[Pokémon] Challenger - Omega Ruby Nuzlocke Novel *FINISHED*

The Pokemon world used to be peaceful. A place where people would battle their creatures to decide who was the best trainer. Now, battles are fought until the last Pokemon standing and the world is running rampant with crime. Regions such as Kanto are on the verge of banning Pokemon trainers completely, as the authorities take a last resort to stop the criminal gangs like "Team Rocket."

"Challenger" is the story of a young man named Erik, who is planning to obtain his Pokemon licence and begin his journey to try and become Pokemon champion. Along the way he must face down criminal gangs, personal woe and face almighty challenges together with his Pokemon. Can they survive the trials of Omega Ruby?

I am currently writing what is turning out to be a novel for my final year project at University. I have decided to post my progress, chapter by chapter, on the forum in hope of getting some feedback on my work.
I decided to take the "Nuzlocke" challenge on Pokemon: Omega Ruby and turn my adventure within the game into a dramatised novel, a darker and more realistic take of the Pokemon world.
This is the first time I have wrote anything like this, so would appreciate some feedback or any pointers.
Hope you enjoy it!

ps. I currently plan to post up the full prologue (A backstory of the events that took place before the game starts) within two weeks, then a further chapter each week after that.


Prologue

Chapter I

"I want to become the best Pokemon trainer the world has ever seen!"

As a child, Erik's dream was like any other. He wanted to beat the Elite Four, defeat the current World Champion and become the best Pokemon trainer on the planet.

Growing up in the region of Kanto was tough – travel between towns was dangerous and crime ran rampant. But the main reason was that he rarely got to see his father, a gym leader in the distant land of Hoenn.

His mother tried to persuade him to take a different path, wanting her son to become a doctor or a scientist, anything other than a Pokemon trainer.

"Everyone wants to capture Pokemon and use them as pets or to battle with them Erik. But not very many people get that far before they get their licence taken away." She would frequently say to him.

"But Daddy is one of Hoenn's eight gym leaders, he'll make sure I become the best!" Was always Erik's reply. But as he got older and saw his father less and less, his positive outlook on life and youthful enthusiasm was slowly curbed.

Into his teenage years Erik still studied for his Pokemon licence, which involved series of tests a potential Pokemon trainer must take to prove they are worthy of becoming one.

"As soon as I'm old enough to take the tests I'll pass them, my sixteenth birthday is only a year away now," Erik promised himself.

"Team Rocket have struck again!" blasted the news presenter one chilly Autumn morning, late into Erik's fifteenth year of life.

"This time a group of six Rocket members unleashed their Pokemon, believed to be Zubats, on a shop owner in Saffron city, using the distraction to steal cash and store products. Police are investigating the latest incident in what is an ever growing crime wave."

"Wait, the shop they stole from is "Taylor's Pokemon Accessories", that's a two minute walk from here!" Erik blurted out, shocked that the crime wave was occurring so close to where he and his mother lived. "I'm going to take down Team Rocket and save this city, I'll be a hero!" Erik thought to himself "All I need to do is pass my test and get my licence."

It wasn't just Kanto that was facing problems from the criminal gang, but the neighbouring Johto region too, amongst many others.

"These gangs are everywhere nowadays," His mother would remark each time she saw a news story on the subject, "They use their Pokemon as weapons, and your common man like that poor shop owner cannot stand against them."

Erik had resolved to fix the problem himself.

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It was the day of his sixteenth birthday, and Erik stared at the test centre through his ocean blue eyes. He noticed how plain the building looked, located on the edge of the Viridian city, the test centre was made with plain white stone, and although it was a rather large building, there were few windows. Erik went to run his fingers through his hair until he remembered he was wearing the hat he had gotten today as a present from his mother.

"I'll always wear this hat to remember you when I'm rich and famous" Erik informed her as he left the house that day. He reached into his lime green backpack (another present from his mother for his birthday) to withdraw his provisional licence and strolled up to the front entrance. He pushed his way through the small red door and entered the test centre, whereupon he was immediately greeted by a tall man with short brown hair who looked to be in his early thirties.

"Hello! May I see your provisional licence please?" The man said before grabbing it out of Erik's hand. "Ahh, Erik. Yes I remember, your test is today. I'm Nigel and will be your examiner." Nigel extended his hand which Erik grabbed and shook, his examiner seemed to be so enthusiastic that his burly frame could burst at any second.

"Ahh nice firm handshake" Nigel remarked "Please follow me to the waiting room."

The walk to the waiting room took place without further conversation as Erik's focus remained firmly on the task at hand. Walking at his own pace as he refused to even attempt to match Nigel's large strides, they embarked through a series of small corridors. The whole building having painted white stone walls with chestnut brown wooden doors dotted here and there. Nigel stopped at one such door and opened it, showing Erik into a small room. Again the stone walls were painted clean white, with the only feature of the room being the red cushioned sofas – of which there were two.

"This is the waiting room, the door opposite this room leads to where your test will take place." Nigel informed Erik with his deep, booming voice. "I know you may already know the ins and outs of a Pokemon licence and the test, but let me explain them to you anyway just to make things clear. If you pass today and obtain your licence, you can begin battling and capturing Pokemon. Obviously, nowadays Pokemon battles are a case of last man standing, and if someone loses all their Pokemon in a battle, they lose."

All of this was information Erik already knew, but he continued to listen anyway. "If a trainer loses all of their Pokemon, and they have none remaining in storage – their licence is forfeited. This means that they cannot retake the test for a further year." Nigel took a breath before continuing, he did like to speak quickly. "If a trainer loses a licence three times, or fails the test for a third time, they cannot try and obtain one again as they have proven themselves unfit to handle Pokemon."

Erik took a moment to process the information, all of which he had already read in books but hearing it said aloud was another thing entirely. Nigel gave Erik a few seconds before continuing..

"Finally, you will be given a device to put around your wrist that cannot be taken off. This lets us know if you are breaking any rules regarding Pokemon. The device will vibrate when it detects another trainer's device within a certain distance, and if you wish to challenge that trainer to a battle press the middle button on the device. Obviously they can do the same to you, and if either trainer rejects the battle they will face disciplinary action and be forced to explain why they rejected it. So in short, if you are challenged to a battle you have no choice other than to accept!" Nigel seemed to find that funny, his laughter like an explosion.

"Okay that's all, sorry for going on! I'll just go and prepare your test for you now."

Nigel departed the room giving Erik a lot to think about, he didn't know that he would be forced to battle if another trainer wanted to, what if his Pokemon were injured after a long battle before and someone took advantage of this? He shook his head, "Any doubt in my mind will make me fail this test."

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Before long Nigel returned, "Your tests are ready, there will be three of them." Nigel's deep voice echoed around the room. "The first test will be a Pokemon knowledge test, the second a task to show whether you can care for a Pokemon or not. The third will be a mock battle. Obviously you will have to pass all three of these tests to obtain your licence. Good luck, and follow me."

Erik followed Nigel out the room and back into the corridor. Nigel headed straight to the door opposite, which did indeed lead to the test area. The space in which his exam would take place was infact a giant, poorly lit room. In the centre was a battle stage, although with a hole in the middle of it, with a golden podium on either side, the podium to the right containing three Pokeballs – spherical objects which housed a single Pokemon. The podium to the left containing only two of these balls. Nigel pointed to the podium on the left hand side, requesting Erik to ascend onto it.

"Ready for the first test? It's General knowledge! First question – which of these types are effective to use against a water Pokemon? – Fire, Electric or Rock?"

"This is easy." Erik thought to himself, "Electric." He shouted confidently.

"Second question, which of these Pokemon can fly and is commonly found in caves? Zubat, Caterpie, or Weedle?"

"Zubat." Erik said, a lot calmer this time.

A minute passed and Erik had answered all ten questions thrown his way. "You only needed to get eight out of the ten correct to pass but you managed all ten. Congratulations!" Nigel boomed "Now for round two."

The ground seemed to shake from under him, causing Erik to grab onto the podium. He looked back up to the centre of the room, where the hole that had previously been there had been replaced by a small white round table. An injured bug was was lying there, which Erik identified as a Weedle. The Pokemon was surrounded by three items.

Erik slowly walked up to the injured Pokemon and noticed the three items on the table were in fact a potion, a handful of small red berries in a bowl and a Pokeball.

"This Pokemon is injured, starving and craving to be given a home!" Nigel shouted "Your task is to help him in that order."

"This is horrible" Erik thought to himself. "Did they injure the Weedle themselves just to test a potential trainer?"

He set about his task despite his thoughts. Firstly, he applied the potion to Weedle's wounds which instantly began to heal. After which he began feeding the Pokemon the bowl of small red berries, known as "Oran berries", to quench it's hunger.

Finally, Erik opened up the Pokeball. Usually he would have to throw the Pokeball at the Pokemon, hoping that the creature he was trying to capture would accept it's new home, otherwise it would break free of it's spherical prison. But this Weedle already seemed to accept Erik, so went inside without hesitation.

"He's accepted you, that's a good sign!" Nigel exclaimed overenthusiastically as always, "Well done, task two achieved with perfection. Now for your final test."

Erik was now brimming with confidence. "Battling has always been my biggest strength," he knew, "Time to get myself a Pokemon licence!"

Without being told, Erik walked back up onto the podium and was stunned to see Nigel unmoved from the edge of the arena.

"Aren't you going up there?" Erik inquired.

"No," Nigel responded. "I am not to be your opponent."

Erik heard a door slam from the other side of the room, but it was too dark to see who had come out of it. A figure cloaked in the shadows moved towards the podium in a calm, confident manner. The newcomer stepping up onto the opposite podium. As the figure stepped into the light beaming up from the podium, it revealed a man in his forties with dark, thinning hair and ocean blue eyes that matched Erik's perfectly.

"Hello son"

"Dad?" came Erik's stunned reply. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to test out your abilities for myself, and as a gym leader the test centre allowed me to do so."

Nigel interrupted the conversation "Erik vs Norman, begin!" His voice so deep it even echoed around this much larger room. Without hesitation, Erik's father picked up one of the Pokeballs and threw it into the arena. Out came a small flying Pokemon, known as Spearow. As Erik went to reach for one of his two Pokeballs, Nigel interrupted again "No! Use your Weedle!"

Erik was stunned, flying Pokemon were strong against bug types, leaving his father with a clear advantage and seeing as Spearow was also much faster, could attack before Weedle even had time to think.

"Spearow, peck him!" Came the shout from Norman, his Spearow responding instantly, flying in for the kill.

Erik quickly shook a thousand thoughts out of his head, and forced himself to focus on the battle.

"Quick Weedle, use string shot and slow him down!" But it was too late, Weedle was already laying lifeless on the floor.

Erik couldn't believe they battled to the death in the test centre like they did in the outside world, something strange was going on.

He reached for another Pokeball. Choosing the one to the left, he threw it onto the stage. A Mankey had laid inside, the small furry Pokemon that was quick to anger.

"No.." Erik thought, "Mankey is a fighting type Pokemon, also weak to flying attacks…"

"Spearow, peck him again!" Came the shout from his father.

"Mankey, scratch him!" was Erik's counter

However, the Spearow was too quick again and Mankey was down on the floor. Erik thought he had lost his second Pokemon.

But the Mankey proved him wrong. Enraged, the fighting type leapt to the floor, moving to scratch the bird, hitting his target. Spearow was taken aback, but moved in and pecked again, finishing the weakened Mankey off.

"Final Pokemon now. I can't lose this…" Erik whispered, before picking up the final Pokeball on his podium.

He threw the ball onto the stage, out came another bird pokemon, but with more meat on it than the Spearow. Erik's Pokemon was a Pidgey.

"Flying vs flying, and his Spearow has taken a hit from Mankey already. I can do this!" Erik's thought to himself again, and it proved true. Although the Spearow was faster and managed to peck at Pidgey, a gust of wind summoned from Erik's Pokemon's wings was enough to finish Spearow off.

Norman picked up another one of his Pokeballs and threw it onto the stage, out came a Caterpie.

"Yes!" Erik;s thoughts screamed inside his head. "A bug Pokemon. This time I have the advantage!"

He instructed his Pidgey to send a gust of wind at the small green caterpillar. The attack proving too much for the Caterpie and left his father down to his final Pokemon.

"Very good son. But not good enough I'm afraid." Norman taunted, speaking to his son for the first time since the battle started, before picking up his final ball and throwing it. A Rattata coming out.

"Hmm.." Erik considered. "That small purple rodent is a normal type, which means neither him nor Pidgey have the advantage here."

"Bite him Rattata!"

"Use gust Pidgey!"

Pidgey was faster, striking first. However, the Rattata recovered to sink his teeth into Erik's last hope. The two Pokemon returned to their side of the arena, followed by the two trainers instructing their Pokemon to use the same moves again. Pidgey again hit Rattata which sent the small rodent flying into Norman's podium, the Pokemon slouching against the ground. Erik allowed himself a smile, holding himself back from bursting into a cheer of sheer elation before a movement caught his eye, the Rattata was alive and on his Pidgey, sinking his fangs into the bird, crushing Erik's dreams. He had failed the test.

Prologue - Chapter II


"Taylor's Pokemon Accessories." Erik remarked as he strolled past his place of work the past two years as he walked the streets of Saffron city with his mother.

Since losing to his father two years ago, he had cut all contact with him. He hated his father for destroying his dream.

Becoming a Pokemon trainer was no longer his goal, he had given up on that. The cheery enthusiasm he had as a child was also now completely diminished.

Erik worked as a shop assistant in the local accessory store, helping to sell all sorts of Pokemon products such as themed tables, cushions, dolls and other similar items. He hoped to one day become a doctor or a scientist. Just like his mother had always wanted him to.

"How was work today?" Erik's mother asked him in her usual softly spoken, sweet tone.

Before Erik could reply his mother continued "I'm so glad you're going for a proper career rather than trying to become a Pokemon trainer now. That path would only lead to more pain, your father always told me how much loss you experience as a fully fledged trainer." She was playing with her pearl necklace as she spoke, the one Norman bought for her before Erik had even been born.

"Norman ruined that path for me, don't even mention him." Erik felt anger rising at the thought of his father.

"I wish you would refer to him as your father." His mother sighed, before realising that was a fruitless request.

Suddenly, a blue and purple flying creature zoomed past, knocking her to the floor.

Erik spun around to see another Zubat heading straight for him. Diving out of the way he began moving towards his mother until a Rattata jumped up and bit him on the leg. With the Zubat he had previously dodged coming back around and knocking him to the floor.

"Help!" Came a cry in a softly spoken voice. But it was hopeless as Erik tried to free himself of the Rattata's grip on his leg. To no avail.

A man dressed all in black grabbed Erik's mother and ripped the necklace right off. Running away before recalling his Pokemon.

Erik sprinted after him, running through one of the dark, dank alleyways of Saffron city. He rounded a corner whereupon two Zubats flew at Erik, razor-sharp fangs bared.

"Growlithe, use ember!" A shout came from behind Erik.

Suddenly a bright orange flame roared past him, hitting one of the Zubats, causing the other to fly away. By the time Erik's eyes adjusted to the returning darkness of the alleyway, he could see no sign of the man that attacked and stole from his mother.

"Another victim of a Team Rocket attack, these incidents are getting more and more frequent." A policeman strolled up beside Erik, a Growlithe by his side. The small fire breathing Pokemon with black and orange striped skin. Erik bolted, running back to his mother as fast as he could to make sure she wasn't hurt.

Unable to see clearly through the tears clouding his vision, all he could feel was an immense shame.

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It had been two years since he was last here, and in that time the test centre hadn't changed one bit.

As soon as he stepped through the small red front door of the test centre a familiar face greeted him.

"Erik! You're back!" Boomed Nigel. His chubby face lighting up at the sight of the young man taking the test that day.

"Hello Nigel, I hope there's no nasty surprises this time like my father making a reappearance?" Erik's toneless voice carried through the corridor.

"Not this time I'm afraid, your test was booked at such short notice he couldn't make it in time."

"Good." Erik said bluntly.

"This way then." Nigel instructed Erik ahead of leading him to the waiting room.

As Erik sat there he recalled what had happened the previous week, the night after he and his mother were attacked by a member of Team Rocket.

Erik was sat in his living room holding his provisional Pokemon licence, "I'm going to do it," he informed his mother. "I'm going to retake the test," he said with an unerring conviction.

"But Erik you…" His mother tried to say before Erik cut her off.

"I know mother, I know what happened last time. But you were attacked and I couldn't save you. I was on the floor useless and unable to help you."

"Okay, if it's the path you want to choose, then so be it." Came the response from his mother.

"Really? You've been trying to dissuade me from this path all your life and now you give in that easily?"

"You're old enough now to make your own decisions, and I know once your mind is made up on something then there's no changing it. If you've gone through all this and still want to be a trainer, then this truly is the path for you."

"Thanks mum." Erik smiled before giving his mother a hug, it meant so much that she was behind him in this.

"All ready!" Nigel's reverberating voice snapped Erik's attention back to the present.

The examiner led Erik back into the familiar test room, which was exactly the same as it was two years ago – down to the hole in the middle of the arena floor.

"You could've improved the lighting" Erik remarked.

Nigel ignored the comment and pointed to the podium. Erik ascended and eyed the two Pokeballs before him, wondering if they contained the same Pokemon as they did last time.

"First up, Pokemon knowledge quiz! Different questions this time around for you," Nigel's voice echoed around the room as it had done the previous time he was here.

"Question one: Which of the following Pokemon is a Poison type? – Caterpie, Zubat or Rattata."

Erik paused, the names of the latter two Pokemon raised memories of his mother being attacked as well as reminding him how rusty he was in regards to anything Pokemon related. "Well I was bitten by a Rattata and didn't get poisoned," he thought to himself, "and I'm quite sure Weedle is the poisonous bug, not Caterpie."

He decided upon his answer, "Zubat!" he shouted.

"Question two: How much does a Pokeball cost at any normal priced shop? – $100 Pokedollars, $150 Pokedollars, $200 Pokedollars?"

"Erik replied instantly "$100 Pokedollars!"

"Incorrect, it's actually $200!"

Erik was taken aback, "Of course they cost $200.. What is going on with me?"

"Question three!" Nigel continued, "Which of the following types are strong against normal typed Pokemon? – Fighting, fire or poison?"

Erik was again confounded. "I used to know everything about Pokemon, now I've forgotten even the simple things such as this." He was shocked with himself, two years cutting any thought of Pokemon out his life had caused him to forget everything he had learnt.

"Okay lets think, what would harm a Rattata most. Would it be a strong fighting attack? Shooting it with fire? Or poisoning it? – Wait, I've got it!" He thought before confidently announcing, "Poison!"

"Incorrect again, the answer was fighting, one more incorrect answer and you fail the test!" Nigel declared, "Are you feeling okay Erik? You aced this part of the test last time."

"Just get on with asking the questions!" Erik snapped, he was infuriated with himself.

"Okay, okay!" Nigel responded, clearly startled. "Question four: What type of Pokemon is a Mankey? – Normal, ground or fighting?"

"I remember this!" Erik exclaimed louder than he should have, "Fighting!"

"Correct, well done! Question five: Which of the following is a restriction of being a Pokemon gym leader? – You can only use one type of Pokemon, you cannot challenge trainers to battle outside your gym, or, you cannot capture new Pokemon."

Erik was stunned, he couldn't remember the answer. "I know gym leaders hold badges, if a trainer defeats them they obtain a badge off the leader. A trainer who defeats all eight leaders in a region, and therefore gets themselves all eight badges can then challenge the Elite Four of a region. But after that my mind had gone blank.."

"I'm going to have to rush you Erik." Nigel said, looking concerned.

"Can only challenge trainers to battle within own gym." Erik blurted out.

"Oh no Erik. I am sorry. The correct answer is that they can only use one type of Pokemon. I'm so sorry Erik you have failed the test."

Erik fell to his knees. Unable to comprehend the fact he had just failed again – what had happened? Before he would have easily have been able to answer those questions. A potential trainer was only allowed to fail the test three times before being banned from taking the test again. Erik had just failed for a second time. He would have to study and practise relentlessly until he became even better than he ever was. He also knew that next time, his father would be there waiting for him.

Prologue - Chapter III



"The Johto region bans all capturing, battling and the keeping of Pokemon, apart from special cases." Blasted the television on the day of Erik's nineteenth birthday, "Pokemon trainers have been asked to hand in their wrist devices and licences, followed by the releasing of any Pokemon they own back into the wild. Failure to do so will result in prosecution. Rumours circulate that the neighbouring region of Kanto could soon follow in Johto's footsteps."

Erik was perplexed by what he was hearing, how could they ban the use of Pokemon? "Mum have you seen the news?!" he called out.

"Oh yes, there's been rumours going around for quite a while that Johto would do that. It's because of organisations like Team Rocket who are using Pokemon as weapons for crime. They say that crime has gotten so bad over there that the only way to stop it is by banning the use of Pokemon."

"Yes but crime is just as bad here in Kanto!" Erik gasped before composing himself after remembering where he was, the red door to the test centre was right in front of him. His mother had come along this time to offer him support. She knew if he failed this time, there wouldn't be a next time.

"You'll be fine Erik," she insisted again. "You've been training for this non-stop for almost a year now, there's no way you'll fail this time." She said with a smile.

Erik's mother wasn't allowed inside the test centre without a provisional licence, so hugged him goodbye at the door and wished him good luck one more time.

She was right, Erik had been studying full time for the last year, making sure he could answer any question that was thrown his way. He had also been preparing to battle his father again, there was no way his father would miss this.

As he watched his mother leave, a man clad all in black approached him, from under a black cap with the letter R in pink on the front he whispered "If you fail the test for a third time, there is another way."

Erik felt his anger flare up, something that was happening quite often of late. Before replying, "I will never join you, I will never join Team Rocket."

"Just something to think about." Came the reply from the Team Rocket member before he skulked away.

It all made sense now. Team Rocket had taken control of the test centre.

He remembered hearing on the news that the crime wave began four years ago when the criminal gang's membership soared.

The challenge of the tests, the amount of strange occurrences during Erik's tests. Team Rocket made sure people failed, leaving them no choice but to join the group if a person wanted to ever become a Pokemon trainer as they held access to the devices and licences.

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For a third time, Nigel greeted Erik as soon as he entered the building. "Hello my friend!" Nigel's voice reverberated around the room with a beaming smile entering his chubby face. "How have you been Erik?!"

Erik wondered if Nigel was a member of the Team Rocket, or whether he was just unaware of what was actually going on.

"Fine, sorry to be rude but can we get straight to it please." Erik replied, voice toneless.

"Okay, with me then! We've prepared early for you so let's go straight to the arena!"

As they entered the room, it was exactly the same once again. This time Erik ascended the podium without being instructed to, and nodded at Nigel to begin the first test.

"Okay, Pokemon knowledge test! I can see you want to get straight to it so we'll fly through this. Good luck!" Nigel's glowing smile remained on his face as he prepared the first question. "Right, which of the following Pokemon is a flying type? – Zubat, Kakuna or Mankey."

"Zubat."

"Very good. What colour is a Caterpie? – Yellow, green or white."

"Green."

"Brilliant, much better than last time!" Nigel said delightedly.

The next eight questions went as the first two did. Erik answered straight away, getting the question right each time.

"Ten out of ten!" Declared Nigel, "Well done Erik. Back to your best I see."

"Better than that." Came the toneless reply. He found himself unable to look Nigel in the eye anymore.

The ground rumbled from underneath them.

"Time for the second test!" Nigel roared as an injured Pidgey appeared in the centre of the stage, surrounded by a Pokeball, a block of tofu known as a PokeBlock, and a potion.

"Erik, please move towards the injured Pidgey. It needs healing, feeding and to be given a home, as before." Nigel sounded incandescent despite the fact there was an injured Pokemon almost near death, lying not five metres away from him.

Erik moved to the wounded bird, it's wing had been torn with the flying type Pokemon having crimson red scratch marks on her body.

Erik stroked the cheek of the Pidgey, "You'll be okay, trust me." He whispered to the injured Pokemon, before immediately getting to work. Spraying the potion first over the scratched body, and then over the torn wing. The Pokemon's wounds started to heal.

"Science these days is remarkable isn't it?" Nigel expressed, but Erik wasn't paying any attention.

Next he grabbed the green cube known as a Pokeblock and fed it to the Pidgey, after which the Pokemon instantly perked up and chirped. However, Erik wasn't done. Opening the Pokeball for the Pidgey to immediately pop inside.

"Fantastic!" Nigel boomed, "You know what comes next – the third and final test!"

Erik made his way back to the podium, his Pidgey back to fighting strength and was now flying around his side of the arena. A door from the other side of the room opened then closed, his father had arrived.

Out of the darkness and into the light of the podium Norman stepped, looking exactly the same as he did the first time they battled, even wearing the same green jumper and blue jeans.

"How's your mother?" Norman said in a calm, considered tone.

"Fine." The anger in Erik's voice was clear. "Why do you insist on battling me, why can you not let me take the test like anyone else?."

"Maybe if you beat me then I will tell you son." Norman's voice remained calm and confident as he threw out his first Pokemon, out popped a Spearow.

"Ahh," Norman remarked, "Spearow again. Seeing as you have a Pidgey this time, neither of us has the advantage."

Spearow flew at Pidgey, pecking at his opponent, before Erik's Pokemon responded by blowing him away with a gust of wind. Both Pokemon got up seemingly unharmed and went at each other again after which both looked decidedly tired and injured.

"Spearow, one more peck should do it!" Came the cry from Erik's father. His Pokemon obeying, the peck landing. Pidgey struggled to get back up.

"Pidgey, you can do this, use sand attack!" Erik roared. Upon hearing the voice of the man who saved her life, Pidgey flew upright and launched sand straight into Spearow's eyes.

"Spearow, one more peck will definitely finish that Pidgey off." Norman's voice still remaining calm. The Spearow flew in for the kill with Pidgey having landed back on the floor, too weak to take to the air. Erik closed his eyes, not wanting to see Pidgey fall, then he heard it, the deathly scream of a bird.

Erik forced his eyes open – to see Pidgey still alive with his father's Spearow on the floor unmoving. The sand in it's eyes blinding him.

"Wow!" Shouted Nigel, "The sand in Spearow's eyes caused it to miss, leaving Pidgey to use the last of it's energy to tackle Spearow into the ground! Impressive, Erik, that Pidgey only managed to keep going because of you."

Norman grabbed another one of the Pokeballs on his podium and threw it, with a Rattata coming out. The small purple rat baring its large fangs at his adversary. Even injured, a Pidgey was still faster than a Rattata. Allowing her to launch a final gust of wind at her opponent before the Rattata finished off the job that Spearow should have.

Erik's next pokemon turned out to be a Caterpie, the green string-like bug with it's huge black eyes was slower than Rattata as the rodent sank it's fangs into the bug. Caterpie replied by shooting string out of her mouth, encasing the Rattata, slowing it down hugely.

