be super-effective against Miles AND Star's Ground moves would miss. So, as they crawled nearer to their destination, Sam was trying to devise a strategy in her head about how she would go about beating the Bug-type Gym Leader. She couldn't come up with much ideas except hammer his Pokemon into the ground.

"Sam..." Sam looked back at Kya, who was staring at her hands.

"Yeah?"

"Got any Band-Aids?" Sam looked at Kya's hands, which were covered in blood and stickers. Sam nodded and pulled her pack around, drawing out some Neosporin and some bandages. She sat cross-legged, and swiftly pulled each barbed seed pod from Kya's hands. She winced each time new blood poured forth. Once Sam was finished with both hands, she thouroughly doused both with the Neosporin, then covered her hands in Band-Aids. She looked in Kya's face and grinned.

"Best I could do in the circumstances. The bleeding should stop by the time we reach the Pokemon Center in Ecruteak. Nurse Joy can do a better job of wrapping your hands." Sam glanced to her own hands, which were mercifully free of stickers, then to her knees, which were merely scraped up. She had avoided the worst of the thorny bushes by risking being seen. They continued crawling, and gradually Sam rose up from the bushes and made a mad dash for the little building only yards away. She entered the building and watched as Kya stayed low until she was practically at the doorway. As they entered in, they looked back to where they had come from, and then looked at each other. They both snickered.

"Wow, were we really that scared of other Pokemon Trainers?"

"I guess...I feel silly now."

"Join the club! Come on, let's head to the Pokemon Center to fix up these hands."

They wandered through the city, Sam staying silent while admiring the two towers. She knew the legends surrounding them, and she pondered as to whether Entei, Raikou, and Suicune really haunted the Burned Tower, or if the mythical rainbow bird Ho-Oh indeed existed and used to roost at the top of the Bell Tower. She also wondered why the tower had two different names, the Tin Tower and the Bell Tower. Most people referred to it as the Tin Tower still, but Brynn had told her that recently the Kimono Girls had insisted upon naming it the Bell Tower. Sam shook her head at the thoughts. Nothing would come of them that could be useful to her, and so she went back to her strategy against Bugsy. Before long, they had found the Pokemon Center, it's traditional red roof darker to match the rest of the city. As they entered through the automatic doors, Sam proceeded to the bank of video phones to call her parents, knowing they would want an update. She knew eventually she wouldn't be able to keep calling them, but for now she would cling to this little lifeline. As the call connected, she made sure Kya received the medical attention she needed. Sam glanced back to the screen and saw her mom's face, and she giggled. Her mom's hair was sticking up at odd angles, paint on her face. "Mom....?"

"Oh hi sweetie! Your father brought one of his friends over, and he has a Smeargle! It is a wonderful painter, though a bit messy! Very friendly too! So how are you? How are your adorable pokemon?"

"We arrived in Ecruteak a few minutes ago, my friend Kya is just getting her hand fixed up. Star, Miles, and Devlin are doing good, they each got to battle a little earlier with Kya's pokemon. We won, which was nice, I think Devlin is becoming stronger. Just thought I'd check in with you."

"Well thanks hon! Can I say hi to Kya?" Sam glanced away, not too keen on the idea, but she couldn't think of a plausible reason to say no, especially since Kya was wandering over already.

"Yeah sure here." Sam moved aside, and whispered to Kya, "My mom wants to talk with you." Sam rolled her eyes hugely, emphasizing her mom's eccentricity. Kya nodded, understanding.

"Hi Sam's mom!" she said enthusiastically.

"Oh please, call me Traci! So I hear you've been traveling with my little Goose! You even battled her! Though I heard Sam won that...What type of Pokemon do you have?"

"A Gible, a Shuckle, and an Aipom, ma'am."

"Call me Traci! A Gible? I don't believe I have heard of those before! Of course, we have plenty of Shuckle around Cianwood. Sam has told you the story I'm sure. She just loves telling folklore. Oh my dear! What happened to your hand?!"

"Oh, I just cut it on some thorns..."

"Thorns?! What were you doing in thorns?! Sam, what is going on? You hate spikey things! Are you abusing your friend?" Sam groaned loudly.
============

Zolin popped out of his pokeball, his bone club flying out of his hand with a slight glow as it flew towards the Drowzee. It smacked the Drowzee on it's forehead, disrupting it's psychic energy. The Drowzee directed it's attention towards Zolin. It lowered it's head and began to run towards Zolin, intending to Headbutt the little Cubone across the field. Eztli recalled Zolin's moveset, and tilted her head slightly.