Whilst Rattata struggled to get out of it's prison of string, Caterpie flew in and tackled it into the ground. Rattata returned with a tackle of it's own before Caterpie landed the finishing blow, tackling the rat into the podium. This time Norman's Pokemon stayed down after crashing against his podium.

Norman's calm manner visibly disappeared as he threw into the arena his last Pokemon. Out of the ball came a Zubat. Erik gasped, feeling a new wave of anger surge through his body, the person he hated most using the Pokemon he hated most against him.

As soon as Zubat entered the arena it sank it's terrible fangs into Caterpie, the bug not getting back up.

Erik picked up his final Pokeball, Zubat was at full health and now fired up. Erik felt his hands shaking, whether it was through anger or anticipation he was not sure but he knew that this was his last chance at becoming a Pokemon trainer. He would never join Team Rocket, would he?

Erik shook the thought from his head and threw his last Pokeball. A Mankey emerged, leaping up and down. Mankey was a fighting type, weak against Zubats combined poison and flying. Although Erik wasn't sure whether Zubat knew any flying attacks. He certainly hoped not.

To Erik's delight, Norman ordered his Zubat to try and poison his Mankey. Which failed. Mankey responded by scratching the hideous creature, causing Zubat to fly back and screech – a deafening cry.

Mankey composed himself, charging towards his opponent. Scratching the Zubat twice between a wild bite from his foe.

Erik glanced at his father and saw Norman looking flustered.

The Zubat was out of control and for once there was no drama. No farce. Just a straight up victory for Erik and his Mankey as the Zubat fell lifeless to the ground.

"We have a winner!" Screamed Nigel, seemingly delighted that Erik had beaten his father.

"Well done son, you deserved that." Norman smiled, "I stood in your way because I wanted test you. I didn't want you to go out into the world and experience the pain of losing your Pokemon, experience losing a licence and having your world crash down around you unprepared. I wanted to make sure you were ready."

"You've already caused my world to come crashing down around me!" Erik roared.

"I'm sorry, but one day you will understand son."

"I don't want to hear another word from you!" Erik had reached boiling point. His shaking now was through pure anger. He watched as his father disappeared out of the room and back into the darkness, without a further word.



Chapter IV

"Erik have you heard the news?!"

Blaze jumped back at the sight of Erik's mother bursting into the room looking flustered. Nearly knocking his trainer over.

Two months had passed since Erik passed his test. As a way of congratulating him, his father sent him a Torchic from the Hoenn region, the small fire breathing chick and Erik quickly became close with Erik naming his new friend, "Blaze".

"They've finally done it, Team Rocket have finally done it!" Erik's mother continued, "The Kanto region has followed in the footsteps of Johto and banned the use of Pokemon!"

Erik looked at Blaze, he had given his Pokemon a nickname because he felt it tightened the bond between the two of them, and planned to do it to each future Pokemon he captured. His Pokemon weren't to be just tools used for battles, they would also be his friends.

"Can we not move to another region?" He spoke in a surprisingly calm tone to his mother, despite feeling so helpless inside.

"Every other region has banned the use of Pokemon too, Kanto was the last." His mother looked close to tears, seeing her son's dreams fade away right in front of her.

"Hoenn hasn't." Erik replied, feeling a fire rise inside him at the thought of taking his father's gym badge.

"Hoenn is the last region that hasn't. But all the trainers are trying to move there. So in response they've banned all immigration!"

"Hoenn is an island, surely theres a way we can sneak onto it?"

"That device around your wrist is also used as a tracker Erik. Besides, we are not breaking any laws!" Erik's mother looked horrified at the suggestion, and Erik knew quickly to drop it.

"So theres no way into Hoenn?" He replied despondently.

"There is one way" a voice drifted into the room from the hallway, followed by a man stepping into the room wearing a trademark green jumper and jeans.

"Norman.." Erik hissed.

"Please call your father by his title not his name Erik," His mother shot, "Me and your father have been talking for a while, he knew Kanto was going to ban Pokemon so he's bought us a house in Hoenn. He is a Gym leader there therefore he has special privileges."

"The only way you can still be a trainer is to move to Hoenn son. Team Rocket have created a monopoly on Pokemon usage here, you think they are going to stop? No, it's only going to get worse." Norman said, and Erik knew that he was right.

He would have to move out of Kanto to continue his dream. What he didn't know however, was how far away was Hoenn from banning the use of Pokemon?

Hoenn was an island which tended to isolate itself from the rest of the world. Erik didn't know anything about how bad the crime was over there or if the region even had any gangs like Team Rocket.

"Okay. I guess it is the only way." Erik admitted, secretly happy he now had a chance to defeat his father on his own turf..

"There are some things you need to know about the Hoenn region, it is very different from Kanto." Norman informed him.

"What?" Erik said bluntly.

"Firstly, the basic rules are still the same. If you lose a battle and have no Pokemon still alive within storage, you forfeit your licence." Norman stopped and considered a moment before continuing, "Wild Pokemon work differently too. Because of the sudden mass influx of trainers, rules have been made so that trainers can now only capture the first Pokemon that they encounter in an area, no others."

"Interesting.." Erik thought to himself.

"Also on the topic of wild Pokemon, you cannot go around killing them, you can only battle a wild Pokemon in self defence. So, if it springs up on you first. No hunting down wild Pokemon in order to make your own stronger as they gain battle experience killing wilds." Another pause, "Finally, you will not get or lose any money from winning or losing trainer battles – only Gym battles – and any money you happen to make yourself."

"Tough rules." Erik thought aloud.

"Yes, but necessary after all the new trainers coming into the region, we have to protect the wild Pokemon and the local populace."

"I've heard enough, when are we moving out mother?" Erik asked rudely.

"The delivery truck is on it's way, it will be here in about an hour. Norman would you please help us move out?" She asked her ex-husband sweetly.

"Sorry but I must leave and return to my Gym. I'll see you in Hoenn, Erik."

Because Chapter IV of the prologue was rather short, I decided to post them both together.

That's the prologue finished now! I will now begin posting the full story chapter by chapter, aiming to post once a week as these chapters will be fairly larger than the prologue ones.

Hope you're enjoying the story so far!

Chapter One – New Home, New Life

"To become the Pokemon champion, we will need to travel throughout the region of Hoenn."

Erik envisioned the island of Hoenn as he spoke, with it's sandy beaches, warm oceans and the rough mountainous terrain towards the centre.

"We have to go to the eight gyms around the land, to defeat each gym leader in order to obtain their badge. After a trainer has obtained all eight badges, they are allowed access into the Pokemon league, where they would be met by the Elite Four. If the trainer defeats them and then the current Pokemon champion, they become the new champion." He turned his head to look Blaze in the eye, "That is our goal."
The delivery truck grinded to a halt, Erik grabbed hold of his Torchic tightly to stop his Pokemon being crushed by the boxes they shared the back of the truck with. A blinding light engulfed the rear of the lorry as a big muscular Pokemon employed by the delivery company opened the truck's rear doors. The Machoke was instantly shoved aside by a woman with long dark hair and light blue eyes.

"Erik! You're here at last!" Came the shrill cry from his mother. As Erik climbed out of the van she hugged then dragged him inside the house before he could even get a look at his new town. Blaze followed as fast as his small legs could take him.
Upon entering the house, Erik saw two more Machoke moving furniture around, the house was nearly set up. The ground floor of the house contained two rooms. To the back of the house was an open plan kitchen preceded by the living room which contained a table, chairs, sofa, television and bookshelf. The smell of the newly painted white walls filling Erik's nostrils as he ran up the staircase to see his new room.

Immediately after entering he noticed a huge Snorlax doll on a rug in the right hand corner, the giant blue and white creature was surrounded by ruby red cushions. In the bottom left hand corner of the room was Erik's single bed. With a desk, bookshelf and clock in the upper left corner, Erik moved over to set it to the right time, 3 o'clock.
"All moved in!" Came the shout from his mother from the bottom of the stairs, "Your father's friend is in town, Professor Birch is his name. He runs the Pokemon laboratory. You should go and pay him a visit Erik, he may be able to help you on your journey."

Erik could see she was wearing her favourite red top and blue dress combination, with her deep brown hair now up in a ponytail with a bow in the front. Blaze followed Erik down the stairs, his bright orange and yellow feathers illuminating the stairway as they made their way down.
"Hopefully." Erik smiled, before deciding he would indeed pay Birch a visit.

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Littleroot town. A very small town containing only three buildings. To the north of the town lay Erik's house on the left, and what he presumed was Professor Birch's house to the right. Both houses were made of solid stone, each topped by a plain wooden roof. To the south was the Pokemon laboratory, again made built with concrete but this time with a yellow tiled roof.

The town itself was surrounded by thick bushes and trees, as most of Hoenn's towns were, too thick and impassable for a human. Pokemon lived freely there undisturbed by any trainer, leaving the only way out of town to the north via a pathway.

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Erik strolled over to the Pokemon laboratory and pushed his way through the door. The sharp cold air of the lab hit in hard in the face as soon as he walked in. As his eyes adjusted to the room he noticed that the lab was full of machinery and other Pokemon related tools. Erik could see a few of the machines were run down after years of Pokemon research, looking around he saw no rooms other than the single large one he stood in now.

At the far end of it stood a man in his thirties or maybe his forties in a lab coat, with jet black hair and wearing glasses which amplified the size of his dark eyes to make them bulge.

As Erik walked over to the man he heard the sound of his footsteps echoing off of the white ceramic tiles. In fact, he noticed everything in the lab was a pure, clean white. From the floor to the walls to the roof, with the only exception being the machines which were operating loudly.

"Hello young man, how may I help you?" Said the man wearing the lab coat, in a stern tone.

"Hi, I take it you're Birch?" Erik replied, causing the man to chuckle.

"No, no, I'm just his assistant, Birch hasn't come in today. I would check his house if you're looking for him." The man smirked.
Without a further word Erik left the building embarrassed. Taking the advice, he headed straight to the third and final building in Littleroot, Birch's house.

After a couple of knocks the door was opened, but not by Birch. Instead by a woman with long curled hair, wearing a pink flowery dress.
"Hello, you must be our new neighbour, Erik. I'm Mrs Birch." The lady said with a kind smile. "My husband isn't here at the moment but I know we would both like for you to meet our daughter. She's around the same age as you and helps out her dad with Pokemon research, she's upstairs at the moment, go on up."
"Thank you." Erik said unconvincingly, the ground floor of his neighbours house was exactly the same as his own, apart from not having a sofa. Erik quickly moved upstairs into the daughter's room, and stopped abruptly.

Before him stood the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid eyes on. Her emerald green eyes finding his, leading her mouth to form a dazzling smile. She was wearing a crimson red sleeveless top, with white shorts and black tights. Around her waist was a yellow and black bag, matching the colour of her heavy walking shoes.

She swished her hair backwards, which was light brown and parted at the front. The back was tied up with a bow and the rest flowing down to her shoulders.

"Are you just going to stare or are you going to introduce herself?" She said with a wink that made Erik's heart flutter.
"Erm, err," Erik stumbled over his words, "I'm Erik, I've, err, just moved in."
"I guessed you were our new neighbour. I'm May, by the way." Her voice was high pitched and innocent. "My dad told me a new boy was moving in next to us, I was hoping he was nice so we can become friends."

That sentence made Erik's heart drop, she just wanted to be friends? But she was so perfect…

Seeing Erik was staying silent, May carried on, "B-but that's just silly isn't it, I've only just met you." She giggled and hid her face with her hands, but Erik could see her blushing underneath them.

"Oh no I forgot! I was supposed to go and help my dad with his Pokemon research!" She bolted from the room before Erik could say anything more.

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Erik sat on his bed, unable to get May out of his mind. He had only met her a couple of hours ago, but she was all he had thought about since. The cute voice, the way she laughed, the emerald beauties that were her eyes.

He tried to shake the thoughts from his head, to no avail, deciding instead to leave the house and go north to Route 101 hoping to find Birch and possibly see May again.

The towns of Hoenn were linked by routes, which came in various shapes, sizes and terrain. Each route was allocated a number to identify it by, and the rules of Hoenn stated each trainer can only catch one Pokemon per route, and that must be the first Pokemon that you encounter on it.

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"Help!" Came a cry as Erik entered Route 101, the grassy path that linked Littleroot town with neighbours Oldale town.

His eyes were drawn to the scene. A man with greying hair and matching coloured chinstrap beard was running in circles, being chased by a wild Poochyena.

"Blaze, save him!" Erik shouted to his Torchic, who responded instantly. His Pokemon shooting a ball of fire at the Poochyena. The wild hound retaliated by switching his attention to Blaze, slamming it's body into him. Blaze recoiled but recovered by shooting another flame ball at the hound, finishing it off.
"You really are the spitting image of Norman." The man exclaimed as he dusted himself down, "Your father and I grew up together. We have known each other since our school days. I'm Professor Birch by the way, and thank you for saving me." The old man smiled, although Erik had already guessed it was Birch before the man had even spoken by the lab coat he was wearing.

"With battling skills like that, and seeing how much your Torchic respects you, I can tell that you truly are your fathers son." The professor stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts, before continuing, "I know how I can thank you. Come back to my laboratory a little later, whilst I prepare a little present for you. My daughter May is on Route 103 at the moment, just north of Oldale town. She always needs a helping hand with her research if you need something to do to pass the time."

And with that, the Professor was off as if nothing had happened, before Erik could even manage a goodbye.

"Runs in the family I suppose." He thought to himself, before he began trekking through the Route in order to reach Oldale town. The journey through the Route was disappointingly uneventful, but a relief for Erik was that no wild Pokemon had sprung out on him. If one had he would have to take his dad's advice, "To catch a wild Pokemon you must first prove yourself worthy of being it's new trainer. Then once it has accepted you as it's trainer, throw a Pokeball at it, which will act as the Pokemon's new home". Before he remembered he had no Pokeballs.

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"Hi there, I work at the Pokemart!" A man wearing a blue apron over a red and white chequered shirt declared, running up to Erik as he entered Oldale town. The Pokemart employee's chocolate brown hair was long enough to almost cover his eyes.

"From what I can see you're a novice trainer, so I will help you out with some useful advice being the kindhearted man that I am."
"Okay." Erik said cautiously, considering for a second whether he should try ignoring the man and walking on. In the end, he stayed to hear what the exuberant man had to say.
"First of all," The employee started, pointing over to a building in the upper left of the town, "That's a Pokemart there, just look for the blue roof. We sell all kinds of Pokemon goods, from potions to Pokeballs. If you ever need any Pokemon gear come to us!"

The man then reached into the front of his apron and pulled out two purple and white sprays, known as potions. These were used as healing items and if sprayed on a Pokemon's wounds would help cleanse them.

"I would also like you to have these as part of a special promotion!" Before handing the two potions to Erik. "Also, over there is the Pokemon Centre." He said pointing to the building in the bottom left of the town, with the same pure white stone as the other buildings in the town, but this one was differentiated with a scarlet roof.

"You can identify a Pokemon centre by it's red roof. If you go into there they will heal any injuries your Pokemon have picked up for free. Be wary however, each Pokemon Centre has limited uses . They are on tight budgets you know. Anyway that's all from me, have a great time in Oldale town, my friend!"
The man ran off back to the Pokemart. Erik followed him into the shop.

Erik noticed that Oldale was only slightly larger than Littleroot town. With two houses made from wooden logs in the corners that the Pokemart and Pokemon Centre didn't occupy. In the middle of the town lay a blooming flowerbed, full of buttercups, daisies and tulips. The flowers were ringed by a wooden fence, and looked to have been well kept by the local populace.
"Hello again my friend!" The employee greeted him once more as Erik entered, "How can I help you today?"
"I was just looking for some Pokeballs, please." Erik replied.
"Sorry, all out of stock. We do however hav-" He was about to continue before Erik interrupted
"Nevermind I only had enough money for a couple of Pokeballs." He then walked off, not wanting to be dragged into yet another conversation with the overly happy employee.

"Rude." He heard the employee say as he left the building, but Erik didn't care. He was in a rush, he wanted to go north up to Route 103 to see May again.

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Erik ambled onto Route 103, cautious of his new surroundings. The Route seemed to ascend steeply in places until it reached the summit of a hill. Where May was standing.

"Hey there!" May shouted down to him.

"Hello." He managed to squeeze out as he walked up to join her, still nervous and uncomfortable around the woman he found so beautiful. Her reflection glistening in the pond she was standing next to.
"My dad gave me a Pokemon to help with my research. Say hello to my Mudkip!" May said excitedly, moving aside to show off a pale blue creature. The Pokemon letting out a quiet growl as it sighted Erik.

He had never seen a Mudkip before, the Pokemon's jet black eyes staring straight at him. From the colour of it's skin and the fin on it's back, Erik could tell the creature was a water type Pokemon. Meaning it would be strong against his Torchic's fire type.

"Why don't we go ahead and have a quick friendly battle. Although an unofficial one so if one of our Pokemon looks to be taking a beating then we call it quits?" She asked, to which Erik nodded in response without thinking.

"Stupid." He thought to himself, "Blaze doesn't stand a chance here."

"Great!" She screeched, "Mudkip. Go get him!"

"Blaze, your fire will be weak against it, so use your claws instead!" Erik ordered his Torchic, who responded instantly.

The Mudkip didn't like being clawed at, retaliating by slamming her body into Blaze. Erik's Pokemon followed by scratching at the water creature again. Mudkip slammed back into Blaze who was thrown back, teetering on the edge of the pool. Erik knew if his Pokemon fell into it, he was dead.

Mudkip's animalistic instincts took over, throwing her body once again into Blaze to try and push him into the pool.

Blaze dodged out the way causing a splash as Mudkip crashed into the water.

May's Pokemon recovered quickly in her natural environment and leapt out to again throw her body at Blaze. This time Erik's Torchic reacted quickly, blasting fire at the oncoming Mudkip.

"Mudkip come back!" May screamed, ending the battle there and then.

"Seeing as I lost the battle, I'll use my potions to heal our Pokemon. Well done Erik, I'm impressed. You're quite the trainer, no wonder my dad is keeping his eye on you."
"He is?" Erik blurted, more with surprise than anything.

"Oh yes. He sees great potential in you." She said, eyes widened. "I can see how strong your bond is with your Torchic, it's so impressive." She giggled at the end of her sentence, the sound music to Erik's ears.

"I'm going to head back to the laboratory now. I'll catch you later, Erik." She smiled as she strutted off, Erik wanted to say something back but was lost for words, finding himself staring into the pond for a moment, before suddenly remembering Birch had told him to come back to the lab for a present.
Erik jumped back down over the ledges that made up the hilly rise after May.

"Erik? What's wrong?" She exclaimed with a confused look on her face as she saw him running after her, clearly startled.
"Your dad asked me to go see him at the laboratory, so I thought I would walk back with you."
"Oh okay." She replied still looking taken aback.
They began walking back to Littleroot town through Route 101, an awkward silence engulfing the both of them as they trekked through the grassy terrain of the path between towns.

The journey seemed to go on forever without a word spoken between the two. Until they eventually reached the lab.
"Good work Erik, May is quite the trainer you know." Birch afforded Erik a smile as his daughter told him of the battle that had played out. "I already knew your potential when your father told me you had beaten him to obtain your licence. But to see you fight in person, saving me from a wild Pokemon attack and then beating my daughter in battle…" He stopped to pull out a rectangular red device from his labcoat.

"This here is a Pokedex. A very rare device that will identify any Pokemon you encounter, as well as recording the data of any Pokemon that you capture with a Pokeball, which would help me with my research and benefit us both I think." He said with a cheeky smile. "I see you going very far indeed Erik."
"Thank you professor." Erik's smile beamed at Birch, it meant a lot to him that someone as knowledge about Pokemon as Birch had such belief in him.
"I have a Pokedex too!" Chirped May. "Here, have ten Pokeballs to help you out Erik, seeing as you're helping us out by collecting Pokedex data." She smiled as she handed over a pouch of ten balls. "What are you going to do now?"
Before Erik could reply, Birch butted in. "He's going to Rustboro city of course, that's where the first gym is." The professor then laid his eyes on Erik. "To get there you will have to go through Oldale town, to Petalburg city and then through Petalburg woods."
"My dad's gym is in Petalburg." Erik's heart dropped as he realised he would have to eventually challenge his dad one day, the fifth gym of the eight.
"Yes, but you cannot challenge him until you have the previous four badges, as much as you want to."
"I know. I think I will go home and get some sleep and leave for Rustboro in the morning." Erik said before strolling off, a foul mood now overcoming him at the thought of encountering his father again. His journey would begin the next day.

Chapter Two – Reunion



"Your father will be so proud when he sees you setting off on your own journey." Erik's mother spoke through a veil of tears, as Erik stood on the verge of Route 101. She grabbed him, giving him a hug farewell.

"I'll be back before you know it." Erik smiled. Leaving Littleroot town and his mother behind him. He entered Route 101 this time with Pokeballs and therefore the ability to catch the first Pokemon that springs out at him.

The long grass bristled at Erik's knees as he slowly moved through the route, not wanting to be caught unaware by any wild Pokemon leaping out at him like Birch was the previous day.

"Erik!" A sudden high-pitched shout reached his ears, startling him.
His eyes darted up from the tall grass to find May.

"Come here, I want to show you something," She exclaimed, as Erik made his way over. She grabbed Erik's Pokedex and fiddled around with it. When she handed it back the screen was now showing a map of the Hoenn region.

"That's the Pokenav feature." She continued, "Another cool feature of the Pokedex is If you see a Pokemon in the tall grass, the device will scan it and tell you what the Pokemon is!"
A sudden rustle in the grass near to them caught their attention, with a furry grey Pokemon tail poking out from the thicket. Immediately Erik pointed the Pokedex at it, which changed the screen in the middle from a map of the region to a picture of a grey hound with razor sharp fangs and deep red pupils. The Pokedex identified the Pokemon as a Poochyena.
"Come on, make that your first capture in Hoenn Erik. Sneak up on the Poochyena and capture it!" May said giving Erik a gentle shove forward, Blaze in close proximity.

The closely-knit pair began slowly edging towards the tail poking out of the tall grass, creeping ever closer as quietly as they could manage.

They reached a point where Erik felt he could extend his hand and grab the tail, but as he reached into his pocket for a Pokeball, the Poochyena jumped out baring fangs coated with cold ice.

Blaze reacted instantly, saving his trainer by quickly blasting the wild Pokemon away with a ball of fire. Erik followed up his Torchic's actions by throwing a Pokeball at the Poochyena, successfully capturing the wild Pokemon.

"Wow!" May shouted, sounding surprised. "I've never been able to sneak up on a Pokemon like that before, and you managed it first time."
"I couldn't have done it without Blaze." Erik replied before stroking his Torchic's feathered head.

"I forgot you name your Pokemon, what are you going to call your Poochyena?"

"Ice." Erik replied instantly, remembering the fear that filled him at seeing the Pokemon's fangs encased with glistening cold.

"Suits him perfectly!" May exclaimed. "Well Erik I'm going back to my dad's lab for now, I will see you soon, I hope." She said with a smile that looked almost sad.

"Goodbye for now, May." Erik's smiled, his heart pounding.

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Erik went back to the Route 103, where he had battled May the day before, looking to capture another Pokemon to add to his team.

As soon as he stepped foot onto the route he was suddenly set upon by a gull-like creature who swooped down on him. Immediately, he dived out of the way, realising the aggressor was a wild Wingull.
Blaze again leapt to his rescue, scratching at the creature with his claws. Erik knew what to do from last time, throwing a Pokeball and capturing the Wingull.

"I'm going to call you Gully." Erik spoke to the red and white Pokeball in which his new Pokemon now lived.

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A quick return to the Pokemon centre in Oldale town saw the nurse there tell him he only has one more use of the healing facilities this month, due to them being a small town on very limited finances.

Erik left Oldale with Blaze, Ice and Gully in tow, all fully patched up and healed, he entered Route 102. A flock of Wingulls flying overhead as he did so. "Did you want to join them, Gully?" He spoke softly to his own new Wingull, who in turn hopped onto his shoulder and nipped at Erik's hair.

"A captured Pokemon respects their new trainer as they managed to defeat and capture them in battle." Norman's old words rang in Erik's ears.

As he rested by a pool of water, realising the truth in his father's words, a red and white bug shot string directly at him, or so he thought.
"A Wurmple." Erik said to himself, as he saw Gully getting entangled in the string the bug was shooting.

Ice charged at the Wurmple, knocking him into the lake.

Seeing the Pokemon drowning, Erik threw a Pokeball at it, capturing and adding another member to his team.

"Well obviously I'm going to call you String." He laughed to his new friend as he released the bug from it's Pokeball.

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"Hey you!" A shout came at Erik from across the road, "I'm Calvin and I challenge you to a battle!"

Erik's youthful rashness overcame him. Even though he couldn't refuse a direct challenge from another trainer, he didn't want to anyway. This would be his first official battle since obtaining his licence.

"I accept your challenge!" Erik exclaimed, noticing the trainer challenging him was a couple of years younger than him and must've only just passed his test. He also made note of Calvin only having one Pokeball attached his belt.
"Go Zigzagoon!" The youngster shouted, throwing the Pokeball, which released a brown and white striped cat-like creature.

In reply, Erik nodded to Ice. His Pokemon confidently plodding out to accept the challenge.

Ice charged in, enclosing icy fangs around the foe. The Zigzagoon tried to wriggle and squirm it's way out of Ice's grasp but failed to do so. Ice had won his first fight with relative ease.

"No, my career is over." The boy said in a voice barely above a whisper, as he fell to his knees. "That was my only Pokemon, and I don't have any in my storage either. I have to retake my test and everything…"
"You challenged me." Erik said bluntly, before walking on without a further thought for Calvin.
"Hey you! I'm up next." Another boy the same age as Calvin said running up to Erik. Again the challenger had only one Pokeball on his person. "My names Rick, by the way."
"Erik." Came the reply, before he turned to Ice, "Again?"
Ice barked happily before again strutting out to meet the challenge. Rick sent out a Wurmple.

The fight was again over before it had barely started. Ice's frozen fangs proved too much for the bug, ending another rookie trainer's career..

"This is too easy." Erik thought to himself. "Two battles, two wins, and barely a scratch on any of my Pokemon."

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Gully flew up to the tree and picked the berries off with his beak, flying back down then placing the small crimson food into Erik's palm.

Erik pocketed most of the berries to make sure his Pokemon would have food later on, but allowed the four members of his team to share a couple between them. String especially enjoyed the small round foodstuff, named an Oran berry, seemingly smiling as he gulped it down.

"Ram into it!" Came a cry from behind the group, moments before String was sent flying into the berry tree after being rammed by a Poochyena.

"I'm Allen and I will be your opponent." Came a voice from a trainer around Erik's age, wearing a yellow jumper and blue shorts. "Again Poochyena!" He commanded his Pokemon to attack String again, who was struggling to stand.

As Allen's Poochyena neared the kill, charging into the stunned Wurmple, it barred it's fangs. Not encased with ice like Erik's own Poochyena, but razor sharp all the same. A blast of water sent Allen's Pokemon flying back, before the Poochyena chose to ram Gully next, the Wingull retaliating with another blast of water from it's mouth.

Poochyena wasn't finished. It again charged at Gully, but Erik's Pokemon flew up high to avoid it and a final blast of foamy water erupted from Gully's mouth to finish off Allen's creature.

"I'm not finished yet!" Allen shouted, before throwing a Pokeball.

A Tailow emerged, the small blue and white bird able to match Gully's flight. "Ram his Wingull into the tree!" Allen screamed, with his Tailow duly obliging. Gully was slammed into the tree trunk, pinned up against it by Tailow's claws. Allen's Pokemon began furiously pecking at Gully's face.
Erik saw Gully struggling for life, peck after peck after peck from the opposing Tailow. It was all happening too fast for Erik to grab Gully's Pokeball and recall him. Tailow stopped for a split second and Gully slouched down, Erik gulped.

Gully weakly lifted his head up to throw the Tailow off with a powerful blast of water, leaving Allen's bird lifeless on the floor.

"I thought I could beat you." Allen said solemnly

"Why did you use those underhanded tactics and ambush me whilst we were eating?" Erik snapped.

"Because Hoenn is the only region left allowing Pokemon trainers, and even then they plan to ban the use of Pokemon if the trainer doesn't have a gym badge very soon. I have to get that badge quickly, through any means necessary."

Erik walked on without saying anything more, Allen's words reverberating around his brain, shocking him.

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String recovered his energy by eating some more of his favourite Oran berries. The ambush by Allen had knocked the wind of of him, but he looked to be recovering. He was fit enough to battle Tiana at any rate.

The female trainer had approached Erik as he reached the end of the Route, "Time for a battle!" She had declared to Erik, marching up to him with her creamy blonde hair swaying in the wind, wearing a deep blue overcoat which was so long it partially covered her slightly lighter blue skirt.

"So you wait at the end of the Route, to engage trainers whilst their Pokemon are tired and weak?" Erik had said

"Whatever works best." She countered, before telling her Zigzagoon to attack. Erik nodded at String who crawled forward. "Tiana, by the way." She continued.

The two Pokemon cautiously circled one another, waiting for the other to make the first attack.

"You can do this String!" Erik called out to his Wurmple, who's big black eyes lit up at his trainer's encouragement.

String charged into Tiana's Pokemon, before her Zigzagoon retaliated by slamming it's body back into String. Erik's Wurmple recoiled but kept going, slamming into the Zigzagoon with all his might, but it was no use. He had barely weakened his opponent with the two blows.

Tiana nodded at her Pokemon, who charged into String, sending him flying backwards. As String struggled to his feet, Erik recalled him and shouted at Ice to finish off the battle.

The Poochyena enclosed his icy fangs around Tiana's Zigzagoon, defeating it easily, then proudly strutted back to Erik. Tiana was left clutching the body of her defeated creature, devastated.

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"Erik, wait!" A high pitched voice, almost a squeal, came from behind him as he neared the end of Route 103, with Petalburg city in sight. He spun on his heel to find himself staring at two beautiful pools of green. Her eyes always seemed to stare straight into his soul.

"I saw you walking along." May's smile lightened up the darkening evening.

"H-Hi." Erik stumbled over his words, dismayed at her beauty.

"Don't be shy Erik." May said, grabbing his hand. Erik's heart fluttered at her touch, but before he could fully enjoy it, she dragged him to the side of the pathway. "Sit down here, the Beautifly fly past at this time of night."

She pulled him down to the edge of the dirt track that connected Oldale to Petalburg city, on some freshly trimmed grass. They both looked up at the dimly lit sky together, waiting for the winged insects to fly by.
"How did you find Route 103, Erik?" She asked with her eyes fixed above.

"We didn't run into much trouble, I didn't even have to use Blaze!" He started, "You saw me catch Ice, remember? My Poochyena?" He asked but continued before she could answer, "Well he is a force to be reckoned with, Gully fought well for me too. String on the other hand, is still getting to grips with battling other Pokemon, but he will come around." Erik stroked his Wurmple on the head as he spoke. All four of his Pokemon were sat next to him.

"I'm glad you're getting along with your Pokemon, are you going to see your dad whilst you're here?"

"No." Erik replied, firmly.

"I think you should, he is your father after all."

"I said no." Erik's reply was firm once again.

"Okay, I didn't mean to cause any offence."

"I'm sorry, my relationship with my dad is a touchy subject." Erik smiled at her, getting a slight grin back in return.

They sat in silence for a while, staring up at the sky where the first stars were coming out. True to May's word, a flock of Beautiflys flew past, graceful in their movements as they glided above the two.

"It's getting late, I must be going." May said as she stood up, "I hope I see you soon." She smiled at him then walked away. Back to Littleroot town, Erik presumed.

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Erik walked out onto the streets of Petalburg, the door to the Pokemon Centre sliding shut behind him.

The city was a lot larger than Oldale or Littleroot, there were houses dotted all over the city. The centre of Petalburg contained a Pokemon Centre, a Pokemart and a few houses. Linking the city with the next route, Route 104, was a concrete pathway. A large wooden house with purple tiled roof at the edge of the city, with Norman's Gym next to that.

Erik's gaze snapped to two men having just finished a battle on the concrete path, outside the Gym.

"You battled well." Erik overhead the victorious trainer say to his defeated opponent, playing with the collar of his green jumper.

"I always lose to you, I've only just got my trainers licence too." His opponent said as he slouched off, seemingly on the verge of tears.

"Why if it isn't my son." The winner shouted over, as he spotted Erik. "Tt's cold and dark out here, come inside my Gym, let's have a chat."

Erik followed his father into the Gym. It seemed to contain a single, very plain room, with wooden flooring and brick walls. The only noticeable items of furniture within the place were the pink cushions located in the centre, where Norman was now sat.
"Sit." Norman extended his hand to the nearest cushion, but Erik waved it away.

"I won't stay long." He replied.

"Fair enough, I'm surprised you managed to get here by yourself. Trying to become a trainer like your old man I see." Norman's tone, words and half smile made Erik feel as if he was being patronised, causing him to feel a surge of anger rise through his body. Before he realised his dad was just toying with him.

Erik was about to reply, until a boy of around sixteen entered the Gym. The trainer had spiked hair with a green hue and matching lime coloured eyes. He wore an aqua blue long coat with grey jeans, a bag strung around his shoulder. Erik recognised him as the trainer who lost in battle to his dad moments before.

"Ahh, hello." Norman said calmly, before turning to Erik, "This is Wally, he lives in the house next door. He recently has obtained his Pokemon licence and I am letting him borrow some of my Pokemon so I can help him to improve as a trainer."

"That's nice, but what's in it for you?" Erik's tone was dark.

"So Wally, what can we do for you?" Norman said, ignoring Erik's question.

"Err.. I .. err," Wally started, nervous, even shaking a little, "As you know sir, I have severe asthma and heart problems, and the air around Petalburg is.. erm.. thick." He paused to collect his thoughts before continuing, "I am moving in with my aunt and uncle in Verdanturf town, but it's quite a long journey and I would be lonely by myself.. so, I was, erm, wondering if I could borrow one of your Pokemon for the journey sir?"

At this point Wally looked close to a nervous breakdown, Erik felt sorry for him. He was only around three years younger than Erik, but looked so weak and frail.

Norman smiled at Wally, before replying, "I cannot loan you one of my Pokemon if you are leaving the city I am afraid." To which Wally looked visibly upset, but Norman wasn't finished. "I have an idea though. Erik, could you go into Route 102 and help Wally to capture his very own Pokemon?"

Erik was taken aback by the suggestion, how dare his dad get him to do this, treating him like a slave. A glance at Wally softened his stance though, he felt pity for him, and wanted to help.

"Okay. But for Wally, not for you."

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The wild Ralts tried teleporting away, but a quick fireball from Blaze knocked the wind out of the psychic Pokemon. Once the Ralts hit the floor, Wally launched a Pokeball at it. The weakened Ralts was captured.

"Wow, my own Pokemon." Wally said excitedly turning to Erik, "Thank you so much mister."

The pair returned to Petalburg Gym, where Norman was waiting for them, a smile emerging on his face when he saw the Pokeball attached to Wally's belt, which contained the captured Ralts.
"Congratulations Wally, I hope Erik proved useful." Erik felt his father's comment was a snide remark aimed at him, causing his anger to increase even more, but he kept quiet.
"He really did, he's a very good trainer!" Wally said excitedly, clearly looking forward to travelling with his new Pokemon. "I have to go, my mum is waiting, thanks again Norman and Erik."

"Sweet kid." Norman remarked as the green haired teenager ran from the building. "That boy will be worth keeping an eye on." Norman said to himself more than to Erik, he then turned to his son. "Anyway, back to you Erik, what's your plan?"

"To beat you."

"Ahh the gym challenge then." Norman once again brushed Erik's comment off, nonplussed. "You'll want to go to Rustboro gym first, they use rock Pokemon there. You'll need to pass through Petalburg woods to get there though, a challenge for any trainer."

"You're telling me nothing I don't already know," Erik felt as if he was about to burst, "I Challenge you now, or are you afraid to lose to your son again?"

"I'm saving you the embarrassment son, your Pokemon are nowhere near being strong enough to face mine."

"You're a coward!" Erik roared, "I beat you before and could easily again!" His voice echoing around the room, but Norman just chuckled.

Erik stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

With the taste of freshly baked bread still in his mouth, Erik closed the oak door behind him. Route 104 was ahead of him and he hoped the next member of his party inhabited the pathway. Erik had tried to pass through the woods and onto Rustboro in the night before Wally's dad stopped him in his tracks and offered him a place to stay until the morning as a thank you for helping his son. Wally had already left, leaving a spare room for Erik to sleep in for the night.

Gully chirped beside him and was clearly refreshed as he took to the skies, circling the group overhead. Blaze, as always, walked to the right of Erik almost having to move his small legs into a run just to keep up with his trainer. Ice took his place to Erik's left, proudly strutting. String usually lagged behind, struggling to keep up with the group but this time Erik allowed String to rest on his shoulder, so he didn't feel left out.

As he studied his four Pokemon, Erik realised he could only carry two more. The official rules stated a trainer could only have with them six Pokemon at one time, any more they happen to have are to be put in storage.

Ice growled, then charged into the tall grass, which rustled for a moment.

Out sprang a Zigzagoon fleeing for it's life, Ice close in pursuit. The wild Pokemon was inches away from it's pursuers grasp, when Erik threw a Pokeball. The Zigzagoon hardly put up a struggle, delighted it had managed to escape with her life. Ice strolled back to Erik's side without a care, happy that he was able to help his trainer to catch a new Pokemon.

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Ziggy rolled around in the golden sand, the harsh winds causing rough waves, which were battering the beach shore and splashing Erik's new Pokemon in the face. His Zigzagoon was a flighty creature, still scared of Ice whenever he came within a few metres of her.

Erik had gone down to the beach to allow his Pokemon to enjoy a couple of hours playing in the sand, the relaxation would do them good before they went through the trials of the forest, he hoped.

"This beach is my training zone!" Roared an athletic teenager as he marched over to Erik.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Erik." Came the sarcastic reply.

"Billy." He looked fit to burst, throwing a Pokeball to challenge Erik to battle. A Seedot appearing out of it, the grass Pokemon casting it's large black eyes at it's opponent from underneath a cap grey enough it matched the dull sky.

"Ziggy, let's see what you're made off." Erik spoke softly, the Zigzagoon slowly creeping up to her opponent, who was sat still, biding it's time. Ziggy made the first move, crashing into the Seedot who was unmoved and facing the ground, it's cap casting a shadow over the grass Pokemon's eyes it was building up a rage ready to unleash on Erik's Pokemon. Again Ziggy rammed into the Seedot, and again, but each time her foe stood unmoved. Ziggy backed off slowly, startled by how little effect her charges were having on the Seedot. Billy's creature suddenly leapt, all the rage it had built up being unleashed at once on Ziggy, which sent Erik's Pokemon flying through the air, slamming hard into the soft sands.

"Ziggy no!" Erik shouted, as his newly caught friend lay unmoving on the floor. Ice stormed out onto the field of battle. Erik knew that ice attacks were strong against grass Pokemon and so it proved, as Ice finished off the Seedot with ease before strutting proudly past Ziggy who was now back on her feet, weak but alive.

"Tailow!" Billy roared, summoning into battle his other Pokemon, the bird's feathers as blue as the deepest pits of the ocean. Ice turned around ready for another fight but Erik called him back, shouting up at Gully who was flying in circles above them.

Gully arrowed down into battle, making high pitched supersonic screeches, the tone of which clearly confused the Tailow. To escape the screams Billy's flying Pokemon closed it's eyes and tried flying away, only to end up hurling itself into a nearby rock. As Tailow tried to recover, Gully closed in and blasted his adversary with water, throwing it straight back into the rock and finishing it off.

"Sorry for ending your career." Erik taunted him, Gully landing on his shoulder and began nipping at his hair.

"You haven't. I have Pokemon in storage, I just decided to train these two today." Billy blasted before storming off.

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The wooden hut loomed over the stairs at the top of the beach. Ice had raced Gully to the top of the planked stairway, with Erik nudging Blaze and telling him to join them. Blaze's eyes were little black marbles filled with sorrow at his master's words. Even though Erik knew he could not only trust, but rely on his Torchic entirely, his first Pokemon still lacked the confidence to leave his trainer's side.

A pat on the head and some encouraging words later, Blaze slowly built up the courage to run and join Ice and Gully, running as fast as his short legs could carry him and looking like he could trip over at any second.

Erik kneeled down on the sand, now at eye level with both Ziggy and String.

"Hey you two." He spoke softly and calming, letting his words soothe his two more timid Pokemon, "I know you both had to be saved in your first fights by Ice, but some Pokemon just grow up quicker than others. I've only had the two of you for a short time, so I do not expect you two to be super powerful just yet, but of course I will stick by you and give you more chances. If you look at someone like Ice, Blaze or Gully and feel that you'll never match up to them then you won't, the doubt would stop that. However, if you let them protect and inspire you, theres no limit to how strong you could all become."
Ziggy crept up gently to Erik and licked his cheek, a tongue so small and rough it tickled to the touch. String on the other hand continued looking down at the floor, as he always did, almost scared to lift his head up and look his trainer in the eye. Erik gave him a pat on the head, his slimy skin wetting his trainer's hand, before the three of them joined Ice, Gully and now Blaze at the top of the stairs.

As Gully took flight another Wingull flew straight up to meet him, circling Erik's Pokemon.

"Peeko get back here!" Came a hoarse shout from a nearby elderly man, his head featured only a few strands of hair. He did, however, have a full beard which was as white as snow and piercing dark eyes.

"Gully come down." Erik ordered his own Pokemon, with both Wingull returning to rest on their trainer's shoulders. Gully then began his characteristic nipping of Erik's hair.

"Sorry about that, Peeko just wanted to play. She's very friendly." The man's voice was calm but it sounded like he had to force out every word. Peeko began shedding feathers which fell and got caught on her owner's full length black overcoat, which he had to pick off. "And enjoys winding me up." He said with hearty laughter, before turning his back and walking back into the the wooden hut.

"Wait, Mr.Briney! Please!" Came the wailing voice of a young teenager, holding what appeared to be a lifeless Zigzagoon in his arms, tearings streaming down his young-looking face.

"What's wrong?" Mr.Briney had already closed the door and wasn't coming back out, so Erik decided to speak for him.
"I need Mr.Briney, he was once a great sailor and maybe he can help!" The boy cried, giant blue eyes fixated on the wooden hut.

"I can help." Erik said bluntly, Gully still nipping at his hair.

"My Zigzagoon is really hurt, and I have no potions, he's alive but only just." He said as he lifted up the unconscious Pokemon to show Erik.

"Here, have one of mine." Erik said, reaching into his backpack before handing him one of the potions the Pokemart employee had handed him back in Oldale town.

"Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you." The boy stopped his elated cheers and went cold when Erik asked him his next question.

"What happened?"

"A man, rich looking man, named Winstone, with slicked back blonde hair. He jumped out of the forest on me and Zagzig, his Zigzagoon was so strong.." Tears flooded his eyes again, before Erik's next reply seemed to appease him.

"I'll get him for you."

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Winstone adjusted his bow tie as his Zigzagoon sized up String, the Wurmple having been given another chance by his trainer to show his worth.

"My last battle ended up with a little teen running away with his dead Zigzagoon in his arms." Winstone said bursting into laughter.

"He wasn't dead, I helped heal him with a potion, now I've come for you."

Erik had walked right up to the edge of Petalburg Woods, just as the boy had done, where he was set upon by Winstone leaping out of the shrubbery with Zigzagoon in tow, but unlike the boy, Erik was ready. String had elected to fight, much to his trainer's surprise. His Wurmple evidently wanting to show him that he was not in need of protection and could handle himself.

Winstone's creature taunted String, encouraging him to attack with the bug duly obliging by tackling his opponent. The Zigzagoon roared, startling String momentarily before he composed himself and tackled his competitor again, knocking Zigzagoon to the floor.

"Stop playing with that pathetic bug Zigzagoon and finish it off!" Winstone barked, with his Pokemon slamming the full force of it's body into String, nearly knocking him off the cliff edge on which the battle took place. Winstone smiled and wiped dust kicked up from the battle off of his suit.

"String, come back here!" Erik shouted, before nodding to Gully to go and save his ally. Gully squirted water at the Zigzagoon who dodged it. Gully then went to divebomb his foe but Zigzagoon deftly leapt to the side and rammed into the Wingull, knocking him off the cliff edge. Erik held his breath as he waited, and waited. Gully shot back up, shooting water and knocking the Zigzagoon into Winstone.

"Eugh!" The wealthy man recoiled, before opening his briefcase and healing his Pokemon's wounds with a potion. But Gully didn't give up, shooting another watery burst, landing the hit. Zigzagoon fell to the floor but Gully was relentless and this time successfully divebombed the prone Pokemon, finishing off the battle and ending Winstone's Pokemon career. The rich youth slumped to the floor, silent.

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Erik pushed his way through more bushes, his five Pokemon following him through. The forest was so dense the sunlight struggled to push it's way through the trees, casting a murky darkness throughout Petalburg woods. Gully let out a sudden shriek of warning, Erik's Wingull had been flying above them the entire time, navigating the woods much easier than the rest of the group. String had coped next best, in his natural environment he has able to keep up alongside his trainer.

Erik suddenly saw what Gully was warning them about, as String was sent sprawling. Another Wurmple had attacked him, before crawling back into the bush it had emerged from. Blaze, Ziggy and Ice were still behind struggling to keep up, with Gully unable to find the assailant as he pecked through the bush it had run off into.

String got back up to his feet and backpedaled, as the other Wurmple had this time appeared out of another bush, and was now charging at String. Erik rapidly reached into his bag and pulled out a Pokeball, throwing it at the wild Pokemon, capturing him.
"Are you okay String?" Erik asked, before his Pokemon give him a timid nod back, String was shaking furiously. "I've got a name for our new friend, I'll call him Speedy!"

The sound of sarcastic laughter caught Erik's ears, "Nearly taken down by a wild Wurmple, my finely trained trio of Wurmples will have no problem!"

The man came out of the bushes like a bug, almost looking like one himself with bulging hazel eyes and large teeth. "Do it for your trainer Lyle, Wurmple number one!"

He almost spat everytime he spoke, as his Pokemon wandered onto the field of battle. Erik responded with a nod to Ziggy, eager for his Zigzagoon to have another chance in battle. His Pokemon had just managed to make it through the bush after a struggle, a couple of cuts appearing under her fur which looked like she had caught herself on some branches.

Ziggy was eager to prove herself, so made the first move by tackling the opposing Wurmple to the soft mud. Her foe managed to lift it's head up to spray string out of it's mouth at Ziggy, wrapping Erik's Pokemon up in a cocoon of string. After a few seconds of struggling inside the string shell, the case made of string stopped moving. Erik's knew it would be impossible to breathe inside of it, immediately regretting sending Ziggy out to suffocate in battle after she had toiled through the forest. A few more seconds passed with no movement, Erik felt himself shaking and looked down to the floor, eyes welling up with tears, before hearing Lyle shout.

"Wurmple One! No!"
Ziggy had broken out of the shell and taken the Wurmple out, winning the duel.

Erik jumped up shouting with glee, ahead of immediately recalling Ziggy and telling String this is his chance to prove himself.

String used the poisonous point on his head to try and intoxicate his fellow Wurmple, but was unsuccessful in delivering the poison. "Wurmple Two" slammed into String in response, with String returning the blow. Lyle's Wurmple then went again, ramming String into the ground and nearly burying him under the mud. As String struggled to get back up again Erik told Speedy to save the Pokemon he had nearly killed earlier.

Speedy came out of his Pokeball and finished off the weakened Wurmple withouting breaking a sweat, before making short work of "Wurmple Three" straight afterwards. As String saw another Wurmple proving himself to Erik after he had failed once again, his head dropped. His trainer giving him a pat on the head which did nothing to elevate his mood.

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The two trainers stood off against each other, each clasping a Pokeball in their hands. The laboratory technician cowering behind Erik, clutching the research papers in his hands. The grunt opposite them was wearing a tight fitting scarlet red hooded cloak with matching boots, through his outfit Erik could see an even tighter fitting blood red undershirt.

"Why will you Team Magma grunts not leave Devon Corporation alone!" The technician wailed, kneeling down using his bright white labcoat to hide behind.

"Boss says those papers are important, hand them over." The mysterious man snapped, a shadow over his face cast by the hood he was wearing, his voice sounding gruff. "And you," He said, turning to Erik. "Nobody messes with Team Magma and gets away with it, step aside."

Erik had been continuing his journey through the woods, when he had stumbled upon an innocent looking man looking for a Shroomish. The man had told him he was a Devon Corporation employee and was out in the woods looking for the grass Pokemon for his studies.

"You know why they have banned the use of Pokemon in all other regions?" Erik said to the man who had come up to the two of them demanding they surrender some research papers. "Because of gangs like you and Team Rocket, using Pokemon for crime."

"Look kid, if you will not step aside then my Poochyena will get those papers for me." The Magma member replied, throwing his Pokeball to the floor to release his Pokemon, Erik replied by freeing Ziggy out his own ball for battle.

The Poochyena kicked up sand and dust which had been ingrained in the ground at Ziggy, temporary blinding Erik's Pokemon.

Ziggy stayed resilient, taunting her opponent by wagging her tail at him.

"Very out of character, but her confidence is clearly on the rise." Erik thought to himself, before the Poochyena howled in anger, shooting more sand wildly before being itself too blinded not by sand, but by anger. The Pokemon not noticing Ziggy charging at it until she slammed into her foe, finishing the fight.

"Not an out of character taunt, instead, that was actually very clever. Leaving the poorly trained Poochyena blinded by it's own rage." Erik smiled at the thought of his Pokemon's ingenuity.

The Magma member ran off at the sight of his Pokemon losing the battle with the Devon Corporation employee using his own potions to heal all of Erik's Pokemon as a thank you, before running off himself back to his office in Rustboro.

Further into the woods, Erik battled another bug collector named James, who used a Nincada. Ziggy went into battle but despite her newly found confidence and winning momentum, was unable to inflict a scratch on James's bug. Erik switched in Blaze who burned the creature to a crisp.

Further on another trainer challenged Erik to a battle, sending out her own Zigzagoon to which he countered with Gully. Gully used his confuse then blast with water tactic he had used on the Tailow before, continuing Erik's winning streak without him even losing a member of his team yet.

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"Finally," Erik sighed with relief, addressing his team. "The woods are behind us."

String and Speedy both jumped up together at seeing the treeline fall behind them, the two had become close after String was saved by his fellow Wurmple during an earlier battle. Speedy was acting almost as a mentor and guardian, making sure String was being looked out for. They were all tired after the trawl through the forest, the dark of night closing in around them.

"Another victim!" A young woman shouted as she saw the tired group exiting Petalburg Woods, "Whilst you are tired me and my Pokemon will get battle experience by beating you."

Ice growled, baring his fangs, but Erik held him off and turned to String and Speedy.

"You two have become almost like brothers very quickly. Speedy, you have helped String grow, protected him through the forest and enabled him to believe in himself a bit more and for that I thank you." Erik then turned to String, as Speedy got the hint and moved to join the rest of the group, leaving the two alone.
"What is this.." The woman who had challenged them sighed, before sending out her Lotad to battle them.

"Ignore her String, I believe in you and always have, but there is only so far pure belief can go. You have to keep going, you need to win a fight otherwise you will never grow up and always need looking after." String looked down at the dirt, ashamed. Erik continued, "Don't feel like you've let anyone down because you haven't. I'll give you another chance to prove yourself and don't worry, if it goes bad then Speedy has your back, we all have your back. Go out there String and beat this Lotad."

Erik caught a glimpse of fire in String's eyes, a new found determination. Suddenly his Pokemon was engulfed in a bright white light.

Erik had to take a step back and cover his eyes against the sudden brightness against the coming dusk. When Erik opened his eyes again String was gone, in his place was a Cascoon. His Pokemon had evolved.

"No way!" The lady complained.

Erik knew about evolution, when a Pokemon become powerful enough, experienced enough and had enough belief in themselves to grow up – they entered the next stage in their evolution cycle, growing into a creature stronger than before.

String wasted no time, the newly evolved Pokemon jabbing the opposing Lotad with poison points, succeeding in poisoning the woman's Pokemon. The Lotad fell to it's knees, unable to stand with poison coursing through it's veins. String showed no mercy and finished the weakened Lotad off.

Next the woman sent out a Shroomish, another grass Pokemon weak against poisonous attacks.

Knowing this, Erik instructed his Cascoon to do the same thing again, and again. String succeeded in poisoning his target.

The Shroomish didn't go down like the Lotad however, and retaliated by releasing spores into the air, String breathed them in and became temporarily paralysed.

Erik recalled him, letting Gully finish off the Shroomish from above. He knew that grass types were also weak to flying attacks.

As Erik turned round to his team, a flash of light caught his eye, Speedy was consumed by the same white light that String was. Erik knew that the sight of String evolving caused Speedy to want to up his game, they may be like brothers but the latter didn't want to be outshone by String. The light faded, leaving a freshly evolved Silcoon. Usually the same Pokemon would evolve into the same thing, but Wurmples were a rare exception, evolving into either a Silcoon or a Cascoon depending on their personality.

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Battle commenced, Speedy and Ice lined up against a Seedot and Lotad in a double battle as the rotten wood creaked below them. Gia and Mia, two young twins, had challenged Erik to a fight and he was challenged by two trainers who were allied, he would have to fight both at once, although both sides could still only use a maximum of six Pokemon.