"Zolin, use Headbutt as well." Zolin nodded, and lowered his head, matching the Drowzee's position, then ran full speed at the Hypnosis pokemon. When they collided, Zolin's skull helmet seemed to shield him from the worst of the damage. "Scott, move away from the battle. Don't want any collateral damage." Scott eyed the Cubone and Drowzee, who were both rubbing their heads, then slowly backed away, creeping towards where Eztli was standing. He hid slightly behind her.

"I've never actually seen a wild Pokemon battle..." he muttered. "Why do Pokemon need Trainers if they battle like this on their own?" Eztli didn't glance at the young boy.

"Because we provide them with companionship and help them be better Pokemon...and in turn, they teach us to appreciate the world," Eztli told Scott. She turned her attention back to the battle at hand. The Drowzee's eyes were glowing red, and Eztli recognized the aura surrounding it. Hypnosis..."Zolin, use Bone Club again! Hit it's forehead so it can't put you to sleep." Zolin leaped forward, and smacked the Drowzee on the head, disrupting it's concentration. The Drowzee angrily changed it's aura to a blue color, and launched glowing rings at Zolin. Zolin attempted to dodge, but could not escape the rings. Eztli watched passively as Zolin's bone was yanked from his grasp, and held out of reach, effectively Disabling the use of Bone Club. Zolin stared at his empty hand, then at the bone held much too high above his head. He was bewildered by the sudden sense of loss he felt when he no longer held his bone. He started to moan, an eerie sound when it rattled his helmet. Eztli felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. "Zolin..." she cautioned, which seemed to have a detrimental effect as Zolin suddenly began to wail loudly. Even the Drowzee was taken aback as it held it's head in pain and fear. Scott covered his ears.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT IT UP! EZTLI MAKE IT SHUT UP!" Eztli ran over to the crying Cubone, the volume increasing and the skull rattling creepily. She touched the skull. Zolin suddenly stopped dead mid-wail, then quickly whipped his tail across Eztli's face. Eztli took her hand away, and felt her face. There was no blood. Eztli narrowed her eyes.

"Zolin, use Headbutt." There was no anger in her voice, only a hint of disappointment. Zolin turned away, and refused. Eztli stood, and walked away. "Fine. Learn from your mistakes then," she said, gesturing to the recovering Drowzee. It was already preparing it's next attack. Eztli remained silent and cold as Zolin panicked, still refusing to use Headbutt, and instead whipped his tail around towards the Drowzee's face, distracting it from defending itself. However it was all for naught, as the Drowzee loosed a Hypnosis, it's arms swirling in strange signs as Zolin fell over in sleep. Eztli didn't react. Scott watched bewildered.

"Do something Eztli! Zolin will be hurt!"

"No. Zolin chose to learn on his own, and I shall let him."

"Eztli!"

"No, Scott. He disobeyed, and he is paying the price." Eztli could hear how cold her words sounded, but she didn't mean any malice behind them. She just wanted Zolin to understand that he wasn't alone anymore.

Alphonse puffed up his chest as the Bidoof charged towards him once more, completely confident that there was no way this pudgy rodent could touch him. "Uh, Al, you might wanna dodge again, or prepare to counterattack, or something," Kasiya warned, but the Piplup couldn't hear her over the sound of his ego telling how awesome he was. Alphonse realized the inevitable a bit too late, and his eyes went comically wide as he was suddenly knocked over as though he were a blue and white bowling pin. The Bidoof stood up on its hind legs and made a sound that sort of sounded like a cheer, and Kasiya couldn't help but giggle. Even though she'd initially thought Bidoof was a ridiculous Pokemon, she found it to be kind of cute in its own little way. I'm so not catching one, though, she mused as an afterthought, laughing again as Alphonse got to his feet. The penguin shot his trainer a dirty look for laughing at him, and he began to chirp indignantly and flap his wings, much like a child throwing a fit. "Well, next time don't be so cocky," she told him, but Al just scoffed and looked away. "If you're finished with your little tantrum now, how about you give your Pound attack a try?" she asked, hoping that her memory was correct.

Alphonse chirped once more and looked back at the Bidoof. It seemed to be considerably calmer now that it had landed a good, solid attack on the perpetrator that had drenched it, and it had even turned to leave the area until the Piplup came running up behind it and smacked it across the back of the head with his flipper. It was the Bidoof's turn to look surprised now, and again it turned to look at Al, its complacent expression now being replaced by one of anger. Kasiya sighed and shook her head, very certain that none of her Pokemon had ever really acted like this before. Well, Shocker used to, especially when she was a less-experienced Pikachu, but she was a special case. Kasiya smiled wistfully as she called for Alphonse to try out his Water Pulse, trying with all her willpower to keep her thoughts from straying back to the whereabouts of the electric mouse.