Ice looked at his reflection in the lake and seemed to smile, the bridge seemed sturdy even if it was rotten, but any of these Pokemon could be knocked off into the lake at any time. Ice stopped admiring himself to jump out and encase his fangs into the Seedot, with Speedy managing to successfully poison the opposing Lotad.

Ice threw the Seedot into the lake to finish it off, with Lotad shooting both of them with watery shots. Speedy charged through the water blast to ram the Lotad into the lake but being a water Pokemon, the Lotad hopped right back up onto the bridge, where Ice was waiting to finish it off.

Erik continued on his way, the city right ahead of them. It was deep into the night now and the lights from the city illuminated the pathway into it. Erik decided to take his Pokemon to the edge of the lake, sitting to rest on the grass verge before entering Rustboro.

He began to drop off, Blaze and Ziggy cuddled up with him. Ice slept on his own as always with Gully dipping his feet into the lake. Erik watched newly evolved duo of Speedy and String playing together further up in the grass for a while before sleep took him.

"Hey there lazy."

Erik jolted awake, staring May in the face. His sudden reacted in turn waking up his Pokemon. The night was still pitch black.

"Sorry, didn't mean to make you jump," May giggled, "I saw you over here asleep from Rustboro."

"Hello May." Erik said groggily, "What are you doing awake at this time?"

"I'm staying in a hotel but couldn't sleep there, was very uncomfortable. I like looking across the lake though it's peaceful, then I saw you, your Torchic breathes small flames when it sleeps."
"Did you make it through Petalburg Woods okay May?"

"Yes, I'm not actually registered as a trainer. As a researcher I don't have to accept battle challenges."

"I might register of a researcher, people are attacking me all over the place these days." Erik joked, but May didn't catch on.

"You can't challenge Gyms if you do that Erik." Her stern words made him sigh as the joke passed over her, a short silence ensuing before she broke it.

"Are these your friends?" She said looking over to Erik's Pokemon.

"Yes, you know Blaze my oldest Pokemon, I can always rely on in a tough spot."
May nodded.

"You've met Ice too, very self-confident and brash. Gully over there I caught on route 103, where we battled, he's very playful but I can always rely on him too."
Erik smiled as he turned his head to see String and Speedy lying beside each other, "Those two are like brothers, String was always a bit scared and a bit weak at first, but the more confident Speedy has really got the best out of him. Finally, Ziggy," Erik started stroking his Zagzagoon's fur as he spoke of her, "She's really timid, but surprisingly clever."

May smiled as Erik talked about his partners, before she rested her head on his chest and looked up at the stars.

"I could stay here forever, Erik." She told him

"Me too." He said, as she leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

They lay together a while before falling asleep in each others' arms.

The next morning Erik woke up to find May had gone.

Hey! I've heard about Nuzlocke fics before, but this is my first time reading it so this got my interest.

Before I get to talking about the chapters, I want to mention something I noticed quite a lot while reading your story. The way you punctuate dialogue is very inconsistent. There were times I would see either you missing or having the wrong one. A couple examples:

"I'll always wear this hat to remember you when I'm rich and famous" Erik informed her as he left the house that day.

Click to expand...

Here you're missing a comma after "famous".

"Zubat." Erik said, a lot calmer this time.

Click to expand...

Whenever you have a dialogue that's not ending in a question mark or exclamation point and it follows a dialogue tag (he said, she yelled, etc), you have a comma instead of a period. If the dialogue won't follow a dialogue tag a period is fine. For this sentence, the correct format would be this:

"Zubat," Erik said, a lot calmer this time."

My Zigzagoon is really hurt, and I have no potions, he's alive but only just." He said as he lifted up the unconscious Pokemon to show Erik.

Click to expand...

My Zigzagoon is really hurt, and I have no potion, he's alive but only just," he said as he lifted up the unconscious Pokemon to show Erik.

Another thing I want to point out is except for proper names, pronouns often are not capitalized if it's a dialogue tag.

I would recommend checking a couple articles out on how to punctuate dialogue since many writers often get stumped on that including myself. This one I like as it gets straight to the point and this one is more indepth. Don't worry too much if you don't understand it immediately at first as it takes practice and a while getting used to.

There are also several other grammar and mechanical mistakes I spotted, but I'll get to those as I talk about the chapters separately.

Prologue

"Finally, you will be given a device to put around your wrist that cannot be taken off. This lets us know if you are breaking any rules regarding Pokemon. The device will vibrate when it detects another trainer's device within a certain distance, and if you wish to challenge that trainer to a battle press the middle button on the device. Obviously they can do the same to you, and if either trainer rejects the battle they will face disciplinary action and be forced to explain why they rejected it. So in short, if you are challenged to a battle you have no choice other than to accept!" Nigel seemed to find that funny, his laughter like an explosion.

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For a Nuzlocke fic, I thought this is a pretty fascinating idea on keeping track of trainers.

Finally, Erik opened up the Pokeball. Usually he would have to throw the Pokeball at the Pokemon, hoping that the creature he was trying to capture would accept it's new home, otherwise it would break free of it's spherical prison. But this Weedle already seemed to accept Erik, so went inside without hesitation.

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"Its" as "it's" is a contraction to it is. I see a few instances of this. ALso I notice on the bolded "so went" you're missing a pronoun (he/she/it).

"Yes!" Erik;s thoughts screamed inside his head. "A bug Pokemon. This time I have the advantage!"

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"Erik's". Apostrophe instead of a semi-colon, though I'm assuming that was a typo.

The test portion I feel was dragged on. The question portion I don't think added much to the story and neither the Weedle portion (although I do understand you showed that as Erik will be using it later in the battle). The battle itself isn't too exciting for me as the description lacks a bit. For example:

He instructed his Pidgey to send a gust of wind at the small green caterpillar. The attack proving too much for the Caterpie and left his father down to his final Pokemon.

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There were some instances where you went, "The attack was too much for Pokemon X and it fainted." Onto the example I pulled out, I think you could have describe more how it was too much for the Caterpie. Did it crashed onto a wall? Since the battle is inside, use the environment surrounding them to your advantage!

I will say though losing to your father like that isn't a good feeling and understandable Erik would feel very upset after that.

A man dressed all in black grabbed Erik's mother and ripped the necklace right off. Running away before recalling his Pokemon.

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I feel having the two sentences into one would sound better, like this:

A man dressed all in black grabbed Erik's mother and ripped the necklace right off, running away before recalling his Pokemon.

Erik was sat in his living room holding his provisional Pokemon licence, "I'm going to do it," he informed his mother. "I'm going to retake the test," he said with an unerring conviction.

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"Was sat" sounds awkward, so take out "sat". For the second bolded part replace comma with a period.

The events after the first test are an interesting read. The incident with Team Rocket looks to be pretty traumatizing and I admit to feeling a bit sorry for Erik when he failed the test a second time.

Erik's mother wasn't allowed inside the test centre without a provisional licence, so hugged him goodbye at the door and wished him good luck one more time.

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Missing a pronoun. It should be "so she hugged him..."

"Spearow, one more peck should do it!" Came the cry from Erik's father. His Pokemon obeying, the peck landing. Pidgey struggled to get back up.

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I think you meant, "His Pokemon obeying, the peck landed on Pidgey"?

Norman grabbed another one of the Pokeballs on his podium and threw it, with a Rattata coming out. The small purple rat baring its large fangs at his adversary. Even injured, a Pidgey was still faster than a Rattata. Allowing her to launch a final gust of wind at her opponent before the Rattata finished off the job that Spearow should have.

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The bolded part I think the sentence would sound better if you have the subject at the beginning, like this:

Erik allowed her to launch a final gust... (etc.)

The second battle between Erik and Norman this time is written much better than the first one! You put a bit more detail onto describing the Pokemon's struggles there. There are still a couple instances you could expand on the description, but I see some improvement.

As a way of congratulating him, his father sent him a Torchic from the Hoenn region, the small fire breathing chick and Erik quickly became close with Erik naming his new friend, "Blaze".

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You can replace the second Erik with "him".

The news of only Hoenn allowing Pokemon battling is somewhat hard to swallow for me. If several trainers already flock to Hoenn before the immigration ban, I can imagine the system the region has going will be pretty hard to manage. O.o

Chapter One

As Erik climbed out of the van she hugged then dragged him inside the house before he could even get a look at his new town. Blaze followed as fast as his small legs could take him.

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"She hugged him."

His Pokemon shooting a ball of fire at the Poochyena.

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"His Pokemon shot a ball of fire at the Poochyena." I actually saw a few instances where you have a verb ending in -ing when it's not supposed to be.

First chapter started out pretty much the same as the game, but considering this is a Nuzlocke fic I can understand why you'll begin this way. I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of a main character instantly having a crush on potential love interest (May), although I'm curious how you'll approach their interaction so I won't judge just yet.

Chapter Two

"Go Zigzagoon!" The youngster shouted, throwing the Pokeball, which released a brown and white striped cat-like creature.

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I always thought Zigzagoon looks more like a raccoon than a cat, but probably just me.

All four of his Pokemon were sat next to him.

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This sentence would sound better without "were".

Tt's cold and dark out here, come inside my Gym, let's have a chat."

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I think you meant "It's cold.."?

The only noticeable items of furniture within the place were the pink cushions located in the centre, where Norman was now sat.

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Take out "was".

Out of the few battles presented in this chapter, I like the one with Allen the most. Starts out differently with Erik being off-guard while he and his Pokemon are taking a break. Also what Allen after the end of the battle is a nice twist there. The other battles were pretty short, though that can't be helped I guess since the battles in the the beginning of the game were pretty easy.

Not surprising Erik would react to his father that way upon meeting him, and yay for Wally's appearance! I do wonder if you have a few things in store for him.

Chapter Three

"Ziggy, let's see what you're made off." Erik spoke softly, the Zigzagoon slowly creeping up to her opponent, who was sat still, biding it's time.

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Take out "was". This is also something I noticed a lot.

Ziggy made the first move, crashing into the Seedot who was unmoved and facing the ground, it's cap casting a shadow over the grass Pokemon's eyes it was building up a rage ready to unleash on Erik's Pokemon.

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This feels like a run-on sentence to me. If you break it down into two sentences it would flow better. Like this:

Ziggy made the first move, crashing into the Seedot who was unmoved and facing the ground, it's cap casting a shadow over the grass Pokemon's eyes. It was building up a rage ready to unleash on Erik's Pokemon.

The Shroomish didn't go down like the Lotad however, and retaliated by releasing spores into the air, String breathed them in and became temporarily paralysed.

Erik recalled him, letting Gully finish off the Shroomish from above. He knew that grass types were also weak to flying attacks.

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I'm seeing a bit of "Pokemon X finished off Y" instances again here and there on your battles. For this part I would first describe how String struggled to move and that made Erik worried. After that, describe a bit more how Gully was able to finish off the Shroomish. Did Gully used their wings or beak as they dived down on the Shroomish, for instance?

"I might register of a researcher, people are attacking me all over the place these days." Erik joked, but May didn't catch on.

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Replace "of" with "as".

As I was reading, I feel some of the battles in Chapters Two and Three you can get away with just mentioning them (like what you did with mentioning Erik bumping into some more bug catchers) as those don't add to the story that much and can drag it down. I know it's supposed to be a Nuzlocke fic but I think only describing the more important battles would work better. The rich boy, Magma grunt, and the battle after Erik got out of the woods I'm fine with them being presented.

I thought the part where Erik encouraged Ziggy and Sting to be more inspired by the other Pokemon is very cute and seems he'll care for all for his Pokemon equally. The chapter's ending, however, I feel is quite rushed. Erik and May only met a short while and already they had a kiss. I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but so far I'm not feeling much over their interactions.

I do think this fic could use some work on a few areas. After finishing a chapter I would let it sit a couple days or so and then look over it again to catch any mistakes and awkward sentences. Reading your fic aloud goes a long way. Also you don't need to describe in full-blown detail all the battles that happened in the game. The ones that are essential for your story though I would go a bit more detail with emotions and taking advantage of the surroundings as I mentioned earlier.

Sorry if all of this overwhelmed you! I was playing catching up, hence me going through the chapters you posted so far. Despite some of my criticism, I do think this story has some potential and I would like to see you improve so I'll try sticking around a little longer. I wish you luck on more progress on this story!

"Poisoned, frozen, paralysed, burned and sleeping" Erik informed the class full of children, the teacher nodding along to each answer he gave. "You can use items to heal all of these status conditions however. For example, I bought an antidote from the Pokemart earlier today, it heals any poisoned Pokemon." Erik said as he pulled the item out of his bag to show the students.

"And what effect," The professor asked Erik, "Does each status condition have on your Pokemon?"

Erik looked around the room before answering, he was inside Hoenn's trainer school, where a bunch of schoolchildren were eager to learn from a fully qualified trainer. In truth, he had entered the building looking for May, thinking she might have come to Rustboro in order to take a class, but instead ended up being asked by the teacher to lend a hand.

"A poisoned Pokemon will slowly lose it's health over time, becoming physically weaker too as the venom saps it's strength." Erik finally answered, before continuing with the other status effects a Pokemon can pick up in battle.

"A frozen Pokemon is unable to move until it thaws itself out of the block of ice it is encased in. A Pokemon which has been paralysed will become physically slower and sometimes not be able to move. One that has been burned will slowly lose health whilst also lowering the damage they can inflict on their opponent." Erik paused for breath before carrying on with the final effect.

"Sometimes a Pokemon can be forced to sleep by their opponent in battle. If this happens then you will have to wait for them to wake up before they can do anything else."

The professor began clapping to which the entire classroom joined in, Erik allowed himself a smile.

"Thank you so much Erik." The professor shook his hand, he was an aging man with balding grey hair and a finely trimmed beard. "As a thank you, I can teach your Pokemon how to cut down large trees that bar your way. Also, showing you how to teach your Pokemon the same technique if you ever need to in the future?"
"That would be great, professor." Erik allowed himself another smile as he thought back to how useful the ability to cut down large trees would have been back in Petalburg Woods, as he handed over Ziggy's Pokeball in order for the professor to teach his Zigzagoon to cut down trees.

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Route 116 connected Rustboro city to a half-finished tunnel, built by the residents to connect the city to nearby Verdanturf town. However, the tunnel wasn't completed due to the Pokemon living in the cave causing constant cave-ins with their booming shouts.

Erik had decided to use the route instead to train his Pokemon for the Rustboro gym, knowing he would find other trainers with the same idea along the way. He also hoped to add a new member to his team. Before leaving Rustboro City to the east, he had healed his team at the Pokemon centre, being told he only had three more uses of it for the rest of the month.

Erik sighed as he remembered he hadn't seen May since the night before, as the grassy terrain of Route 116 shot out in front of him, he saw Rusturf Tunnel in the distance.

Ziggy immediately ran off and started cutting through shrubbery, using her newly learned ability. She cut right through some long strands of grass with her razor sharp claws, before moving onto a slightly larger target, a dense thicket of bushes. As she slashed at them Erik saw a blur of speed, a claw slashed out at Ziggy, knocked her backwards. Ice charged in to save her, but the attacker was gone.

"What was that?" Erik questioned Ziggy as he checked if she was okay, Pokeball in his hand ready if the wild Pokemon assaulted them again.

"Hey you." A man with a backwards baseball cap called over to the group, "That Nincada that attacked you is mine. I've been chasing it all morning."

Before Erik had time to reply, the man reached into the pocket of his blue shorts and pulled out a Pokeball, the red ball blending in with his same coloured t-shirt.

"I'm Joey, and I challenge you to battle!" He declared throwing the ball, his own Zigzagoon coming out.

"String, let's carry on your winning form." Came the reply, as String trotted confidently out onto the field of battle, full of self-belief. The Zigzagoon moved instantly and slammed into String. The Cascoon responded by attempting to poison the aggressor, failing.

String tried and failed once more, his confidence clearly dropping before Speedy purred at him, giving him some encouragement. String tried again, and succeeded. The Zigzagoon fell to the floor as the poison flowed through it, String using the opportunity to finish it off.

Before String has time to celebrate, Joey threw another Pokeball with a Machoppopping out this time. Ice went to trot onto the field of battle but Gully got there first, his flying abilities being strong against the fighting power of Machop, leading to Gully winning the battle quickly.

Gully flew down and began nibbling at Erik's hair as always, with String and Speedy bumping into each other in celebration. Blaze, as always, remained at Erik's side as they traveled further down the route, before they heard rustling in the bushes. Blaze pre-emptively blasted fire, striking the Nincada as it leaped out of the bushes with Erik reacting quickly to his Torchic's intuition by flinging a Pokeball, successfully managing to capture his new Nincada, which he named "Ninja." Erik put the newly captured Ninja into storage, as his party was already at the maximum capacity of six Pokemon.

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"Name's Clark." The hiker said in a strong accent, his words punching through a thick black beard.

"Erik." Ziggy's trainer replied as she strode out to meet Clark's Geodude in battle.

Erik had already beaten Joey, and more recently, Jose today. The latter fight had ended quickly with Ziggy defeating a Wurmple, Speedy beating a fellow Silcoon and Ice making short work of a Nincada. Leading to Erik feeling confident about facing yet another trainer.

Clark was using a rock type Pokemon, the same type they used in Rustboro gym, so this battle would be a good test for Erik before he challenged for the gym badge.

Rusturf Tunnel lay in front of them, Erik had tried passing through to find the way blocked, but did manage to capture himself one of the hundreds of Whismur which inhabited the tunnel, naming it "Bunny" for it's large ears. After heading back out of the tunnel he was jumped by both Clark and his girlfriend, both looking for a battle. The burly rock trainer challenging Erik first.

Ziggy scratched at the Geodude with her sharp claws, but found her strike slamming hard off the rocky surface.

Erik withdrew his Zigzagoon and sent out Gully instead knowing that water attacks were strong against rock types, although rock attacks were strong against flying Pokemon so Erik would have to be wary.

Geodude slammed into Gully, pinning him up against the solid tunnel exterior. This wasn't the first time Gully had been in this situation though, so was able to use his experience to blast his attacker away with water.

Clark remained remorseless after seeing his Pokemon fall, immediately sending out another Geodude. This time Clark's rock Pokemon was larger, and looking a lot tougher than the last.

Erik withdrew the weakened Gully and gave Ice a quick nod, his Poochyena strutting out to meet the Geodude.

Ice's fangs closed around Geodude's solid body, but even the added ice to the bite could not penetrate the rock. Geodude grabbed a nearby rock and slammed it into Ice who had left himself exposed, the attack nearly killing Erik's Pokemon.

Erik felt sweat pouring down his face, this is the toughest battle he had ever faced, his Pokemon struggling against the rock types.

"If we struggle against an average rock type trainer, how are we ever going to defeat a gym leader's rock Pokemon." Erik worried.

"I know." He exclaimed aloud, "Speedy, poison it."

String bumped against his friend to wish him luck. Speedy returned the bump and hopped out to face Clark's Geodude, who had grabbed another rock ready to throw. Speedy charged in with his poisonous points levelled at the Geodude, the largest point aimed straight into his opponent's left eye. Erik smiled as he saw the plan being put into action before seeing Speedy thrown back, the thrown rock hitting him.

Erik froze, staring straight at his Silcoon, who lay unmoving. String bounced out over to his friend, furiously bumping against him trying to wake him up. Erik felt as if time had stopped as he stared at his Cascoon checking for signs of life and after a few moments, realised there was no hope. Speedy was gone.

"NO!" Erik shouted at String, as his Pokemon angrily charged at the Geodude in a state of rage. Erik ran, trying to stop his Pokemon making the same mistake as Speedy, but it was too late. String had been hit square in the face by another rock that had been hurled by the Geodude.

Strings body flew through the air, landing and rolling a few times before he lay resting side by side with Speedy. Erik grabbed String, desperately shaking his Cascoon, hoping he hadn't lost two Pokemon in a matter of seconds, but it was in vain.

String and Speedy remained side by side in death as they had done in life.

Blaze saw Erik distraught, clutching his two deceased friends in tears, and shot a blast of fire so powerful it could rival the sun, finishing off Clark's exhausted Geodude.

Clark's girlfriend threw out a Pokeball containing a Marill next. Ziggy charged down the Pokemon, clawing at it, again and again.

Gully landed on Erik's shoulder, rubbing his beak against his beloved trainer.

For once there was no swagger to Ice's step, no pride. The Poochyena simply limped over to Erik and rested his head on his master's lap, his trainer sat with tears streaming down his face, holding both String and Speedy in his arms.

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"Maybe this is what my dad meant," Erik thought to himself as he looked over his two Wurmples' graves, "If he hadn't tested me so much, pushed me so far.. Would I have been able to handle this?.." Erik shook the thought from his head. His two newly caught Pokemon, Bunny and Ninja, joining Ice, Ziggy, Gully and Blaze to complete his team of six.

He returned to the front of the Pokemon gym, the building looking similar to every other in Hoenn with a plain white brick surface, only one floor and glass windows but this time with an orange roof and sliding double doors.

He knew the gym to be home to rock type users. The only rock trainer he had faced before had killed off two of his team, he wasn't confident.

Rock types had the advantage over bug, flying and fire types meaning that Gully, Ninja and Blaze were at risk here. Normal type attacks were also weak against rock, meaning Ziggy and Bunny would be ineffective as well. The only real chance Erik had was Ice. Gully's water attacks were strong against the rock types too but using his Wingull here would be a big risk. He only had two uses left of the Pokemon Centre as well.

As Erik entered the gym, the first thing that caught his eye was a huge fossil on the back wall. There was a mini museum at the front, with old fossils filling up glass cases, the biggest of which was sat right in front of the entrance, containing four rows of ash grey badges that were sat on red velvet. Erik assumed that Roxanne would award one of these badges to each trainer that defeated her in battle. The rest of the building's interior was made entirely with stone walls, rocks jutting out of them, some large, some small. In fact, the gym almost looked like the inside of a cave, suiting the Pokemon used here.

"Hello trainer, my name is Roxanne. I am the leader here." A deep stern voice echoed around the room, a woman with jet black hair which was tied up in pigtails approached him, wearing a pink and black school uniform.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Erik blurted out, but Roxanne just laughed it off.

"I just graduated from trainer's school." She informed Erik much to his surprise, he had thought she was in her thirties, but upon closer inspection noted she was only a couple of years older than he was. "I was right at the top of my class and studied for longer than usual to make sure I became a Gym leader."

"I'm Erik, let's fight." He said bluntly, not in the mood for courtesies after the loss of String and Speedy.

"Hasty, but not yet. First you must prove yourself worthy of challenging me by defeating my friends here." Roxanne pointed to three trainers who were watching the conversation with interest. Erik remembered that anyone wishing to become a Gym Leader would train in the Gyms themselves, battling any potential challengers. Once the current leader stepped down, one of the trainers within the Gym would be chosen to replace them.

"I'm Josh, I'll go first." A young boy who looked to still be in trainer's school announced, also wearing a black and pink uniform.

"Ice, we are relying on you here." Erik said in a hushed tone to his Poochyena, who responded to his trainer by marching out, swagger returned. A Geodude was to be his opponent.

This time Ice didn't give his opponent a chance, quickly wrapping icy teeth around the foe. Backing off then returning to do the same thing again, finishing the fight.

Josh sent out a second Geodude, this one looking bigger and tougher, and so it proved.

Ice tried the same technique again but Josh's Pokemon threw him off, into the rocky wall. Erik ran over and applied the potion given to him in Oldale town to Ice's wounds, healing him up and sending him off again. Josh's Geodude has managed to grab a rock off the wall and launched it at Poochyena, Erik's mind flashing back to String and Speedy being defeated the same way.

Ice rolled, dodging the rock, before leaping onto the Geodude, finishing the fight.

"I'm next, name's Tommy." Another boy in school uniform informed Erik, sending out his own Geodude.

Ice went in with his fangs again, this time encasing his foe in an ice prison. He had managed to freeze his opponent. The frozen Geodude was unable to resist Ice's next moves, the Poochyena winning Erik his second battle.

"You are good, but I'm the number one trainer in trainer school!" A girl shouted, throwing out her own Geodude.

"Yeah get him Georgia!" The defeated Tommy encouraged.

Ice tiredly went in again. His weariness showed as Geodude took little damage from Erik's Pokemon's fangs, the rock Pokemon grabbing Ice by the throat and slamming him against a rock wall.

Erik again ran over to heal with Pokemon with a potion he had purchased earlier, and the tired Ice set off again. Ice bared his fangs, icy whiteness glistening off them, but the Geodude easily dodged him and slammed a rock he had picked up down on Erik's Poochyena.

Ice barely survived the blow, Erik calling him back and sending in Bunny for his first try at combat.

The Whismur matched Ice's swagger, confidently trotting out onto the field of battle. Bunny opened his mouth, letting out a booming sound. His voice ricocheted off the walls, causing the entire room to shake.

Georgia's Geodude was unmoved, the floating boulder flying over to Bunny and began pummelling Erik's Pokemon.

Erik reached for a potion before realising he had none left, remembering he had given one to the boy on Route 104.

Bunny stood strong, throwing the Geodude off into a nearby rock wall. Bunny boldly followed that up with her fists, but the Geodude was too quick, he had grabbed a rock off the wall and had hurled it at the oncoming Whismur.

Bunny fell to the floor, bereft of life.

Ice charged in, angry at another one of his partners dying because of his failures. The Poochyena finished off the Geodude then slouched to the floor, distraught.

"Well done Erik," Roxanne clapped him, "I recommend you visit the Pokemon Centre then come back for our battle."

Before she realised that Erik was already on his way out.

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"Berries.." Erik whispered to himself as he lay awake in the hotel bed, he had been up all night wondering how he would defeat Roxanne. Gym leaders were supposedly twice as strong as the other trainers in their gyms, and Erik had struggled against them.

As a child his dad always gave him advice. One such piece now reverberated around his mind, "If you allow a Pokemon to hold a berry during battle, they can use it to heal themselves without your help."

Erik reached into his bag and found some Oran berries he had saved from earlier.

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"I knew you would get this far, you are after all, Norman's son." Roxanne declared as she faced Erik down, her grey eyes matching the colour of the rock wall behind her.

"Ice, it's time." Erik said coolly to his Poochyena, who's strut had disappeared. Ice now seemed to nervously plod onto the rocky arena, head hanging low.

Erik felt himself shaking, matching Ice's doubts, they had both come into Rustboro on a string of victories without losing one partner. Now, they faced a Gym leader for the first time, after losing three Pokemon the previous day.

Roxanne sent out her own Geodude, who immediately glided over to a wall and ripped off a chunk of rock.

Erik had to force himself to watch, now vigorously shaking, sweat dripping down his face. He looked at Ice, seeing his Pokemon also shaking. Ice turned his head to face Erik.

Ice stared at Erik, seeing the fear in his trainer's deep blue eyes, he composed himself. Ice knew he had to do this for Erik, his trainer had lost too much in such a short space of time.

Ice leapt at the Geodude, crunching down on his enemy's rocky surface with fangs filled with cold, causing great damage. Ice leapt off and thought about going in for another blow, but his doubt had return, making him hesitate.

Roxanne's Geodude took advantage of the pause and threw the rock he had held towards the roof, causing an avalanche of rocks tumbling down to land on Ice, caging him in a pile of stones.

Ice struggled free of his rocky prison, battered and bruised.

Erik went to call his Pokemon back but Ice had other ideas, and began to eat the Oran berry his trainer had given him before the battle. Enhancing him with a fresh boost of energy.

Ice charged in again with fangs bared, but this time missed his target, the Geodude once again imprisoning Ice within a tomb of rocks.

Again Ice broke free, but missed with another charge, his confidence shot to pieces. Geodude went in for the kill, but Ice managed to strike first with an icy bite.

Roxanne ran over to heal her Geodude with a potion, by the time she was finished Ice leapt in again. Erik could sense his Pokemon's fury, the anger of his previous failures giving Ice strength.

Ice enclosed his fangs once again around Geodude, freezing Roxanne's Pokemon. The frozen Pokemon unable to defend itself against Ice's flurries.

"Your Poochyena must really like you, the passion it fights with." Roxanne called over to Erik.

"He fights for String, Speedy and Bunny." Erik corrected her, receiving a perplexed look in reply.

"I don't know who they are, but I know that this battle is over now. You struggled against my weakest Pokemon, now prepare to face my strongest."

Roxanne sent out a Pokemon that Erik had never seen before, his Pokedex informing him it was a Nosepass. It just looked like a big blue rock with a huge red nose.

Erik tried to call Ice back, but his Poochyena carried on, unable to hear his trainer's calls in his fury.

"Nosepass, prepare yourself as we practised." Roxanne ordered her Pokemon, who responded by kneeling and holding two blue rock hands against it's head, hardening its surface.

Ice used the terrain against his foe, kicking up sand at the Nosepass, trying to blind his opponent. The Nosepass was unmoved. Ice went in again but ended up on the receiving end of Nosepass's solid stone hand.

Ice flew through the air to land by Erik's side, gasping for air, but alive.

Erik withdrew his Pokemon and sent out Gully, a risky move but necessary. Erik thought Gully's water blasts would be effective against the rock Pokemon and was proven right. A burst of water from Gully's mouth sent the Nosepass slamming backwards into the rock wall. Gully flew up into the air, then came flying down, blasting more water at the Nosepass who lay unmoving on the floor.

"Yes!" Erik shouted, as his Gully circled Nosepass triumphantly, the Wingull staring his trainer in the eyes, knowing he had made him proud.

Until Erik dropped to his knees.

Gully slammed hard into the rock wall, a huge rock had hit him. Thrown by the Nosepass.

Seconds passed and Gully still hadn't moved. Erik felt tears fill his eyes once again, Gully was gone.

Blaze saw Erik frozen in time, not moving or speaking. The Torchic nudged Ziggy into battle, who timidly crept out. Blaze knew his trainer well, knowing that Erik would have chosen Ziggy next as both himself and Ninja were weak to rock attacks.

Ziggy was hit by a thrown rock, crashing into the ground. The Zigzagoon tried struggling back to his feet, but was too weak.

Blaze knew there was only one choice left, so marched into battle himself. With all his might he blasted fiery embers at the Nosepass, the flames engulfing his opponent. But the Nosepass remained strong.

Roxanne ordered her Pokemon to pick up a rock and cause another avalanche, knowing fire types were weak against rock attacks, the avalanche was guaranteed to defeat the Torchic.

Erik watched as the Nosepass hurled a rock at the roof, causing a barrage of boulders to fall from it's surface. His Torchic turned it's head to look at his trainer, the little black beads that were it's own eyes filled with sorrow. Then anger.

Blaze bolted, dodging one rock then another, before breathing molten fire at the Nosepass, burning through the stone surface. Winning Erik his first Gym badge.

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The Gym door slid closed behind them, Erik's tired and battered team limping out.

"Don't take those parts!" Came a scream from across the street, as a Team Magma member barged his way through the crowded street and bolted off onto Route 116, followed closely by the same Devon Corporation laboratory technician they had met in Petalburg Woods.

Thanks a lot Bay for your reply and feedback, I will definitely take note of everything you mentioned!

Glad to hear you appreciate my feedback! Okay, Chapter Four now.

Erik sighed as he remembered he hadn't seen May since the night before, as the grassy terrain of Route 116 shot out in front of him, he saw Rusturf Tunnel in the distance.

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There's a lot going on in this sentence. You have Erik thought of May and then mentioning Rusturf Tunnel. This would be written better if broken down into two sentences like this:

Erik sighed as he remembered he hadn't seen May since the night before. As the grassy terrain of Route 116 shot out in front of him, he saw Rusturf Tunnel in the distance.

"String, let's carry on your winning form." Came the reply, as String trotted confidently out onto the field of battle, full of self-belief. The Zigzagoon moved instantly and slammed into String. The Cascoon responded by attempting to poison the aggressor, failing.

String tried and failed once more, his confidence clearly dropping before Speedy purred at him, giving him some encouragement. String tried again, and succeeded. The Zigzagoon fell to the floor as the poison flowed through it, String using the opportunity to finish it off.

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"Came the reply" sounds weird as you're not indicating who is the speaker (even though it's obvious it's Erik). Having "Erik replied", "Erik called out enthusiastically," or something similar would sound better in my opinion.

Besides that, I thought you could use a bit more description. For instance, how was Sting able to poison his opponent? Did he used one of his body parts? I do think though Speedy encouraging Sting is cute.

Before String has time to celebrate, Joey threw another Pokeball with a Machoppopping out this time.

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"Marchop popping." I think you forgot to use space between the two words.

Rusturf Tunnel lay in front of them, Erik had tried passing through to find the way blocked, but did manage to capture himself one of the hundreds of Whismur which inhabited the tunnel, naming it "Bunny" for it's large ears. After heading back out of the tunnel he was jumped by both Clark and his girlfriend, both looking for a battle. The burly rock trainer challenging Erik first.

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Man those Whismur. @_@

"If we struggle against an average rock type trainer, how are we ever going to defeat a gym leader's rock Pokemon." Erik worried.

"I know." He exclaimed aloud, "Speedy, poison it."

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Since both of those are Erik's thoughts, I think you can put them together in one paragraph.

String bumped against his friend to wish him luck. Speedy returned the bump and hopped out to face Clark's Geodude, who had grabbed another rock ready to throw. Speedy charged in with his poisonous points levelled at the Geodude, the largest point aimed straight into his opponent's left eye. Erik smiled as he saw the plan being put into action before seeing Speedy thrown back, the thrown rock hitting him.

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Another cute moment between Sting and Speedy! Also, ah right those Pokemon have poison tips. Remember the battle with Joey I pointed out earlier? Describing the poison points would make that battle more fleshed out like this one with Clark.

Strings body flew through the air, landing and rolling a few times before he lay resting side by side with Speedy. Erik grabbed String, desperately shaking his Cascoon, hoping he hadn't lost two Pokemon in a matter of seconds, but it was in vain.

String and Speedy remained side by side in death as they had done in life.

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Oh wow, ouch. And I'm starting to like Speedy and Sting. :<

I do think the battle with Clark is much better than the one with Joey. It's much more intense and the description flowed better. I think this is your best written battle yet!

As I was reading further, Erik losing both Gully and Bunny is pretty devastating too. No wonder Nuzlocke challenges are popular when playing the games (I don't have the time to try it out myself yet, haha). The gym battles between Roxanne and her trainers are a bit underwhelming than the one with Clark, though it's interesting to read how Ice and Blaze developed after seeing their partners gone. Also I think after the gym battle was over you could go more indepth of Erik's thoughts, have him reflect that gym battles will get worse from here and such.

This chapter is the most enjoyable so far as quite a few things happened here like the lost of some of Erik's Pokemon. The battle with Clark proves you're capable of writing good battles. I'm looking forward to more on your progress of your story!

A mind-breaking shot of psychic energy made Ninja press his claws against his skull, trying to fight off the powerful blast as Jerry's Ralts tormented his foe's mind.

Erik rubbed the part of his hair where Gully used to nip at it, unable to get the recently defeated Pokemon out of his head. Erik had gained his first badge, but the events of the last couple of days had taken their toll on him. He had lost String, Speedy, Bunny and Gully all in a short space of time, and his only reward was a small piece of metal they called a gym badge.

Ninja continued to struggle against the attacks whilst his trainer was distracted, the Nincada pushed back further and further as Jerry encouraged his own Pokemon to finish the fight.

As Ralts inhaled breath in preparation for another psychic attack, it was blasted by roaring fire. Blaze had stepped in for Erik once again, rescuing Ninja.

"Hey, no fair!" Jerry complained, before he was shoved aside by his partner, Karen. The two newly qualified trainers having challenged Erik together as he re-entered Route 116.

Erik tried to remember how he had come back to the location, the memories of what happened after Gully fell in battle were little more than a blur to him.

He remembered hearing the shouts of help from a Devon Corporation employee as the man who had rescued before chased a thief.
He also remembered that the employee then came up to him, asking once more for his help.

"Erik!" The laboratory technician had called to him. "Oh how good it is to see you. Remember that Team Magma thug that tried robbing us in the woods?"

Erik nodded in response.

"Well guess what, he's now gone and stolen some parts from me, right outside the Devon Corp. building!"

Erik stayed silent, but knew where this was going, he wasn't going to help the man without something in return this time.

"I need your help again Erik, please!" The employee begged.

"What's in it for me?" Erik countered, his tone was dark.

As Erik recalled the day's previous events, his mind was snapped back to the present. Ninja stepped out to meet Karen's Shroomish in battle, the Nincada wanting another chance to prove his worth to Erik. Karen's pale grass Pokemon released a plethora of poisonous spores into the air. Ninja inhaled them, against his better judgement.

Erik reacted quickly, grabbing the antidote out of his bag and letting Ninja drink from it, the poison coursing through the bug Pokemon's body was destroyed. With this new lease of life, Ninja pounced on his foe, attaching his fangs into the Shroomish and leeching the life from it. Winning the match-up.

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Erik put the Oran berries in his backpack as he approached Rusturf Tunnel. The employee had given him a handful of the food and a promise of meeting the president of Devon Corporation if Erik agreed to get the parts back off the thief.

Erik did agree to the deal, after healing at the Pokemon centre and burying Gully, Erik departed to Route 116 where Jerry and Karen were training together. Seeing Erik, and thinking he was an easy target, they challenged him to a duel in order to pick up some battle experience for their Pokemon. Blaze and Ninja had proven them wrong.

"Hello again young man." A hoarse voice called as Erik was once again snapped back to the present.

"Mr Briney." Erik exclaimed with surprise, "What are you doing here?"

The old sailor stroked his beard before replying, Erik noticed that the man's hands were shaking with his eyes clouded by tears.

"It's Peeko, my Wingull." He started, struggling to speak. "Peeko and I were just shopping in Rustboro when a man came running through in a red hooded cloak. He grabbed Peeko and ran off with her."

"Did he go inside?" Erik asked, nodding at the Tunnel entrance before them.

"Yes, I chased after him, but.." Briney lifted up the cuff of his trousers, revealing a leg covered in crimson blood. "He got his Poochyena to attack me. It bit my leg."

"No wonder he's so shaken." Erik thought to himself, before announcing out loud – "I'll get Peeko back for you."

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The Magma grunt was attempting to climb a large pile of rocks that were blocking the path through the tunnel. Peeko was in a firm grip, trapped in the thief's arm. The cardboard package strapped to his back.

"I thought I got rid of that Poochyena." Erik barked.

"Not you again." The grunt sighed, "This is a different Poochyena, I had him in storage."

"Why are you doing this? Who are you?" Erik's anger amplified his voice into almost a roar.

"Grant is my name.."

"I don't care who you are, I want to know about Magma." Erik interrupted.

"Poochyena, attack!" Grant ordered, ignoring the question. The criminal's Poochyena going straight for Erik.

All four of Erik's Pokemon charged, but Ice was fastest. Erik's own Poochyena tackling Grant's. Ice had been quiet and distant after the gym fight, like his trainer, the deaths of Gully, String, Speedy and Bunny was taking it's toll on him. But this was different, Ice was now fighting to protect his trainer.

Grant's Poochyena got back to his feet and howled, to which Ice replied which his own roar, which was infinitely louder. The tunnel started to shake around them, causing rocks to tumble from the roof and onto the battlefield where they crashed into both Grant's Pokemon and Erik's.

As Ice clambered out of the pile of rocks, the opposing Poochyena was on him, fangs wrapped around Ice's throat. As the life was suffocated out of Erik's Pokemon, another rock fell from the roof. Seemingly in slow motion the boulder plummeted to the ground, before smashing into Grant's Poochyena and winning the battle for Erik.

"Wingull, attack!" Grant shouted as he released Peeko from his grip. The Wingull soared, grabbing the cardboard package off Grant's back in it's beak, flying over to Erik, dropping the package in his hand, then flying to meet the onrushing Mr. Briney.

"Peeko!" Shouted Briney with delight, the man had ran into the cave at the sound of the fighting.

"Damn you!" Grant cursed as he used the distraction to run back out of the tunnel. Erik went to pursue him but Briney held out a hand.

"He's not worth it friend." The old sailor said with a smile, "I cannot thank you enough, if I can ever do anything for you, you just need to ask."

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"You have the package!" The technician wailed as he saw Erik approaching the Devon Corporation office.

"Now for you to hold up your end of the deal." Erik said bluntly, as the employee took the package and gestured for Erik to follow him inside.

The building was huge, it must have been at least a dozen floors high. The reception area that made up the entrance was quite plain, the interior was enclosed by the same sandy brown coloured stone walls that made up by building. The only features of life in the front room was a receptionist lazily scribbling on some paper behind a desk in the corner, and some plants at the far side of the room.

The technician led Erik towards a lift in the far corner, once inside, he pressed the button to the sixteenth floor.

"This is Mr.Stone's office." The employee informed him as the lift stopped ascending, the doors sliding open to reveal a large office with huge glass windows overlooking the city, they were on the top floor.

On the walls were paintings of various fossils and ancient stones, with a glass table containing various stones inside located in the centre of the room, surrounded by four leathers sofas to each side.

"Ahh you must be Erik, the saviour." Mr.Stone remarked from behind a large wooden desk, he wore a full length blue suit with matching blue tie covering a white undershirt. His grey hair covered by a bowler hat which matched the colour of the oak wood desk.

"You have saved my technician from Team Magma not once, but twice now." The president continued, his voice so assertive and loud it felt like it could shatter the glass windows. "We have received an import of Great Balls from Kanto. The ball are an upgrade on the Pokeball which offer more comfort to the captured Pokemon, therefore making it easier to capture the wild creature."

As Mr.Stone spoke he opened the top drawer of his desk to retrieve one of the balls, the ball looked exactly the same as a Pokeball, but instead of the top portion being crimson red, it was a deep ocean blue.

"We plan to sell these to Pokemarts around Hoenn, but you may have one as a gift from me." To Erik's surprise, the stern businessman threw the ball over the desk for Erik to catch.

"I hear you are taking the gym challenge, young man. Very good. The next gym is in Dewford town, located on a small island to the south of here, you'll have to take a boat to get there."

Erik hadn't yet thought about how he was going to get there, we would need to come up with a plan as he was never the strongest swimmer.

"My son, Steven, is currently visiting the town." Stone continued, "Leading me to ask you for another favour if you would be so kind. I would ask of you to deliver a letter to him whilst on your way, and, in return, I will upgrade your Pokedex with a new feature."

As Erik began to hand his Pokedex over to the president, the aged man pulled a letter out of his top pocket and exchanged it. He then began fiddling with the Pokedex.

"Just entering my authorisation code, I shall not be a moment."

Erik heard a clamour from outside. Moving over to the window he saw a group of trainers running out of the gym, lead by Grant of Team Magma. Roxanne followed moments after, but the group managed to escape her.

"All done Erik, you will now be able to tune into the news station directly from your Pokedex."

Erik grabbed the device out of Mr. Stone's hand and ran downstairs without a goodbye, wanting to find out what the commotion was about.

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"Fools!" Roxanne cursed as she sweeped away the shards of glass laying on the gym floor. The case at the front of the gym had been smashed open, none of the badges previously inside remained.

"What happened?" Erik queried as he jogged over to the gym leader.

"Yesterday, the law was finally passed which prohibited the use of Pokemon by trainers without a badge." Georgia replied, Roxanne's underling was helping her leader clear up the wreckage.

"And in retaliation a group of seven came in and did a smash and grab." Roxanne screamed, "They were led by a member of Team Magma. All the badges are now in their hands, this is bad news Erik."

"And if Magma are in control of who's allowed to continue using Pokemon, this will only increase their numbers." Georgia followed on.

"Have you informed the police?" Erik asked, to which Roxanne gave him a quizzical look.
"We have no police force in Hoenn, we've never needed one. Team Magma showed up about a month ago without warning."

Erik was lost for words, deciding to leave to let the two get on with clearing up the mess.

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"They let me continue without a badge because I'm not an official trainer." May answered Erik's question with her usual sweet smile.

Erik had been on his way out of Rustboro before May had caught up with him, when she had asked what his next move was Erik told her about his plan to ask Mr.Briney to sail him to Dewford, as the old sailor owed him a favour.

"Great idea Erik, I'll accompany you to his hut. I'm on my way back to Littleroot anyway." May had responded.

With Ziggy knowing how to cut down shrubbery, the journey through Petalburg Woods was quick and easy, May and Erik had followed the trail of scythed bushes without problem, the two now stood outside Briney's hut.

"Do you want to come with me to Dewford, I'm sure there's plenty for you to do there?" Erik asked hopefully as May prepared to say her goodbyes.

"Sorry Erik but I have to go back to my dad." She replied despondently, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you soon though."

"I hope." Erik blurted, causing them both to laugh nervously.

"A young lady friend I see." Mr. Briney's hoarse voice sounded behind Erik as May walked off. The old sailor's words made Erik blush.

"Don't be shy Erik, we all had a crush at one point." A throaty laughed followed the man's words. "Now what can I do for you?"

Erik explained his predicament, Mr. Briney nodding along to his every word, before agreeing to take him to Dewford town.

"You and your Pokemon can have a rest in the boat's cabin. Me and Peeko will steer us there!" The sailor said delightedly. The pearl white yacht docked at the beach beckoning.
Erik and his Pokemon did indeed sleep the entire journey, waking up to the sandy beach town of Dewford.

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As Erik stepped off the yacht and onto the docks, he realised that the entire town was built on the sandy beaches. Barriers comprised of sandbags piled up all along the shore, defending the town against the vicious ocean.

Each building was built of what looked like soft wood, the town being made up by a doctor's hut, a Pokemon Centre, a Gym, and half a dozen houses.

"Where you off to my boy?" Mr. Briney inquired, a large fishing rod in his hand, "This rod is for you by the way, to capture Pokemon living within the oceans."

"I should check out the cave to the north of the town first." Erik replied, taking the rod with a quick thank you. "It looks more like ruins than a cave, and if this "Steven" is anything like his father, he will be in there."

"Good thinking friend, I will stay in Dewford and wait for you. Would be unfair to leave you stranded here." Another laugh erupted from the sailor's throat, it sounded to Erik as if it hurt Briney to laugh.

"Erm, but first Mr. Briney." Erik stumbled nervously around his words, "Could you please teach me how to fish?"

The wild Tentacool lashed out a tentacle at Erik, the venom on the end of the whip easy to see. Mr. Briney chuckled as the ocean-dwelling creature's limb was too short to reach Erik from the hook of the rod.

"You've got him my boy!"

Erik took one hand from the rod and reached into his pocket, throwing a Pokeball at the water and poison dual typed Pokemon. Capturing it.

"I'll name him Gu, for his slimy skin." Erik smiled, which caused even more seemingly painful laughter from the sailor.

Blaze, Ice, Ziggy, Ninja and Gu. He still had one more space in his team, and that Pokemon lay in the ruins up ahead, he knew.

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"Granite Cave" the sign outside had said, it was indeed, an ancient ruin Erik realised as he entered. The poorly lit cavern had a natural pathway leading straight through the middle. Wild Pokemon leapt around the place freely, some on the pathway, other's on the more built up rocky sides.

The sand filled beach linking Dewford to the cave was inhabited by trainers who were using the area to build up their team. Two of which had challenged Erik to battle.
First up was a fisherman, who's Tentacool was easily wiped out by Ice. A backpacker tried challenging Erik next, sending out a Slakoth to battle Blaze, but had as much success in battle as the trainer before him.

Erik ventured with his team into the ruins, the narrow path leading downwards, deeper and deeper into the caverns. The entire cave got dark very quickly as Erik turned a corner, a dim light in the distance beckoned Erik towards it.

Blaze lit up the pathway with fiery breath, leading the way.

"Hello?" Erik's voice echoed around the stone walls as he called to the light.
"Go back." A voice replied, the echo hiding the tone of it.

"I'm looking for a man named Steven." Erik responded.

"He's not here right now, just us explorers. We are conducting a dig right now, please do not disturb our work."

Erik took their word and headed back out of the cave, to challenge the gym. Maybe the leader, Brawly, knew where Steven was.

The light returned as the party headed back up, they had almost reached the cave entrance when a wild Makuhita ambled up to them, stubbornly blocking their path.

Ice growled and Blaze blasted a warning shot at the ground, but the Makuhita just raised his fists into a fighting stance.

Ninja darted out. The Nincada was extremely irritating to the rest of the team with it's constant buzzing and high energy levels, but it's speed was very handy in a fight.

Ninja zoomed from one side of the cave to the next, but the Makuhita was able to keep up with the Nincada's movements and attacked with a quick jab, sending Erik's Pokemon flying backwards. Blaze blasted fire at the roof, using Roxanne's Pokemon's trick to cause rocks to tumble from the roof. The wild Makuhita sidestepped each one, but whilst distracted was rammed into the wall by Ziggy, who had snuck up on her foe.

Erik threw a Pokeball, and named his newly captured Pokemon, "Ali."

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Erik had healed at the Pokemon centre, knowing he'd only two further uses of it. So when Brawly stared him down with three trainers at his side, he knew he was in for a challenge.

The entire gym they were in was in fact, an actual gym. The room Erik was stood in was a mess, equipment all over the place. To his left was an open plan room with changing areas containing lockers, and another open plan room, with showers, to his right.

"So you think you can take my badge?" Brawly growled. The gym leader was in a black, skin-tight outfit, with long, sky blue hair tied up in a knot.

"Yes." Erik countered, he had since made note that the gym was home to fighting type trainers.

"Then if you can defeat my three friends here, come join me in the back room, my own personal arena." His gruff voice didn't suit his more pretty-boy look.

"I'll go first, I'm Laura." A woman with matching sky-blue hair challenged, she was also wearing a skin-tight black and orange outfit.

Erik knew that both Ice and Ziggy were weak to fighting types, so it was up to Blaze, Ninja, Ali and Gu in this gym. Although he knew the latter duo were untested.

Laura threw a Pokeball. Her Meditite emerging from it's home.

Blaze moved quickly, blasting fire at the Meditite, who in turn countered with psychic attacks. Laura's Pokemon was a dual fighting and psychic type. Blaze shrugged off the mind blasts and engulfed the Meditite in flames. The first battle in the gym was won with ease.

"Laura was always weak. Now you face me, Hideki." Another woman said, this trainer in a jet-black tank top and shorts. She sent out her Machop.

Blaze went first, another fiery blast engulfing the Machop, inflicting the fighting Pokemon with a burn. The aggressor wasn't finished however, smashing Blaze with a karate chop.
Blaze nibbled on the berry Erik had given him to hold.

"Thank you Devon Corporation." Erik thought, seeing his Torchic saved by the Oran berry.
A blast of fire from the recovered Blaze preceded another karate chop from the Machop. Blaze stumbled, and fell. The fighting Pokemon moved in for the kill.

Erik looked to Ninja, his fastest Pokemon, to zoom in and save Blaze, but even his Nincada wasn't that fast.

Machop raised his arm to finish the fight. But before he could slam it down on Blaze, the fighting Pokemon dropped. The burn received earlier had finished it off.

"You won't be so lucky against me." The final trainer mumbled, another female dressed in gym gear. "The name's Tessa."

Blaze returned to his feet, facing off against another Meditite's psychic attacks. The Torchic summoned all the energy he had left in one final wave of flame. Defeating the Meditite but finding himself unable to stand afterwards.

"It's okay Blaze, you did well." Erik smiled to his Pokemon, getting a weary chirp in return.
Tessa had another Pokemon though, sending out a Machop. Erik nudged Ali into play for his first official fight.

Ali confidently strutted out, the beefy Pokemon looking like he could match the Machop punch for punch.

Instead of walking into the centre of the room, Ali wandered over to the lockers and began taunting Tessa's creature.

The Machop charged in, but as it went to punch Ali, the Makuhita dodged out the way, the Machop slamming into the lockers. As the dazed Pokemon turned back around, it was met by a flurry of blows by Ali. Erik's new Makuhita had won him the right to face Brawly in battle.

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Blaze flapped his wings as fast as he could, his light feathered body slowly rising from the ground.

Erik was staying the night at the Pokemon centre with his team. He knew that fighting types were weak to aerial attacks, so was working with Blaze to help him to fly. The Torchic had been at it all night, attempting to gradually lift itself from the floor, and peck with his beak.

"You've done it!" Erik rejoiced, Blaze chirping happily before crashing back down to the white tiled floor, the rest of the team being awoken by Erik's loud cheers, and were looking at the two from the king-sized bed. Each of his team were holding an Oran berry, the rest of the technician's berries had been shared between them before tomorrow's gym battle.

Gu had been sleeping separately from the rest of the group. The Tentacool choosing to return to the ocean for the night. The water typed Pokemon had remained indifferent to the group, choosing to remain inside it's Pokeball or swim off alone since it was captured.

Despite this, Erik still felt he would be able to rely on his Tentacool the next day, if need be. Erik and Blaze joined the rest of the group in sleep, tomorrow they battled for the second badge.

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Brawly jumped up and down on the spot, whilst the Machop he had sent out into battle flexed his arms.

Blaze stood adjacent to his opponent. Erik had gone to the back room of the gym which had turned out to be a circular space surrounded by gym equipment – from weights to treadmills to punch bags. Brawly himself stood in front of a case full of badges, the room being windowless and lit up brightly by lights sunken into the roof.

Blaze wasted no time, flapping his wings and managing to hover above ground, before flying in and pecking his opponent. The Machop recoiled, giving Blaze another chance to peck at it again.

Erik's Torchic went in for another dig, but as he hovered over, the Machop was wise to his actions. Karate chopping Blaze square in the stomach, knocking the air out of him.
Blaze gulped down the berry that his trainer had given him. He knew now that the fighting Pokemon was unable to withstand an aerial bombardment, so flew over and pecked at the Machop again. Brawly's fighter slumping to the floor.