=-=-=-=-=

The universe suddenly felt all right again as Jaeshan watched Blaziken's fierce Blaze Kick connect with the Victreebel, and he smiled to himself, wishing he'd just gone with her from the start. Her Fighting-type traits would have rendered Sucker Punch very ineffective as she resisted Dark-type moves as well as Grass-types, and it would have taken very few Fire-type attacks to bring down the Flycatcher. He knew Erika's Pokemon wouldn't be that simple, though, and this would prove to be the case as Victreebel launched a nasty Toxic attack for what would most likely be its last hurrah. Jaeshan hoped Blaziken would be able to evade it, but this wasn't the case as the Toxic spray covered far too much area to safely avoid. Blaziken suddenly felt as though she'd contracted a terrible stomach flu and she lurched forward a bit before catching herself. It would take time for the poison to worsen, and even she knew she was in for it in the coming rounds. Great, now Blaziken's badly poisoned, the blonde trainer thought, glancing at Erika.

Jaeshan wasn't sure, but he thought the gym leader looked a tad uneasy now that Blaziken was out on the field, and at first he thought that perhaps it was just because the Fire-type posed quite a threat to her Pokemon, but the more he watched her, the more he began to realize that it seemed to extend past Blaziken's presence. "Blaziken, finish it with a Quick Attack," Jaeshan said, his tone a lot quieter than it had been when he'd ordered the Blaze Kick. Nodding, Blaziken sped forward, her movements nearly invisible as she prepared to bring down the Victreebel and even the score.

=-=-=-=-=

Seeing that the Toxic had taken effect on Blaziken made it easier to see Victreebel get taken down by the Blaze Pokemon's next attack, and as Erika returned the Flycatcher to his Pokeball, she couldn't help but notice that the challenger was watching her intently. For a moment, this realization caught her off guard, but she quickly pushed it from her mind as she carefully selected her second Pokemon for the match. She'd been working with several different Pokemon other than her three signature Pokemon, as the Ivysaur she'd used against that Crenu fellow had shown, and now she decided that it was time for the debut of another new member to her party as she took the sphere from the folds of her kimono. "My next Pokemon shall be Exeggutor."

The Coconut Pokemon emerged from its Pokeball quite quietly in comparison to how Victreebel had, and it danced from foot to foot as it enjoyed the warmth of the climate-controlled greenhouse. "Let's start with a bang, Exeggutor. Egg Bomb, now, please." Every head seemed to be brimming with excitement as the dual Grass and Psychic-type continued to dance on the spot. The long, luscious leaves growing from its body shimmered slightly before a barrage of glowing orbs were launched from the top of Exeggutor's head, each set to detonate upon contact with anything, be it the ground or Blaziken as they rained down onto the battlefield.

Alright! After seeing that Electabuzz before, Chimchar was finally gonna see him in action! He clenched his fists excitedly and pumped them into the air. "Cha-cha-chiii!!" he cheered to Cable. Treecko had to agree with Chimchar. All her matches against Electabuzz were merely for sport. She knew that - there was no way she could beat him. Cable was just making her happy. But now it was time to really see how strong he was! "Cable! He's coming fast, but you've got the speed advantage, no question!" Kilik was careful not to move his arms. As animated as he could get during a fight, there was no denying that he could seriously hurt one of his two new Pokemon by flailing about like he normally did. Cable zipped out the way, smirking as he did so. It would take a lot more than that to catch up to him! Kilik rummaged through his bag and pulled out his PokeDex, lifting it up to get some information on Lucario.

"Lucario, the Aura Pokemon. It has a unique typing of Fighting/Steel. It is said that no foe can remain invisible to Lucario, since it can detect auras. It can even find foes that it could otherwise not see. Using aura, it can read the movements of everything around it. Lucario can understand, and in many cases, speak human speech."

"Fighting and Steel, huh?" Kilik smirked and tucked the device away. "Then I know just the move! Cable, strike back with your Brick Break!" Chimchar heard the command and nearly jumped forward. He was still ready to fight, being burned up about that Piplup from that blonde boy earlier. Kilik's word was his command! Electabuzz shot forward like lightning and swung his fist forward, aiming straight for Lucario's face.

-*-

"BLEEEEH!" Mazarin fell over in the dirt, face down with his rear in the air. "It's so hot! Why is Goldenrod so hot? Stupid Johto!" He looked up and saw a pair of legs and immediately shot up. He began jogging along the girl. "Hey there. I'm new in town. Where you headed? What's your name? I'm Maz. Let's go out." She dashed ahead of him, completely ignoring him. "Oooh, a runner. I got all day, baby!" He caught up easily.

"Go away, you creep!" she cried out, stopping suddenly.

"Hey, wait up!" he stopped with her, "You don't know me. I'm just trying to be nice and friendly. You are..." he took her hands in his, "The most beautiful girl I have ever seen."

"R-really? She blushed.

Oh yeah - this was gonna be a cinch.