Erik sighed with relief, before seeing Blaze sent flying backwards, narrowly missing a treadmill. The Machop had managed to karate chop him. Both Pokemon were now barely able to stand.

"Just a regular potion?" Brawly laughed as Erik ran over to Blaze with a potion he had bought with the money gained from defeating Roxanne.

The Dewford gym leader moved over to his own Pokemon and took out of his pocket a potion that was yellow in colour, instead of the usual purple and white.
"This here is a super potion, twice as effective as your own!"

As Brawly healed his Pokemon back up to full health, Blaze moved quickly over to a punching bag. The Machop began charging, fist raised.

Blaze sliced open the bag with his sharp claws, sand slowly falling to the wooden floor, which he then kicked up at the charging Machop. Followed by a blast of fire.

The Machop shook his head vigorously, in a desperate attempt to get the sand out of his eyes. Blaze picked up more sand in his claws and hovered over in front of a treadmill, the Machop charged in again.

Blaze released the sand into Machop's face. The blinded Pokemon couldn't stop himself in time and crashed into a treadmill, the machine falling down on top of him.
Erik called the weakened Blaze back, sending out Ali to face whatever was up next. It turned out that Brawly had a Makuhita of his own.

"I see you have a Makuhita too, Erik." Brawly sniped. "Mine has been training here for weeks now, yours has no chance!" The gym leader paused for a moment, noticing Ali holding his Oran berry. "I see, Makuhita, your foe has a berry. Sort that out for me please, will you?"
Brawly's Makuhita responded, moving with speed it knocked the berry out of Ali's hand before eating it himself.

Ali backed away, before grabbed a fistful of sand and throwing it at his opponent. The opposing Makuhita bulked himself up, flexing his arm muscles before rubbing most of the sand out of it's eyes.

Ali looked to Erik who shot his Pokemon an encouraging smile back. Ali slammed in with a series of punches, but his blows had little effect on the clearly superior Makuhita, so Erik called his Pokemon back to try a new plan.

"Gu, I've never tested you in battle before, but we need you now."

Erik's Tentacool crawled out, surprisingly quick out of water. But Brawly's Makuhita moved quicker, grabbing sand and throwing it at Gu, causing Erik's fighter to miss with a poisonous jab.

Gu, shook the sand off his body and blared out supersonic sound waves, causing the Makuhita to stumble around confused, punching the treadmill believing it was his opponent. The Tentacool took advantage of the situation and managed to poison Brawly's creature, provoking the Makuhita to swing a punch with full force.

The blow hit Gu square on, a strike so hard it took the life right from the Tentacool.
Erik turned to call another Pokemon in, he hadn't known Gu long enough to be able to fully grieve. Ali shot over to Gu without waiting for Erik's say-so, checking for any signs of life from the Tentacool before lowering his head in shame when releasing there was none.

Ali ran at his opponent, laying into him with a flurry of punches. The Makuhita retaliating by punching Ali in the chest. Ali slumped to his knees, the wind had been knocked out of and his foe was now standing over him, ready to apply the finishing blow.

Makuhita extended his fist towards Ali, but fell down halfway through the strike. The poison in his veins had taken full effect.

In death, Gu had won Erik his second gym badge.

"Hello again young man." A hoarse voice called as Erik was once again snapped back to the present.

"Mr Briney." Erik exclaimed with surprise, "What are you doing here?"

The old sailor stroked his beard before replying, Erik noticed that the man's hands were shaking with his eyes clouded by tears.

"It's Peeko, my Wingull." He started, struggling to speak. "Peeko and I were just shopping in Rustboro when a man came running through in a red hooded cloak. He grabbed Peeko and ran off with her."

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I still see a few instances in this chapter (and last chapter) where the punctuation in the dialogue isn't correct. Again, whenever you have dialogue followed by a dialogue tag (he said, he replied, he answered), you use a comma instead of a period and he/she pronouns don't get capitalized. For the last paragraph, the correct punctuation would be:

"It's Peeko, my Wingull," he started, struggling to speak. "Peeko and I were just shopping in Rustboro when a man came running through in a red hooded cloak. He grabbed Peeko and ran off with her."

If you need further help on dialogue, let me know and I'll do my best giving you more examples and such!

Grant's Poochyena got back to his feet and howled, to which Ice replied which his own roar, which was infinitely louder. The tunnel started to shake around them, causing rocks to tumble from the roof and onto the battlefield where they crashed into both Grant's Pokemon and Erik's.

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The first sentence is confusing because you have three instances of "which". For the "which" I bolded, did you mean "with" instead? I like the detail of the rocks falling, though!

"We have received an import of Great Balls from Kanto. The ball are an upgrade on the Pokeball which offer more comfort to the captured Pokemon, therefore making it easier to capture the wild creature."

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Since I'm assuming you meant more than one Great Ball, you would use "balls are". The bolded part has a subject-verb disagreement going on.

Erik hadn't yet thought about how he was going to get there, we would need to come up with a plan as he was never the strongest swimmer.

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"He" you mean?

"We have no police force in Hoenn, we've never needed one. Team Magma showed up about a month ago without warning."

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My reaction to this is same as Erik's. O.o Considering Hoenn is the only region having Pokemon trainers, I would assume at least some sort of police force would make things run smoother.

"Erm, but first Mr. Briney." Erik stumbled nervously around his words, "Could you please teach me how to fish?"

The wild Tentacool lashed out a tentacle at Erik, the venom on the end of the whip easy to see. Mr. Briney chuckled as the ocean-dwelling creature's limb was too short to reach Erik from the hook of the rod.

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I feel this is an awkward transition. You could mention in a couple sentences Erik had been fishing and managed to catch a Tentacool.

He knew that fighting types were weak to aerial attacks, so was working with Blaze to help him to fly.

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Bolded part missing a pronoun and I think you mean, " so he was…".

He knew now that the fighting Pokemon was unable to withstand an aerial bombardment, so flew over and pecked at the Machop again.

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Similar situation as the last sentence I pointed out. Either "so he flew" or "so Blaze flew" works.

Ali shot over to Gu without waiting for Erik's say-so, checking for any signs of life from the Tentacool before lowering his head in shame when releasing there was none.

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I believe the correct word is "realizing".

I like how this chapter begins with Erik not all that excited winning his first badge because of him losing a few Pokemon. Pretty realistic, I think.

Erik's battle against Brawly is pretty good, too. Nice touch having the Pokemon use the gym equipment to their advantage. I can tell you're getting better at using surroundings! Having Gu's poison defeat Brawly's Makuhita at the end is a cool twist (though I feel bad Gu died after :< ). This Nuzlocke is shaping to be pretty interesting now!

"Team Magma increases dramatically in size." Blasted Erik's Pokedex. The rookie trainer had tuned into the news after watching Gu's body float away in the sea, the Tentacool's remains bobbing up and down a few times before sinking beneath the watery surface, returning home.

"After the break-in at Rustboro gym, the criminal group have gotten their hands on all of the region's Stone badges." The reporter for 'Region Round-Up' continued, "The gang are currently going on recruitment drives all over the island, looking to bolster their numbers by handing out badges to willing trainer's currently without one, who would otherwise have had their licenses' taken away."

"This is working out just the way they want it to." Erik thought to himself, "Someone linked with Magma must have a lot of influence."

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Ali led the team through one of the cave's hidden passages. It was so narrow that Erik had to walk sideways in order to fit through it, carrying his bag by his side.

Brawley had informed them that Steven was indeed inside Granite cave, deep within the ruins. Upon returning to the cavern, Ali had taken the initiative and shown Erik a hidden pathway down to the deeper depths, the Makuhita knowing his home like the back of his own gloved hand.

Erik clambered out of the narrow passageway, to see himself arrive into a vast open space. It was like a huge chunk of rock had been taken out of the cave leaving this huge area, with four solid flat walls, three of which were plain.

The surface on the far side, however, contained what looked to be ancient drawings of one gigantic Pokemon that was shaped like a dinosaur, or some type of lizard, breathing fire. The creature had strange, horse-shoe shape symbols on each arm.

"Hello there." Came a calm voice, a kindness flowing through the words.

Erik's eyes snapped to a man standing below the drawing, he hadn't noticed him until he had spoken. The long, green haired gentleman wiped dust off his suit after he realised he had company.

"Steven, I presume?" Erik asked to which he got a cool nod in reply.

"This Pokemon on the wall here is ancient, possessing tremendous power. Rumours have surfaced that it is laying dormant somewhere here in Hoenn."

"Hopefully it stays dormant" Erik remarked, noticing the creatures destructive power as the drawings depicted it burning down a village, people running in all directions.

"Hopefully." Steven echoed, "But there are those who believe capturing a Pokemon of this power would make them almost invincible." Steven reached out and calmly took the letter from Erik's hand. "From my father I presume, thank you. What is your name?"

"I'm Erik, your father asked me to deliver it for him."

"It takes some man to be able to gain my father's trust. How many badges do you have?" Steven had a confused expression on his face.

"Just won my second today."

"To have only two badges, but my fathers trust. You must be a special trainer, Erik." Steven strolled off as he spoke with a confident stride, "It was nice meeting you, Erik. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other soon."

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Peeko grabbed the package by it's strapping out of a fellow Wingull's beak. The flying Pokemon had flown directly towards her trainer and Erik as they sat motionless at Dewford docks, sitting on the deck of Briney's cloud-white boat.

The sailor took the package, opening the note on top of it, before turning to Erik.

"The President has another favour to ask of you, Erik."

"What this time?" Erik said dryly, feeling he was becoming a delivery boy for the owner of the Devon Corporation.

"This is the same package you took from that awful Magma member back in Rusturf tunnel, the President has asked you to deliver it to a man named Captain Stern, at Slateport docks."

"Where's Slateport?" Erik asked quizzically, and more importantly, he thought, what was in it for him?

"On the way to the third gym, which is in Mauville. The President realises to get to there you would have to go through Slateport anyway."

"So there's nothing in it for me? I'm just his delivery boy?" Erik snapped, which seemed to take his sailor friend aback.

"You can refuse if you want to." Briney calmly spoke. "I assume we are docking at Slateport's southern beach anyway, so I can take them if you wish?"

"No, it's fine." Erik sighed, "Sorry for snapping. I will deliver these parts then I am done helping this man." He finished, firmly.

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The ocean pathway and warm sands of Slateport beach combined to create Route 109, allowing Erik to fish in the waters for a potential new addition to his party.

Asking Mr.Briney to stop the boat so he could do just that, Erik cast the fishing line off the edge of the yacht and into the deep blue sea. A Tentacool gracefully swam up to the line, taking the bait. Erik quickly reacted by lobbing a Pokeball, capturing the creature easily. He named her, "Lady" for how graceful she was, before they carried on until the boat collided into the soft sands of the beach.

Departing the boat, Erik could see Slateport city in the distance. A huge metropolis of tall buildings, bright lights and noise loomed over the beach. In front of him were deck chairs and umbrellas, which were hung low, blocking his view of the rest of the beach.

The baking hot sun beat down through a clear blue sky with the salty smell of the sea filling Erik's lungs as he moved forwards. Strangely, the sound of Pokemon battles reverberated around his ears.

"I guess the beach is a popular training zone." He thought to himself, before pushing a umbrella to the side to reveal the entirety of the beach.

It was a war zone.

Deck chairs were upended. Scorch marks filled the sand, some still smoking. Everywhere Erik looked, battles were raging. But they were not friendly training battles, instead full-on fights between Pokemon relentless urged on by their trainers.

A bulky man who looked like a sailor sighted Erik and bolted over to him.

"You!" He stormed, "I challenge you!"

"What's going on here?" Erik inquired, the man's skin-tight white outfit drenched with sweat as he replied.

"Noone on this beach has a badge, this is our last chance for one." He growled, desperation clearly had overcome him.

"What do you mean?" Erik continued.

"Mr.Sea is in possession of five Stone badges, the last five trainers standing are all invited to his hut over there to receive one." The sailor pointed as he spoke, Erik following the finger to a wooden sand bar in the far corner of the beach.

"How is the 'competition' so popular, the announcement has just been passed and badges stolen only yesterday?"

"It's been planned for a week now, from even before the announcement banning trainers. And to get myself a badge I am going to take you out of the competition!"

The sailor's Machop was to be Blaze's opponent.

A wild swing by the fighting Pokemon took Blaze off guard, catching him in the jaw and sending him backwards. A roar of flame shooting into the air harmlessly having been smacked out of Blaze's mouth. Machop followed in with another wild lash, but Blaze rolled over causing the fist to land softly in the sand. Erik's Torchic blasted another wave of fire, engulfing the Machop in flames, who managed to get another blow into Blaze's chest before being consumed by the inferno.

Blaze slouched weakly to the floor, as Ali strutted over to comfort him.

Erik looked up to see a young trainer giving him a look, the boy's Zigzagoon winning him a battle against another teenaged fighter.

"Hey, I've already won two battles today, you're next!" The boy shouted over, as his Zigzagoon rushed at Ali.

As the Makuhita went to use his fighting type advantage on the normal typed Pokemon, the Zigzagoon kicked up a mass of sand, blinding Erik's warrior. Through the mist of sand, Ali was blind to his opponent flying through and headbutting him, followed by a wild scratch with sharp claws. As the Zigzagoon went in for what looked like the finishing blow, Ali grabbed the creature by it's fur, slamming blow after blow into it and etching out a narrow victory.

"Hey, leave my brother's Zigzagoon alone!" Came the cry from another child trainer, a young female with dark eyes. "My Azumarill with finish your Pokemon off whilst they are weak." She declared, flicking her even darker hair from her face.

Ninja zoomed out, darting from side to side and using Zigzagoons trick of kicking up sand to try to blind his foe. The opposing Pokemon recoiled but managed to summon a mountain of water at the Nincada. Ninja was almost washed away, before Ice leapt in. Erik's Poochyena's icy bite was ineffective against the Azumarill's watery surface.

Blinded by sand, the young girl's Pokemon missed with water blasts and wild swipes whilst Ice kept his fangs in a tight lock on his foe.

"Do it for your master!" The girl shouted, who's Pokemon responded to her by grabbing Ice and slamming the Poochyena into the ground. "Yay!" Came a childish squeal, "The sand may be soft but my Azzy is strong!"

Ice struggled to get back up, the Azumarill preparing for a final blow, until Ziggy saved the Pokemon who had once tormented her, ramming into the Azumarill with a voracious headbutt.

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Ice stumbled along the beach, heading straight for the beach house. The Poochyena's trainer deciding he wanted to stop this madness.

"This is Magma's doing." Erik informed his team, "Lady looks too weak to battle, she needs training." He said about his newly captured Tentacool, who was off swimming. Like Gu, she seemed to prefer swimming in the ocean to the company of her new companions. Erik turned to Ziggy, "You're the only one who's fit enough to fight." He said sadly.
Ice barked a reply.

"Okay," Erik chuckled, "You too." He said, ruffling the Poochyena's fur.

As Erik put his hand on the hut's crimson red door, another sailor shouted from behind him.
"Hey kid!" The man's voice was deep and vicious. "You think you're worthy of that badge? Prove it."

"I'm not trying for the badg.." Erik started before the big sailor interrupted.

"Of course you're not. Liar." The man threw a Pokeball, a Wingull coming out of the spherical mechanism.

Ice stepped up, wanting to prove to Erik that he could still be relied upon.

The Wingull shot out a blast of water, to which Ice leapt over and jumped onto the flying creature, his fangs gripping into the Wingull and taking it out of the air. As the two of them crashed to the surface, the Wingull was the one who took the brunt of the fall. Ice quickly finished it off.

The sailor threw his other Pokeball, a Machop coming out this time.

"Ice come back!" Erik shouted, both Ice and Ziggy were weak to fighting Pokemon so he would have to use the weakened Blaze or Ali.

Blaze put himself forward, hobbling weakly onto the battlefield.

The Torchic knew his trainer once again needed him, so he would have to be at the top of his game. A long, drawn out fight ensued with Blaze managing to apply the final blow, but was now unable to stand. Ali weakly strode over and gave the Torchic an arm in support.

They all entered the beach house together.

The entire hut consisted of a single room. It was infact, a small cafe, with the tables turned over. Behind a counter at the far end of the room was an aging man in a black suit, what little hair he had left made up a white beard. Large front teeth completing the goat-like look.
"You are my five winners!" Mr.Sea announced, a whistling sound accompanying his every word. Erik realised he was stood in the room with four other trainers.

"No fair!" Shouted a child trainer, who still wore a rubber ring around his waist. "Those two are your bodyguards, they haven't even beaten anyone!"

A woman in her mid-twenties echoed the child's sentiments. "I agree with Simon, this is completely unfair."

Mr. Sea just laughed, until Erik shouted, his voice causing the rest of the room's occupants to turn around.

"You're just a puppet for Team Magma." The trainer from Kanto started, "You are looking to boost your ranks with trainers who have no other choice but to battle for those badges."A stunned silence momentarily engulfed the room.

"Whoever takes this trainer down gets his badge. To give to a friend!" The bald man announced, to which Simon and the woman turned to Erik eagerly, the boy throwing out an Azurill.

Ziggy charged in before any other member of Erik's team could react, knowing she was the only one fit enough to fight.

"She's come such a long way." Erik thought proudly to himself, a smile appearing on his face. "Ziggy!" He called out, "Let's do this!"

Ziggy purred in response before ramming into the Azurill with her head, using the same technique she had seen another Zigzagoon use back on the beach. The water Pokemon responded by blasting bubbles filled with acidic liquid at it's opponent.

The fight lasted a couple of minutes, both Pokemon going back and forth with the same moves. Erik's Pokemon managed to grind out a victory but she was now as battle worn and injured as the rest of the party.

A Goldeen shot through the air, straight at Ziggy. The water Pokemon seemed to float, flapping her tail rapidly in order to propel itself.

Ice jumped in, returning the favour from earlier and saving Ziggy's life. Ice was clearly struggling, barely managing to muster the strength in order to do so.

Erik's Poochyena bared his fangs at the Goldeen, the fish Pokemon responded by blasting water straight at Ice.

Ziggy struggled back to her feet, trying to gather enough strength to save Ice once again, but failed.

Ice closed his eyes as the blast hit Erik's weakened Pokemon straight on. But Ice felt nothing.
The Poochyena opened to eyes to see Ali in front of him, shielding him from a relentless stream of aqua. After the Goldeen stop firing to pause for breath, Ali collapsed.

The Makuhita had sacrificed himself to save Ice.

Full of primal rage, Ice tried to get to his feet so he could retaliate, but was unable to stand. The Goldeen inhaled breath in preparation for the finishing blast of water, but Ziggy rammed into the side of it.

With a wink to Ice, the Zigzagoon slumped to the floor, exhausted.

Ali was gone. Ziggy, Ice and Blaze were slumped on the floor, too weak to move. Ninja was the only one still standing, barely. Erik's last hope feebly pushing himself forward to meet the two bodyguards who were now slowly approaching.

Erik knew his team wouldn't last, this was the end of his journey, he knew.

"Why didn't I leave the situation be. I didn't have to be the hero and take down the bad guy here." He sighed, as the first of the bulky duo sent out a Poochyena.

Ninja buzzed and began moving through the air rapidly. He managed to use his speed to his advantage, landing on top of the Poochyena before digging knife-like claws into his foe's back, sapping the life out of it.

Erik could see that his Nincada had used the last of his energy doing so, but Ninja had won him the fight, or so he had thought.

Ninja leapt off from the back of the defeated Poochyena, to be faced by a charging Carvanha. The first bodyguard had instantly sent out his other Pokemon, attempting to take down Ninja whilst he was distracted.

The Carvanha was closing in, surrounded by a jet of water.

"No, Ziggy, wait!" Erik shouted, as his Zigzagoon pushed herself to her feet, striving to rescue Ninja.

Instead of the Nincada taking the blow, the Carvanha rocketed straight into Ziggy. Her winning momentum had failed her, she had been too weak to withstand the impact.

Ziggy's lifeless body slammed against the wall, before slumping to the floor. Erik's eyes flicked back to Ninja, the battle was still going on and he could feel his journey coming to it's conclusion.

That wasn't what hurt the most. What was destroying Erik was the fact that he had made some good friends, who all fought for each other and himself, and these friends were now falling one by one to Magma's puppet, Mr.Sea.

The Carvanha readied itself to charge again at Ninja, the predatory creature preparing to finish off the bug Pokemon.

As the bodyguard's Pokemon opened it's jaws to eat the Nincada alive, it was crushed by a flaming table.

Blaze had used the last of his energy to set a table on fire, Ice using the last of his own to charge into it, sending it crashing into the Carvanha.

"He's all yours, Dwayne." The defeated bodyguard said to his colleague.

"Cheers mate." Dwayne followed, his rough voice beset by a thick accent. "His three remaining Pokemon, the Torchic, Poochyena and Nincada, are all pretty much dead anyway. This won't be a problem."

As Erik studied his team, he saw the bodyguard's words rang true. None of the three could stand and Lady was off swimming in the ocean, she wouldn't be here anytime soon.
Dwayne sent out a Tentacool of his own, the creature charging straight for Blaze. Erik's Torchic was too weak to defend himself so sat there unable to get out of the way, Ninja and Ice were too weak to jump in and save him.

"Blaze." Erik shouted, "I need you now more than ever. Please, PLEASE, don't die."
Erik felt tears streaming down his face as he continued, "Remember String, Speedy, Bunny, Gully, Gu, Ali, Ziggy. Don't let their deaths be for nothing. Keep going. Please." Erik shouted through an ocean of tears, as he mentioned each of his fallen Pokemon their faces came into his mind, all of them had sacrificed themselves to help him get where he was today. And now he was about to lose everything.

A bright white light suddenly engulfed Blaze. The Tentacool ramming straight into the shining beacon, and Erik's Torchic was gone.

Dwayne's Pokemon flew through the air and landed right by him, the bodyguards Machop charging in to be met with a double kick by the newly evolved Combusken. Once again, when Erik had needed saving most, Blaze came through for him. The fighting fire beast that had emerged from the bright light stormed up to Mr.Sea and grabbed him, tall enough to be standing face to face with the man.

The newly evolved Combusken shared Torchic's bright yellow and orange feathers, but had grown from a small chicken into a fully formed animal.

Erik ran over to Mr.Sea who was now pinned up against the wall by Blaze.

"Why are you doing this?!" Erik demanded, he could feel his voice straining as rage flowed through it.

"Pl..Please." Mr.Sea pleaded, eyes fixed on Blaze who looked ready to burn him to a crisp.

"You're working for Magma aren't you? Whats the plan?"

"They…they.."

"Out with it!" Erik roared, Blaze screeching in tune with his trainer.

"It was for my son, he's only just started his journey." The man looked set to burst into tears, his body shaking furiously through his fear. "Magma said they'd give him a badge if I held a little competition."

"What would have happened to the five victors?"

"Maxie is in town, the five would have gone for a talk with him to collect their badges and be persuaded to join the gang."

"Maxie?" Erik asked quizzically, he hadn't heard the name before.

"The leader of Magma. He's heading to Slateport on a secret mission."

"What mission?" Erik growled.

"Please. I don't know, I've told you everything."

Erik told his word and left the man slumped on the floor, a shaken mess.

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Blaze stood at a height with Erik as they looked around Slateport. Ice and Ninja hobbled up alongside them. Lady now with them in her Pokeball.

The city was huge, on the right hand side huge waves crashed against the shore from the vast ocean that neighboured Slateport. Bordering the sea was a shipyard, museum and harbour, each of which was bustling with activity.

A housing district took up the centre of the city, containing shops and a Pokemon centre within it. The famous Slateport market resided to the left, tents and canopies abundant as Erik saw goods of all types being sold, from incense to dolls to herbal remedies.

Nothing there piqued Erik's interest however, he had a task to fulfil.

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"Stern? He'll at the the museum." A bald man named Dock had informed Erik as he'd entered the shipyard enquiring for the captain.

A huge overpass loomed overhead, Erik stood on Route 110 which lay to the north of Slateport, hoping to add another member to his team. Deciding that President Stone's favour could wait a little longer whilst he caught a new Pokemon.

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Route 110 connected Slateport to Mauville city. The grassy terrain lay above a large lake, and was a common training spot for trainers looking to challenge the third gym. Overlooking the route was a huge overpass, known as the "Cycling Road." Many used the bicycle-only pathway to avoid Pokemon or get between the two cities quickly.

Erik went into the long grass in hope of finding a new partner.

Instantly, a green blob rolled past him, grabbing the berry Erik had picked from a tree as he'd entered the route out of Ice's paw and eating it herself.

The Poochyena growled, rearing up and baring his fangs after having been only just healed at the Pokemon centre, but Erik called him off. Instead the trainer threw a Pokeball and captured the Gulpin, naming it "Roller."

Blaze cried out.

A group of people dressed in full body crimson robes darted past and were headed straight for Slateport, Erik let them get a head start in order to follow them discretely.

As they re-entered the city, Erik and his team saw the group of Magma members join up with another, the expanded group then entering the museum.

"Hopefully it stays dormant," Erik remarked, noticing the creatures destructive power as the drawings depicted it burning down a village, people running in all directions.

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Missing comma.

"You can refuse if you want to." Briney calmly spoke. "I assume we are docking at Slateport's southern beach anyway, so I can take them if you wish?"
"You can refuse if you want to." Briney calmly spoke. "I assume we are docking at Slateport's southern beach anyway, so I can take them if you wish?"

"No, it's fine." Erik sighed, "Sorry for snapping. I will deliver these parts then I am done helping this man." He finished, firmly.

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I still see you sometimes have period instead of comma after a dialogue tag. Also sometimes in a dialogue tag you have the pronoun and/or first word capitalized.

"You can refuse if you want to," Briney calmly spoke. "I assume we are docking at Slateport's southern beach anyway, so I can take them if you wish?"

"No, it's fine." Erik sighed, "Sorry for snapping. I will deliver these parts then I am done helping this man," he finished, firmly.

Notice how in the last part "he finished firmly" I have the pronoun "he" not capitalized.

Asking Mr.Briney to stop the boat so he could do just that, Erik cast the fishing line off the edge of the yacht and into the deep blue sea.

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Whenever you have "Mr.", there should be a space like this: "Mr. Briney".

A roar of flame shooting into the air harmlessly having been smacked out of Blaze's mouth.

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This sounds a bit too passive voice, especially for a battle scene. I think having this sentence be more active like, "Blaze shot out roaring flames into the air" or similar would sound better.

"Hey, leave my brother's Zigzagoon alone!" Came the cry from another child trainer, a young female with dark eyes. "My Azumarill with finish your Pokemon off whilst they are weak." She declared, flicking her even darker hair from her face.

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Some incorrect pronunciations and I think the bolded part you meant "will" instead of with.

"Hey, leave my brother's Zigzagoon alone!" came the cry from another child trainer, a young female with dark eyes. "My Azumarill will finish your Pokemon off whilst they are weak," she declared, flicking her even darker hair from her face.

This one I have "came" not capitalized as it's a dialogue tag and also replaced the period with a period after "they are weak".

Sorry for keeping bringing the dialogue punctuation up! I want to make sure you have the basics of dialogue punctuation down, though I understand it can get confusing at times. You at least got the punctuation right whenever someone asks a question within the dialogue.

The Torchic knew his trainer once again needed him, so he would have to be at the top of his game. A long, drawn out fight ensued with Blaze managing to apply the final blow, but was now unable to stand. Ali weakly strode over and gave the Torchic an arm in support.

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Since you went your way in describing the other beach battles, I think you could have described a bit more of Blaze struggling but able to win against Wingull. Could make for an interesting battle considering the fire type weakness to water.

A Goldeen shot through the air, straight at Ziggy. The water Pokemon seemed to float, flapping her tail rapidly in order to propel itself.

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I can understand certain water Pokemon are hard to describe when in battle because of how the game portrayed them floating like that. XD I think you could have maybe add some sort of water source inside the beach house even though the game didn't have that. This is me being picky though, haha.

As I was reading the beachhouse battles, ouch over Ziggy and Ali gone. The mention of his other Pokemon pretty exhausted and Erik's journey probably going to end sounds pretty intense too. I do like the twist where Blaze used a flaming table and he later evolved (yay!), though. Didn't expect Blaze to pin Mr. Sea on the wall even though I should have, wow.

A huge overpass loomed overhead, Erik stood on Route 110 which lay to the north of Slateport, hoping to add another member to his team. Deciding that President Stone's favour could wait a little longer whilst he caught a new Pokemon.

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The second sentence sounds a bit awkward. Perhaps revising it a bit and have a pronoun be in the front would sound better, like this:

He decided that President Stone's favour could wait a little longer whilst he caught a new Pokemon.

I still see you're having trouble with dialogue punctuation, so yeah if there's something you're confused about that I'm willing to help! While I think the battles in this chapter you skipped around describing in certain parts, the way Erik struggled in some of them still held my interest. Looking forward to how he'll fare against Team Magma in the museum!

"Thank y-you" the shaken receptionist stammered as Erik handed over the fifty Pokedollar entrance fee to the museum.

"You're welcome, have the guys in the red cloaks given you much trouble?" Erik glanced around the room as he asked, seeing seven Magma members filling out the museum's ground floor.

"They didn't pay" she replied, hiding behind her desk, "but other than that they haven't given us any trouble, they are all just kind of standing there, waiting for something."

Erik flashed the worried lady a half smile before making his way through the museum, walking directly towards the stairs that led to the institution's other floor. He could see that the receptionist wasn't wrong, the seven Magma members were just stood still, seemingly admiring the displays.

The Museum's ground floor was crammed with glass cases, each one containing an ocean-themed item – from old ship models to fossils to water samples. The crimson figures overlooking the displays were speaking to each other in hushed tones.

"If Grant didn't fail at Rustboro we wouldn't be here right now" one growled to another.

"Wait 'til the boss gets here, then the fun begins" whispered another.

Erik smiled as he made his way up the stairs, making sure he remained inconspicuous, he doubted any of the group would recognise him but wanted to make absolutely sure, he needed to be in and out before the boss arrived so he could drop off the parts to Stern and avoid any trouble.

The first floor had the same aqua-blue carpet and walls as the ground floor, but the displays up here were much more prominent. The large, open room was fronted by a miniature map of Hoenn. Erik studied the scaled-down island – it was surrounded by deep oceans and filled with forest. The north was mountainous, with an active volcano, whereas the south had many beaches which Erik could attest to.

Overshadowing the map was a large model of the ship under construction at Stern's shipyard, the SS.Tidal, a huge cloud-white cruise ship intended to deliver people in and out of the Hoenn region. The far end of the room featured containers which each consisted of a water sample from another region. Standing by the Kanto sample was an aging man wearing a moss-green suit with matching coloured fedora.

"Captain Stern?" Erik enquired, as he made his way to the man who was fingering his moustache.

"Yes young man, what can I do for you?" The man's voice was soft and friendly.

Erik told him about the package as he reached into his bag, and handed it over. A brimming smile engulfed the captain's face.

"Thank you Erik! I have been waiting a long time for these parts and now I can finally take part in an underwater expedition for precious stones. I must thank Mr. Stone and tell him what a great job his delivery boy has done!"

Erik felt a flash of rage at being called a delivery boy but quickly quashed it, smiled and went to make his way out the museum.

Suddenly the anger re-materialised.

All seven of the Team Magma grunts stormed up the stairway, Pokeballs in hand.
"Stern!" the lead one called out from under his hood, "we require your assistance."
Erik blocked their way, Blaze's Pokeball in his own hand.

"What am I doing?" He thought to himself, recalling what had happened on the beach when he got involved in something he shouldn't have, he shook the painful memories from his mind before shouting out, "You want Stern?! You have to go through me first."

"Alright, a seven on one battle it is!" The lead one spoke again with a bark of laughter, a smirk remaining afterwards on his shadowed face.

As this was happening, another man came up the stairs. Wearing a red and black labcoat with red jeans and boots. The seven grunts parted to let him through as the man eyed Erik through thick-rimmed glasses, his long auburn hair flowing as he strolled through the room.

"Brave" he spoke with authority to Erik, though his voice remained calm.

"You must be Maxie." Erik retorted.

"And you, Erik" came the instant reply, the man had an aura about him which demanded respect.

"What do you want with Captain Stern?"

"We would like his help, as we would like yours."

"Mine?" Erik asked quizzically.

"Yes, you have proved yourself a worthy trainer and would progress far in our order. We have gotten off on the wrong foot I believe, unlike you've been told via the media, our goals are noble, not barbaric nor evil."

"Noble? You cheat and steal!" Erik snapped.

"Only from the privileged and corrupted authorities" again, the reply was instant and calm, "We intend to propel humanity to even greater heights of progress and evolution, we live on land and are running out of space to grow here in Hoenn, the authorities banning Pokemon elsewhere has caused vast increases in the population, to accommodate everyone, we must increase the landmass."

"And just how are you going to do that, and how will Stern help with it?" Erik enquired, feeling he was listening to the words of a mad man.
"I can see you need more persuasion before you are ready to join us, Erik." Maxie pondered for a moment before continuing, "I would like to see your abilities for myself in battle, I will use only my weaker Pokemon for now to give you a chance, if you win then we will all leave without a further word, if I win, Stern comes with us. Fair?"

"Deal." Erik snapped, feeling insulted and wanting to prove Maxie wrong.

Blaze roared at his opponent, the Combusken trying to intimidate the Numel he was facing off against.

"I've heard all about you and your Blaze, the bond that you have with your first ever Pokemon." Maxie's voice remained calm and assertive.

"How do you know so much about me?" Erik snapped, before composing himself, "I cannot let him get into my head" he hissed under his breath.

Maxie replied with only a smile, before ordering his Numel to blast Blaze with flame, Erik's Pokemon absorbing the fire attack.

"Why would he attack a fire Pokemon with fire?" Erik thought, before Blaze strolled up to his adversary and kicked him through one of the water containers, the Numel being extremely weak to water as he was both a fire and ground type, the liquid poured out of the container and onto Maxie's creature. Blaze knew he had defeated his opponent with ease as it thrashed and struggled against the water in vain.

Maxie sent out a Zubat next, Erik countering with Ice. Although his Poochyena was low on confidence, with Maxie seemingly not even trying, he knew that this was the perfect opportunity to restore some of Ice's self-belief.

Ice leapt onto the flying creature and sunk ice-filled fangs into it, the Zubat tried fighting back with a wild bite but was unsuccessful, the poisonous flying Pokemon was incredibly weak and under trained, falling easily in battle to Ice's attacks.

"You could at least try!" Erik snapped again.

"I wanted to see your bond with your Pokemon, it's truly incredible."

Maxie threw out another Numel onto the battlefield, so Erik allowed Roller his first taste of action. The Gulpin rolled around the room to move, coughing up sludge at the Numel. The ground Pokemon then tried attacking Roller with blasts of fire, but the Gulpin rolled out of the way each time, dodging every attack. Instead of hitting Roller, the flames hit the carpet and displays, causing the room to catch fire.

Stern and Blaze lifted up the containers filled with water, attempting to extinguish the flames, but were slow in doing so. Roller was left with nowhere to go as the fire spread and ending up being hit by one of Numel's attacks, weakly rolling back to Erik to be withdrawn into it's Pokeball.

With Ninja being weak to fire attacks, Erik sent Lady into the fray for her first taste of battle, but despite being a Water type, she was just too weak. The Numel rammed into her and sent her flying back further than she should've gone, Erik had underestimated just how weak Lady was as she lay unmoving, flames creeping closer to her. Maxie's Pokemon moved in for the kill, it inhaled breath ready for a final spit of fire, when it was sent rocketing into a water container by another kick from Blaze, the Combusken then pouring water over Lady and the surrounding fires.

Lady coughed back into consciousness, Blaze carrying her frail body back to Erik.

"The way your Pokemon fight for each other is remarkable, you are all like family." Maxie was still calm, despite being defeated. "I have seen what I wanted to, I am very much looking forward to the day you join us Erik."

"That's not going to happen" Erik snapped.

"Oh, it will. When you find out the truth about everything that is going on. When you become desperate and your Pokemon fall and falter leaving you with nothing left. When you grow from being an angry, hurt little child into a man hardened by pain, You will become one of us. you will one day take my place. This, I promise you."

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Erik awoke tired and groggy, he had hardly slept the previous night after remembering Maxie's promise the day before. Blaze looked up at him from the hotel room floor, having slept as badly as his trainer, channeling Erik's anxiety.

"We need to go through Route 110 to Mauville, get our third badge" Erik whispered to his closest friend, who chirped in agreement.

Erik heard a crash from across the room, a plate had fallen from the table as Roller tried eating the contents.

"You won't like that cereal, Roller. Thats human food!" Erik chuckled, as his Gulpin seemed nonplussed by his comments and continued eating the food. Ninja and Ice were still asleep underneath the bed, with Lady off swimming in the ocean away from the group as usual. Erik decided he would get a couple more hours rest before heading off, Blaze chirped happily at the decision.

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"It's Lisia, it's Lisia" were the screams and shouts from outside the contest centre. Erik had been making his way out of Slateport when he heard a commotion from outside the large brick building on the edge of the city.

"What's going on?" Erik enquired to one of the people screaming, a young teenaged girl with blonde ponytails.

"How do you not know?! It's Lisia the famous contest winner!" Squealed the girl.

"What's a contest? They don't have those in Kanto?"

"Have you been living under a rock or are you just stupid?" The girl retorted, "Everyone knows that people challenge each other to contests with their Pokemon, not everyone wants to be a trainer you know, you don't even need a licence for contests."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Oh, contests can be performed in five categories: Cool, smart, strong, cute and beautiful. Each categories has two rounds, the first is where the Pokemon is presented to the audience and points are given for the best reaction. The second is the performance round wher-"

"I've heard enough, you're boring me, who's Lisia." Erik interrupted.

"Rude! Lisia is the best! Her and Altaria are famous for being the best at contests."

"AND NOW" The woman who Erik assumed was Lisia announced, her lime-green hair tied up in a ponytail, she was wearing nothing but a short skirt and tube top, both were as white as her Altaria's wings.

"I will pick out one of the audience" Lisia continued, "and this member of the audience will be my scouted star."

"PICK ME!" The girl next to Erik screeched, leaping into the air and knocking him to the ground.

"Oh poor boy!" Lisia cried, running over to Erik and helping him back to his feet, "You shall be my scouted star!" She yelled, feeling sorry for him whilst grabbing her new star's hand and holding it in the air to be greeted by a roar from the audience. Erik shot a grin at the girl who had knocked him over as he made his way into the contest hall.

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"So that is how you'll win this contest" Lisia smiled as she finished talking. In truth, Erik hadn't been paying attention to a word she had said as he looked around the dressing room planning his escape, he couldn't cope being here much longer.

"Actually," Erik began, "I do not want to compete, I was only being nosey outside, I hate this place to be honest, all happy and oblivious to the world. How can you dance and sing with Pokemon, pretending to be happy, when gangs are taking over the land?"

"Excuse me?!" Emma responded instead of her friend, the red haired woman was in charge of the contest centre and was helping Erik along with her friend Lisia prepare. "Lisia is the best there is, how dare you talk to her like that!"

"If she's so good why don't we have a battle?!" Erik thundered, before Lisia spoke calmly to cool the situation.

"I don't battle, besides, why all this fighting when we are going to have a little fun contest in a minute. Emma, please lend Erik your Pikachu as his Pokemon are nowhere near ready for a contest."

"Sure thing," Emma smiled before turning back to glare at Erik whilst handing him a Pokeball. "I'm not an official trainer therefore my Pikachu isn't registered to me, so can be used by anyone."

Erik released the Pikachu from it's spherical home, before gasping in shock. The electric-typed Pokemon was in a red jacket with black shorts and red, fake eyebrows. The Pikachu immediately started dancing, spinning around on her tiptoes and waving her hands in the air.

"We will leave you and Pikachu to get ready," Lisia smiled, "I expect you both in that contest hall in ten minutes." Emma followed her out through the back door into the hall.

Erik saw his chance, he withdrew the Pikachu back into it's Pokeball and ran, he couldn't stand being here any longer so took the Pokemon with him without thinking. As he exited the changing room out the front door and into the Lobby, he picked up a couple of food items laid out on the table for his Pokemon, a "Rage Candy Bar" and a "Sweetheart". He exited the building and ran out onto Route 110 without looking back.

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The sun was setting, and a chill now took the air. Erik was exhausted from a busy day of battling with trainers. Route 110 was packed with trainers looking for action, Erik had been forced to take the lower pathway as he didn't have a bike, the lower road full of thick grass, stretched out over a lake.

"Sorry Dancer" Erik whispered to his newly nicknamed Pikachu, "we can't go back there, not even to return you." A shiver flowing through his spine as he thought about the contest centre he had escaped from this morning.

Dancer looked sad, even her movements were slow and ponderous instead of the fluid dancing she was performing in the dressing room, she wanted nothing more than to go home. Erik felt his new Pokemon's sorrow, flicking on his 'Region round-up' on his Pokenav for a change of scene.

"For some unknown reason Team Magma are retreating from Slateport, and have now been heading towards the active volcano, Mt. Chimney" the reported stated, "some speculate that they may be returning to their base, which could be hidden inside the mountain."

Erik recoiled, if there base is up there then the authorities should assemble a team to take them down, why wouldn't they? He thought back to what Maxie said about the authorities being weak and corrupt, for them not even to have a police force something must be going on.

"Team Magma's numbers have bolstered significantly since their recruitment drive with Stone badges" the reporter continued, "and despite an apparent setback in Slateport, their rise is set to carry on."

Erik wondered if he was strong enough to take them on by himself, he had been training all day. A lady named Isabel had sent out a Plusle and Minun against him which Ninja dispatched with ease, too quick for them to shoot down with bolts of electricity he continuously swiped at them with his claws. Roller had defeated a Roselia sent out by another trainer, before teaming up with Blaze to defeat another Plusle and Minun in a double battle with a pair of twins. Roller then defeated Miguel's Skitty and even Lady got in on the action, defeating Andrew's trio of Magikarps. Ice and Blaze performed some training of their own, racing each other up and down the route to try and build their stamina, speed and fitness.

Erik looked at Roller, the Gulpin was currently eating some of the grass, and thought about how the Pokemon he had caught on this very route was becoming a key member of his team, Lady was becoming more powerful too after winning against some Magikarps, using the terrain to her advantage. Dancer, however, had refused to battle with the team, instead skulking around and lagging behind them.

"Yoo-hoo!" A shrill shout came from a feminine voice behind Erik, he immediately thought of Lisia and Emma, had they caught him?

"Hey Erik, it's been ages!" May spoke through a wide smile, "how've you been?"

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"Magma are killing the region Erik, I hate them" May finished, the two having had a long chat to catch up with each other's lives as Dancer caught up with them.

"Oh Erik your Pikachu is so cute" May exclaimed, before Erik explained the whole situation with Dancer and the contest centre. Her reaction shocked him.

"How are you any better than Team Magma, you are just like them, stealing from innocent people!" She screamed at him, "Return him at once, Erik, or I will never speak to you again" she crossed her arms, glaring at Erik the whole time.

"I don't want to go back there, I was trapped there!" Erik countered, feeling May's fury rising with every word he spoke.

"Fine, you know what Erik, I got you wrong" she continued. Erik could feel himself panicking each time she opened her mouth, he didn't know what to do, "I thought you were one of the good guys, if you won't return that Pikachu then I will. We will have a mock battle."

"You're challenging me to a fight?" Erik blurted.

"A mock battle" May repeated, "as I am a researcher it doesn't have to be official, if one of our Pokemon is about to be defeated, we recall them and consider them unusable for the rest of the fight. If I win, you go to the contest hall and return that Pikachu. Straight. Away."

"Okay, and if I win?"

"Do whatever you want."

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Ice faced up against May's Shroomish, Erik was torn in half about what to do, he had never lost a battle and didn't want to start now. He also wanted to fight for his rights, scared to go back to the contest centre. But at the same time, if he won then May might never speak to him again.

Ice started off on the front foot, clearly buoyed by his victory against Maxie's Zubat. The Poochyena crunched down on Shroomish, but in doing so caused the grass Pokemon to release spores into the air. Ice was paralysed inhaling the spores, but managed to carry on regardless, his cold fangs freezing the life out of May's creature.

"Ice, don't kill it!" Erik called out to his Pokemon, who suddenly released his half-dead opponent from his jaws, the Shroomish rolled weakly back to May who took out it's Pokeball, withdrawing it.

May reached for her second Pokeball and sent out a Slugma. Erik gave Lady a chance, shooting his Tentacool a smile and some encouraging words as she used her tentacles to walk out onto the field of battle. Lady stood up straight, fulling stretching out her arms to seem taller, then screeched supersonic soundwaves at the Slugma, confusing May's fire type. The fire slug leapt at Lady in retaliation, but the Tentacool leapt out of the way, leaving the Slugma to slam into a railing which separated the path from the lake.

Lady took the opportunity to lay some toxic spikes on the ground, coughing up small purple nails brimming with poison. The Slugma blasted Lady with fire whilst she was distracted, but her slimy surfaced soaked up the flame.

"Lady's really coming along well" Erik thought to himself, seeing how Lady was using her brain and anything to her advantage reminded him of Ziggy.

Erik shook the thought of his fallen Zigzagoon from his head and returned his gaze to the battle, seeing his Pokemon shoot a stream of poisonous liquid at the Slugma who coughed and choked as the ooze hit his magma-like surface. The Slugma charged through the liquid but in its confused state, missed Lady and fell into the lake.

"SLUGMA!" May cried, seeing her fire Pokemon drowning in a watery tomb. The slug disappeared underwater, out of sight. Seconds passed before it reemerged, Lady had leapt into the lake and swam her foe to safety, the Slugma coughed up water, barely alive.

"I hate you Erik!" May stamped her feet, "my Marshtomp will make you send that Pikachu back to it's home" she finished, throwing out her final Pokeball.

"Dancer, fancy a battle?" Erik asked the Pikachu, but the electric Pokemon folded her arms and puffed out her face, refusing to fight. Erik launched Roller's Pokeball into the air instead, as Dancer went off into the distance to practise one of her dance routines.

Erik's vision snapped from the Pikachu and back to the fight at hand, as May's Marshtomp charged at Roller, the Gulpin rolled out of the way as the water and ground dual-typed Pokemon tripped over one of Lady's toxic spikes, getting itself poisoned in the process.

May surrendered, seeing her Pokemon succumbing to the venom.

"Here, I have a spare antidote in my bag" Erik remarked as he healed the Marshtomp.

"I forgot how strong you were Erik, I didn't have a chance" a tear rolling down her cheek as she realised the damage that her opponent had caused her beloved Pokemon.

"I'm sorry, May" came the reply from Erik, who went to grab her hand before May slapped it away.

"I don't want your apologies, look at how unhappy that Pikachu is, it just wants to go home," May ranted, "the way you battle without mercy, the way you steal without remorse, you are just the same as Team Magma" May finished, storming off.

Erik was at a loss, he didn't know what to do next, he leaned against the rail pondering his next move.

Before I get to the chapter, I want to mention dialogue punctuation again. You're probably tired of me bringing this up and I apologize. :x

"Thank y-you (missing comma)" the shaken receptionist stammered as Erik handed over the fifty Pokedollar entrance fee to the museum.

"You're welcome, have the guys in the red cloaks given you much trouble?" Erik glanced around the room as he asked, seeing seven Magma members filling out the museum's ground floor.

"They didn't pay (missing comma)" she replied, hiding behind her desk, "but other than that they haven't given us any trouble, they are all just kind of standing there, waiting for something."

Click to expand...

What I notice is in many instances in a dialogue tag ("the shaken receptionist stammered" and "she replied" in this example) you're able to not have the first letter or pronoun capitalized, which is correct! However, a lot of times you forgot to add in a punctuation. In this case, the comma. If you're going to follow up a dialogue with a dialogue tag then the punctuation is usually a comma.

As I was reading the scene where Erik was in the contest hall you're able to get some of the punctuation right, however.

"Actually," Erik began, "I do not want to compete, I was only being nosey outside, I hate this place to be honest, all happy and oblivious to the world. How can you dance and sing with Pokemon, pretending to be happy, when gangs are taking over the land?"

Click to expand...

"We will leave you and Pikachu to get ready," Lisia smiled, "I expect you both in that contest hall in ten minutes." Emma followed her out through the back door into the hall.

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These two examples you're able to put a comma after the dialogue is followed up with a dialogue tag.

After the contest lobby scene you went back to forgetting commas in the dialogue. Also I do see some instances where you capitalized pronoun "She" and stuff like, "The trainer yelled", but there were less of those than in previous chapter. Overall though I think you're starting to get the hang of punctuating dialogue, so keep practicing!

All right, enough of that. Onto the chapter!

Roller was left with nowhere to go as the fire spread and ending up being hit by one of Numel's attacks, weakly rolling back to Erik to be withdrawn into it's Pokeball.

Click to expand...

"Its".

With Ninja being weak to fire attacks, Erik sent Lady into the fray for her first taste of battle, but despite being a Water type, she was just too weak. The Numel rammed into her and sent her flying back further than she should've gone, Erik had underestimated just how weak Lady was as she lay unmoving, flames creeping closer to her. Maxie's Pokemon moved in for the kill, it inhaled breath ready for a final spit of fire, when it was sent rocketing into a water container by another kick from Blaze, the Combusken then pouring water over Lady and the surrounding fires.

Click to expand...

The mention of Lady being weak got a bit repetitive as you mentioned that twice within the same paragraph. I do like how you use the water containers and the spreading fire in this battle, though. Overall the battle with Maxie isn't half bad.

"You won't like that cereal, Roller. Thats human food!" Erik chuckled, as his Gulpin seemed nonplussed by his comments and continued eating the food. Ninja and Ice were still asleep underneath the bed, with Lady off swimming in the ocean away from the group as usual. Erik decided he would get a couple more hours rest before heading off, Blaze chirped happily at the decision.

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This part is cute. I'm starting to like Roller already, haha.

Oh wow, I admit I didn't expect Erik to steal the cosplay Pikachu. O.o I do think you could go a little more into Erik's thoughts concerning getting the Pikachu. Did he felt inclined to do so because he wanted a new one for his team and that it isn't registered yet, for instance? Did he think of the consequences but then didn't care? Did he think the Pikachu might give him an advantage for the next gym battle?

"How are you any better than Team Magma, you are just like them, stealing from innocent people!" She screamed at him, "Return him at once, Erik, or I will never speak to you again (missing comma)" she crossed her arms, glaring at Erik the whole time.

Click to expand...

Already mentioned how in dialogue tags you still sometimes have a pronoun like "she" capitalized. Otherwise, isn't cosplay Pikachu always female? If you notice cosplay Pikachu's tail hers is always heart shaped.

Not surprising May would react that way after finding out Erik stole the Pikachu. During the battle I like that he didn't want May's Shroomish to die and healed Mashtomp with an antidote. Like May, I think the best course of action is to bring Pikachu back.

I like the development of this chapter in which Erik met up with Maxie and has to deal with the consequence of stealing a Pokemon. Looking forward to see the aftermath of this!

This was not what Erik had expected. The trainer from Kanto arrived at Mauville city with the dark of night creeping in, anticipating the city to be similar in style to Rustboro or Petalburg. Instead, Mauville comprised of a single glass building, so large it made Erik feel like an insect, small and insignificant in stature compared to the gargantuan construction.

Erik tried peering through the glass walls of the city, but was unable to see through the opaque walls, instead finding himself staring at his own reflection; his pale skin covered in dirt from the route he had just travelled. Adjusting his cap and wiping some of the dirt off of his brow, Erik made his way through the sliding doors and into the city.

"I want to challenge the gym leader," a green-haired teenager said to the balding man next to him, the man looked to be in his forties, wearing a cream-coloured jacket and blue jeans.

"You are nowhere near ready to challenge," the man responded, the two having the debate just metres from the doorway in which Erik had entered, "and as your uncle, I will not allow it until you are ready."

"You can't tell me what to do!" The boy squealed, storming off further into the city.

"Wally!" The uncle shouted as he chased after his nephew, "wait!"

Erik hadn't been noticed by either of the two, but decided to follow them anyway; the gym was his destination too, after all. Looking ahead he saw a bicycle rink and a restaurant, as well as another set of sliding doors further down the hallway, looking to lead to the outside.

As he ventured through the large glass doors, Erik noticed that the city was actually designed to be a huge shopping mall, which emerged into a large courtyard which occupied the centre, an open sky above. From here Erik could see a garden on the roof of the city where electrical pylons arose, reaching out and touching the sky.

The city had three layers: the ground floor was topped by apartments with hotel suites on the first floor, where the residents of the city lived. Erik knew that Mauville was directly on a crossroads of four different routes, Routes 110, 111, 117 and 118 all met up with Mauville, leading to the city having many travellers staying at it's hotels.

Erik proceeded through the courtyard, a Pokemon centre and mart on either side of another set of sliding glass doors, which opened for Erik as he walked up to them. In front of him now was both Mauville's electric-typed gym, and Wally.

"Erik?"

"Hey Wally, you challenging the gym too?" Erik kept his tone calm and kind, he knew that the boy he now spoke to was of a weak constitution.

"I want to, but I don't know if I am strong enough," Wally replied, he was still frail and shaky, but looked significantly better than when Erik first encountered him in Petalburg city.
"How did you manage to defeat the first two gyms if you aren't strong enough?"

"Some stranger handed me a Stone badge, I don't know why, he just did. The second gym was easy because my Ralts's psychic abilities are super effective against the fighting types."
"Wait," Erik was taken aback, "you were just handed a Stone badge? Magma was making people fight for them?"

"I know they were, but one of them just came up to me and smiled whilst handing me one, he even knew my name!" Wally seemed happy with the incident, a smile lighting up his frail face.

"Very odd," Erik pondered for a moment before continuing, "Well my Pokemon need training before the gym, I've lost enough in battle with leaders and would this time like to make sure my team is strong enough, would you like to train with me?"

"What would we do?" Wally replied instantly, he seemed nervous at the suggestion.

"The city is located right in the middle of four routes, I have just traversed one of them but we could easily train along the other three, starting tomorrow?"

"Okay! That sounds good Erik," the boy noticeably relaxed, likely thinking that Erik wanted to battle him before.

"Thank you, sir," Wally's uncle spoke to Erik, "make sure my nephew is ready to take on this gym, I can't have him losing the Ralts he holds so dear."

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"I want to take you back Dancer, I really do." Erik sighed as he spoke to his Pikachu, who was slouched in the hotel room corner eating a bowl of berries.

Erik had taken his team to one of the hotels in the city, using money he had won from his battle with Brawly to pay for a three-night stay. The staff at the hotel had even provided Erik with a large bowl of water for Lady to sleep in, so that she could spend the night with the team.

Blaze and Roller were already asleep on the floor, Ice was attempting to sleep but Ninja was in one of his annoying moods, buzzing constantly around the Poochyena to wind him up. Erik crawled out of the bed and crouched down next to Dancer in the corner of the room.

"The next gym is an electric user gym. Lady is weak to it, Ninja strong against electrical attacks, the other three are neither weak nor strong," he began, but Dancer continued chewing on the berries looking uninterested, "if you do not wish to fight you do not have to, but being an electric type yourself would be a big advantage for us, their attacks will be absorbed by you and you can use your dance moves and speed to attack them back with fists."

Dancer looked repulsed by the thought she might have to battle, and Erik was close to giving up. On one hand he was delighted he had gotten a free Pikachu, the Pokemon was unregistered before so there was really no consequence to taking her for himself. But the other side of the coin was that Dancer was unhappy, May was unhappy, and all of it was causing Erik to become unhappy. He couldn't bring himself to go back to the contest hall and face up to what he had done, and he would never abandon a Pokemon into the wild, he was lost.

Erik's thoughts were interrupted by Ice barking at Ninja, the Poochyena had begun chasing the Nincada around the room but Ninja was far too quick and agile for Ice to catch, the hound-like Pokemon came over to Dancer and nudged her with his nose, asking for her help, to which the Pikachu was delighted to have a chance to showcase her agility and moves.

Dancer picked up the bowl of berries with her paws and handed them to Erik, then bolted after Ninja, the Nincada was slightly faster but Dancer more agile, a quick turn on the spot enabling her to tackle the bug Pokemon softly to the ground, Erik's laughter filled the room, waking both Roller and Blaze.

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The lake stretched out in front of Erik, Lady bobbing up and down as she swam at pace, attempting to strengthen herself for the task ahead – to carry her trainer across the water. The river split Route 118 in half, located at the bottom of the rocky cliffs that linked Mauville city to the water's edge, on the other side of the lake was fresh grass and steep hills which according to the map on Erik's Pokenav, led to huge pathways of varied terrain in which he could train his Pokemon.

Blaze was jogging back and forth along the rocky route, alongside Wally and his Ralts, with Dancer sunbathing on the side of the lake, getting the occasional splash of water from swimming Pokemon which cooled her down underneath the baking mid-afternoon sun. Ninja, Roller and Ice were all inside their Pokeballs after battling with other trainers throughout the day.

First, a woman picking flowers had decided to challenge Erik to a fight, but her Oddish and Roselia were easily taken down by Ice's cold fangs, his frozen attacks strong against the grass-types, although the Poochyena's was finished for the day afterwards as he had taken a few hits in the fighting. A fisherman challenged Erik next as he made his way down to the lakeside, his Carvanha taken down in a joint effort by Ninja and Roller, but the duo had trouble against a third trainer's Magnemite. The electric Pokemon's steel shell proving tough to break down, but luckily Blaze was on hand to save the day, melting the steel with fire.

"Lady," Erik called out to the Tentacool who had been swimming from one edge of the river to the other all day, "let's give this a try."

Lady swam over, pushing herself forward through the water using her tentacles, she seemed unsure whether she would be able to carry her trainer on her back. Erik leaned down and smiled at her before patting his Pokemon on the head.

Erik lifted himself onto Lady, her head remaining barely above water. They took off slowly, the Tentacool clearly struggling with the weight of the trainer on her back, they had made it not even a quarter of the way before Lady began sinking, Erik tried clinging onto her but to no avail, he was going under too.

He let go, underneath the water's surface his vision turned hazy, through the blur he could see all manner of Pokemon, hordes of Magikarp swam together in unison, with groups of Tentacool sleeping near the riverbed, "so Lady and Gu must have gone to sleep in these groups with their friends" Erik thought to himself, before snapping out of bewonderment when he realised he was drowning.

Lady moved to wrap her tentacles around Erik and try to drag him to the surface, but she wasn't strong enough to do take him all the way, a wild Carvanha was heading for them, potentially seeing Erik as prey, it wasn't unknown for the carnivorous Pokemon to attack humans. Lady tried moving more hastily, but the Carvanha was closing in rapidly, the wild Pokemon opened its jaws to reveal two rows of razor-sharp teeth, moving within inches before Erik felt a hand on him dragging him out of the river in the nick of time.

"Are you okay?" his saviour asked him, lime-green eyes brimming with concern.

"Just fancied a little swim," Erik joked to Wally, also giving a nod to Lady, impressed she had managed to carry him almost all the way back to land.

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The cacophony around Mauville food court was growing louder by the minute, Erik and Wally sat with their Pokemon around a table in the corner to relax after a long day of training, although relaxation was difficult when it seemed that every inhabitant of Mauville had chosen to have their dinner at the food court.

"Thanks again for saving me today Wally," Erik thanked his friend, Blaze chirping in agreement from the stool next to his trainer.

"It's okay, you've helped me so much I should be thanking you," Wally replied, and now it was the Ralts sat next to him that chirped in agreement. Ninja, Roller, Lady and Dancer had already returned to the hotel room to sleep, but Ice was still with the two trainers, sat at the heel of his new friend Wally, hoping the green-haired trainer would feed him some more meat scraps. Ice and Wally had bonded earlier when the Poochyena saw his new friend pulling Erik from the lake, the dark type had stayed by Wally's side since, as thanks for saving his trainer's life.

"Poochyenas' value strength," Erik began, "and my Ice is no different, because he saw you saving me he now sees you as stronger than me," Erik laughed as he said this, he knew that Ice was loyal to him even if he had a temporary obsession with Wally, "he also wants to protect you now as a thank you for saving his trainer, that's why he is staying by your side."
Wally laughed, stroking the Poochyena before a silence engulfed the two of them for a few minutes.

"We will train to the west, along Route 117 tomorrow, that connects Mauville to your uncle's house in Vandenturf. Then the next day will be our final day, going north out of Mauville to Route 111." Erik said, breaking the silence. Wally froze at the statement, looking uncomfortable.

"Erm.." the trainer stuttered in reply, "I do not wish to go along Route 111."

"Why not?"

"There is a house there, the Winstrate brothers live there together, four of them."

"Who are the Winstrate brothers?"

"My childhood bullies, they made my life almost unbearable at trainer school." Wally was extremely downbeat as he spoke about the past, continuing on to fill Erik in on everything that had happened to him at the school. After he finished, Erik made him a promise.

"Then that is our goal, to prove we can take on the gym we will defeat these Winstrates, together."

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Route 117 stretched out ahead of Erik and Wally, the dusty dirt road that connected Mauville city to Verdanturf town was flanked by tall grass and flower beds, where wild Pokemon roamed free undisturbed by humanity. Immediately to their right was a small house, with an accompanying garden crammed full of Pokemon.

"That's the day care centre," Wally informed Erik, seemingly reading his thoughts, "if you have a weak or young Pokemon that aren't ready for battle yet, you can pay the centre to take care of that Pokemon and give it some basic training until it is battle ready.

"Interesting," Erik thought aloud.

The two trainers began the day's training. Roller was ordered to attempt to smash some rocks at the end of the route, to the side of Verdanturf tunnel, Lady was running up and down the route on her tentacles to try and boost her strength and speed outside of water. Ninja and Blaze were practising aerial moves, flying or hovering and then swooping down, whereas Ice and Ralts were running up and down the length of the dirt road. Even Dancer was practising, bored of sitting doing nothing she moved up to Roller and began blasting rocks with electricity.

Wally went ahead to join Ice and Ralts in their running, wanting to train himself as well as his Pokemon, leaving Erik alone with his thoughts.

The Kantonese trainer reflected on how far he had come, who he had lost to get this far, and how strong his team was now looking. He was sure that him and his Pokemon could now battle any challenge that awaited them.

Suddenly, an indigo coloured blob crashed into him, a ferocious looking wild Zigzagoon emerging from the grass after it. Erik lifted the blob up, seeing that it was in fact an Oddish who was under attack, the grass Pokemon leaping from Erik's grasp and hiding behind him as the Zigzagoon went in for another attack.

Erik acted quickly, throwing some berries that he had saved for his own Pokemon's lunch to the floor, which the Zigzagoon gratefully munched on, and then offering the wild Oddish a Pokeball to escape into, "I've always wanted a grass type in my team," Erik smiled as he held out the capsule, the Oddish happily accepting the escape route.

"Welcome to the team, Leaf." he whispered to his newly caught Pokemon.

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Evening was approaching, the sky turning crimson as the sun began setting for the day with a cold chill now taking to the air. Erik had deposited Leaf into the day care centre, he was almost certain that she was battle ready, but with his team already having six members he didn't want to upset anyone by replacing them, especially now Dancer was taking part in the training.

Leaf seemed to be incredibly shy, and was nervous about leaving Erik in the day care centre until her trainer spoke some comforting words to her. She looked half-starved, evidently bullied out of any food she had found herself in the wild, "hopefully the day care centre would take good care of her," Erik thought to himself.

Erik shut the curtains of the hotel room after staring into the evening sky, most of his team were already asleep after a long day's training and he had left Wally to visit his uncle in Verdanturf town after seeing that the locale had a contest centre, not wanting to risk them identifying him and Dancer.

The Pikachu was asleep alongside her new friend Roller, the two having spent the day together smashing up rocks. Ninja, Blaze and Lady asleep in their respective floor-beds. Ice was still awake however, rubbing his head up against his trainer. The Poochyena was still loyal to him after all.

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Erik left the room with Ice to take his time to further explore the huge city, now that he had some downtime after training before he and Wally left to challenge the Winstrate brothers to next day.

Both the east side and the west side of the glass metropolis were packed full of shops, ranging from Pokemon masseurs and hairdressers, to battle shops to cafes. The northern section of the city had a television studio, the gym, a "battle institute" where trainers could participate in mock battles with another, and a bicycle shop, in which Erik was now stood.

"You heard me correctly," the salesman assured Erik, "a bicycle has already been bought for you, although the purchaser didn't leave a name."

"What did he look like?" Erik asked

"Looked quite menacing but was actually rather friendly, brown hair, narrow dark eyes?"

"What was he wearing?"

"Black suit and trousers, purple undershirt, had a big red letter on his arm that I couldn't see."

Erik had no idea who the man could have been, but the shop assistant was certain that the bike had been purchased specifically for him, so he took it without further questions, chaining it up at the bicycle rink.

"What do you think, Ice?" Erik asked after clicking the bicycle lock he had gotten free with the bike into place, "who bought me this bike?"

Ice barked an unintelligible response, the Poochyena was walking about a lot more confidently than before, confidence returning and guilt disappearing.

"We should go to that TV studio, there are some questions I'd like to ask," again, the Poochyena barked happily in response, as the two made their way to the home of Hoenn's television network.

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"So you refuse to tell me anything about the Mount Chimney base of Team Magma?" Erik spoke sharply to the news editor, who was wearing a white shirt with a tie striped in what seemed like every colour imaginable.

"We cannot reveal our sources, I'm sorry."

"Okay, but have you heard any other news concerning Magma?" again, Erik asked sharply.

"There is a story we are about to run, and as you are so insistent I can give you a quick heads up before the report is broadcast in an hour? But only if you promise to leave me alone," the editor said with a smile, clearly wanting to give Erik anything so the trainer would go away.

"Okay, tell me."

"The authorities are setting up a police force in order to counter Magma and any other criminals in the region."

"Okay that's good, who are they recruiting into the force?" Erik asked, unsure on whether he could trust this new force after what Maxie had said about corrupted authorities.

"Reformed Magma members, who better to catch a criminal than a reformed criminal? They will be led by the deputy head of Hoenn security, let me just look up his name for you," the editor began typing into his computer before continuing, "The Magma members that have been defeated in battle and had their licenses taken away are being given another chance, being given a police license instead."

"That sounds idiotic. Surely these are bad men?" Erik inquired, Maxie's words seeming to have more and more truth in them.

"The people in charge believe that they will be grateful for a second chance, knowing their enemies. Only the goons are reformed criminals though, the squad leaders are all reputable trainers, don't worry. The new force, however, should be able to extinguish these goons forever, I guess that's why they are calling the force, 'Team Aqua'," the editor chuckled, "Archie is the name of the leader of the force, will you leave me alone now?"

"One more thing," Erik continued, the names Aqua and Archie meaning nothing to him, "who exactly are the authorities, I've never heard of any of them they just hide behind you media people."

"You'll have to find that out for yourself, boy," snapped the editor, clearly fed up with the young trainer who asked many questions.

Erik and Ice decided to return to the hotel room for the night, ready to challenge the Winstrate bullies along with the gym the next day, alongside their new friend Wally.

I see a big improvement concerning punctuating dialogue, so good job on that! *thumbs up* There are still a few mistakes I saw, so I'll bring those up real quick.

"You can't tell me what to do!" The boy squealed, storming off further into the city.

"Wally!" The uncle shouted as he chased after his nephew, "wait!"

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Both of those instances "the" shouldn't be capitalized since you have the dialogue tags "the boy squealed" and "the uncle shouted".

"Okay! That sounds good Erik," the boy noticeably relaxed, likely thinking that Erik wanted to battle him before.

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"The boy noticeably relaxed" isn't a dialogue tag as you didn't have the word said or something similar. This one it's okay to have it like this:

"Okay! That sounds good Erik." The boy noticeably relaxed, likely thinking that Erik wanted to battle him before.

"We will train to the west, along Route 117 tomorrow, that connects Mauville to your uncle's house in Vandenturf. Then the next day will be our final day, going north out of Mauville to Route 111[S-HIGHLIGHT].[/S-HIGHLIGHT]" Erik said, breaking the silence. Wally froze at the statement, looking uncomfortable.

Click to expand...

"Welcome to the team, Leaf[S-HIGHLIGHT].[/S-HIGHLIGHT]" he whispered to his newly caught Pokemon.

Click to expand...

These ones replace period with comma and you're golden.

"What do you think, Ice?" Erik asked after clicking the bicycle lock he had gotten free with the bike into place, "who bought me this bike?"

Ice barked an unintelligible response, the Poochyena was walking about a lot more confidently than before, confidence returning and guilt disappearing.

"We should go to that TV studio, there are some questions I'd like to ask," again, the Poochyena barked happily in response, as the two made their way to the home of Hoenn's television network.

Click to expand...

"Again" and "Who" should be capitalized since they're complete sentences.

"Okay, but have you heard any other news concerning Magma?" again, Erik asked sharply.

Click to expand...

This one can go two ways. Either capitalize "again" or move it at the end.

"Okay, but have you heard any other news concerning Magma?" Again, Erik asked sharply.

"Okay, but have you heard any other news concerning Magma?" Erik asked sharply again.

All right, now onto the chapter proper!

Very interesting Wally was handed the stone badge like that. It's good that Erik will train with him.

Erik had taken his team to one of the hotels in the city, using money he had won from his battle with Brawly to pay for a three-night stay. The staff at the hotel had even provided Erik with a large bowl of water for Lady to sleep in, so that she could spend the night with the team.

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Random thought, but wouldn't a large tub work just as fine? Then again, I guess Lady won't felt comfortable in a tub, haha.

Dancer looked repulsed by the thought she might have to battle, and Erik was close to giving up. On one hand he was delighted he had gotten a free Pikachu, the Pokemon was unregistered before so there was really no consequence to taking her for himself. But the other side of the coin was that Dancer was unhappy, May was unhappy, and all of it was causing Erik to become unhappy. He couldn't bring himself to go back to the contest hall and face up to what he had done, and he would never abandon a Pokemon into the wild, he was lost.

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You had "unhappy" three times within the same sentence. You can replace one of those with "upset" in my opinion. I do like how Erik rethink the cosplay Pikachu situation, though.

Erik's thoughts were interrupted by Ice barking at Ninja, the Poochyena had begun chasing the Nincada around the room but Ninja was far too quick and agile for Ice to catch, the hound-like Pokemon came over to Dancer and nudged her with his nose, asking for her help, to which the Pikachu was delighted to have a chance to showcase her agility and moves.

Dancer picked up the bowl of berries with her paws and handed them to Erik, then bolted after Ninja, the Nincada was slightly faster but Dancer more agile, a quick turn on the spot enabling her to tackle the bug Pokemon softly to the ground, Erik's laughter filled the room, waking both Roller and Blaze.

Click to expand...

Both paragraphs have run-on sentences going on here. Those can be broken down into a few sentences or so.

He let go, underneath the water's surface his vision turned hazy, through the blur he could see all manner of Pokemon, hordes of Magikarp swam together in unison, with groups of Tentacool sleeping near the riverbed, "so Lady and Gu must have gone to sleep in these groups with their friends" Erik thought to himself, before snapping out of bewonderment when he realised he was drowning.

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Another run on sentence. I think if you break it down into a few sentences and have Erik's thoughts concerning Lady and Gu in a separate paragraph it'll flow better. Something like this:

He let go. Underneath the water's surface his vision turned hazy, through the blur he could see all manner of Pokemon. Hordes of Magikarp swam together in unison, with groups of Tentacool sleeping near the riverbed.

"So Lady and Gu must have gone to sleep in these groups with their friends," Erik thought to himself, before snapping out of bewonderment when he realised he was drowning.

I'll say though ouch over Erik almost drowning. Lucky Lady and Wally were able to save him.

Erik acted quickly, throwing some berries that he had saved for his own Pokemon's lunch to the floor, which the Zigzagoon gratefully munched on, and then offering the wild Oddish a Pokeball to escape into, "I've always wanted a grass type in my team," Erik smiled as he held out the capsule, the Oddish happily accepting the escape route.

Click to expand...

Yay for him getting Oddish! Otherwise, I think this part have the dialogue in its own paragraph, like this:

Erik acted quickly, throwing some berries that he had saved for his own Pokemon's lunch to the floor, which the Zigzagoon gratefully munched on, and then offering the wild Oddish a Pokeball to escape into.

"I've always wanted a grass type in my team," Erik smiled as he held out the capsule, the Oddish happily accepting the escape route

Leaf seemed to be incredibly shy, and was nervous about leaving Erik in the day care centre until her trainer spoke some comforting words to her. She looked half-starved, evidently bullied out of any food she had found herself in the wild, "hopefully the day care centre would take good care of her," Erik thought to himself.

Click to expand...

I noticed a few instances whenever Erik was thinking something (talking to himself?) you have it in the same paragraph. When that happens have Erik's thoughts in its own paragraph so the readers will follow easier.

Both the east side and the west side of the glass metropolis were packed full of shops, ranging from Pokemon masseurs and hairdressers, to battle shops to cafes. The northern section of the city had a television studio, the gym, a "battle institute" where trainers could participate in mock battles with another, and a bicycle shop, in which Erik was now stood.

Click to expand...

Take out "was".

The moment I read the part where Erik was given the bike I grew very suspicious of that. Hopefully that'll be revealed later on.

Interesting this chapter doesn't have much high stake battles hightlighted, but that's perfectly fine. I do feel the interaction between Erik and Wally could use more development, but I'm assuming you'll get to that soon. If the gym battle is next chapter, looking forward to that!

Just to let anyone who is reading know, I'm sorry to inform you that there will not be a chapter posted next week as university deadlines are closing in (also the reason for the delayed chapters recently).

Also thank you for all your feedback Bay, really appreciate it.
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"You're so aptly named, Wally" the eldest brother spoke, before being batted down by a tall woman with long, dark hair.

"I haven't met you before, I'm Victoria Winstrate" she spoke to the green-haired boy, "I heard my brother's have been giving you a hard time?"

"They did at school, they always made my cry, bullying me about my asthma," tears filled Wally's eyes as he spoke.

*Cough*, the sister imitated, "sorry," *cough*, "I keep coughing, I might have to go inside and cry about it," she finished, followed by raucous laughter from the four brothers.

"What a bad insult, could she not think of anything better?" Erik sarcastically thought to himself, before speaking aloud, "are the Winstrate family just five people who hide behind their words and insults? Or do you care to back them up in battle."

"Oh hello Mister. Straight-to-the-point," the sister jibed, "you seem a lot stronger than the pathetic kid next to you," she grabbed Erik's arms, feeling for muscle as she did, "Oh, my mistake," she replied as she realised Erik had none, he was never one for working out.

"Again, more words. Are you a coward? Or will you fight." Erik demanded.

Wally put his hand on Ralts's Pokeball, "I will fight you Vincent, you were always the biggest bully," Wally pointed to the eldest brother as he spoke.

"Okay," Victoria interrupted, "then muscle-man over here can challenge the rest of us in a row," she said smiling at Erik.

"Fine," the Kantonese trainer replied.

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Ice growled at the opposing Tailow, the youngest brother was up first and looked to be around Wally's age with typical Winstrate fair skin and dark hair.

"Get them for me and Erik, Ice!" Wally shouted to his new friend, before walking with Vincent to the back of the house for their own battle. Erik and the other four Winstrates were to fight at the front of the building, with a reservoir to the left of the house, and a well-decorated garden to the right.

Ice leapt at the Tailow, the frosty fangs super effective against his flying-typed opponent, winning the fight with ease as the bird fought in vain against the cold. Ice roared, his confidence and strut were back and he seemed to be happy with life again. The youngest brother sent out a Zigzagoon next, with Erik signaling to Roller to carry on where Ice had left off.

Erik turned around to give Ice a part on the head to see his Poochyena consumed by a blazing white light that stung to look at, shielding his eyes with his palm, Erik removed his hand to see that his Poochyena had evolved into a Mightyena, who howled in delight, Erik stroking his newly evolved Pokemon's soft black and grey fur.

Roller smashed the Zigzagoon into the lake, but the Winstrate's Pokemon jumped straight back out, unperturbed by the water and crashing right back into Roller. Roller tried again, slamming into the Zigzagoon, who was pushed into the lake once more, but again, the Winstrate Pokemon just used it's paws to swim, Roller looked perplexed, unsure how to proceed with the fight as his initial plan was failing. The Zigzagoon was near the shore, and Roller prepared for another slam, until the water's surface was hit by an electrical blast, frying the Pokemon inside.

Erik turned around to see Dancer's head up and arms folded, stomping away from the battlefield after helping her friend Roller.

The second brother was no challenge for Erik's Mightyena, Ice far stronger and quicker than he ever was before evolution, and had made short work of the third brother's Goldeen and Shroomish too with viciously sharp fangs brimming with icy cold. The third brother sent out his last hope, a Numel. Ice strolled wearily up for another round, but Erik called him back, wanting to give his Mightyena a rest after he was looking worn out, sending Lady out instead.

Lady dived straight into the reservoir next to the house, knowing that Numel was extremely weak to water she emerged every now and then to shoot poisonous ooze at the fire and ground typed Pokemon. After a few blasts of poison and being unable to hit it's opponent the Numel went into a rampage, blasting fire left, right and centre at the lake to try and hit Lady.

After a few seconds, Erik was worried, his Tentacool hadn't surfaced although the water should have absorbed the fire attacks. After a few more moments, Lady suddenly leapt out of the lake to administer a final poisonous blow.

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"Well," Victoria said in a surprised tone, "you are actually quite strong, but dont worry muscles. I'm stronger."

The Winstrate sister threw a Pokeball, with a Meditite emerging from it's home, Erik sent out Ninja as he knew that his Nincada's bug type was strong against the Meditite's psychic abilities.

Ninja moved with his usual swiftness, zooming in on the Meditite and going to swipe at it, but the sister's Pokemon saw it coming, launching a fist into Ninja and sending him flying into the lake's watery surface. Lady jumped into after the Nincada, seconds passed before she emerged with Ninja's lifeless body wrapped in her embrace.

Ice walked over to his fallen friend, whimpering and rubbing his nose against him, whilst Erik stood frozen to the spot, even Dancer had run over to tried and shock the Nincada back to life, but it was too late, the electric bursts were having no effect and the bug Pokemon was no more, Ninja was lost to Erik as many of his friends had been before.

"Too easy, that pathetic bug didn't stand a chance," the Winstrate sister howled with laughter, Erik went to snap back at her but Blaze was already a step ahead of him, the Combusken enveloping himself in flames and charging at the Meditite. The psychic and fighting Pokemon was rammed into the garden, Blaze following suit still wrapped in fire.

The garden caught alight, fire spreading fast and rising high, licking the house alongside. Blaze and Meditite carried on their tussle regardless. Everytime Blaze threw a fist, the Meditite used it's psychic abilities to read the punch, block it, then throw one of it's own.
Blaze was being beaten.

The battle raged on and Blaze hadn't landed a blow, moving into a defensive posture before being floored by a rapid series of attacks by the Meditite, the Winstrate's Pokemon moved in for the kill, holding Blaze by the throat with one hand whilst lifting the other fist high up ready for a final pound. The Meditite swung down with full force before screaming in pain, the two warring Pokemon were engulfed by the flames.

Blaze emerged out of the garden victorious, his body soaking up the fire.

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"NO!" The Winstrate sister screamed as the house went up in flames, the raging fire destroying all in it's path before all of the group combined their efforts to put it out using water from the lake, Wally and Erik left the Winstrates as they stared at the blackened ruins of their burned-down home.

"Did you win?" Erik asked Wally with a smile.

"Y-yes but Erik," Wally started, his entire body shaking, "you burned down their home, I thought we were there to teach them a lesson not destroy their lives!"

"I didn't intend to, these things just happen I guess," Erik countered.

"You don't even care do you?" Wally was stunned at Erik's lack of remorse, storming off back into Mauville, their training together complete.

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"May I go first?" Erik asked Wally as the two sat for breakfast in the foot court, getting a nod from his friend in response, it was the first time they had seen each other since the Winstrate house had burned down.

The restaurant was quiet this time of day, the morning's sun beaming through the glass windows of the gigantic city. Wally took another bite out of his toast, lavished with thick butter, before replying to Erik with his mouth still full of food.

"You can go first, I will challenge the gym this afternoon, I want to train my Ralts some more first," the trainer swallowed the food before continuing, "could you give me any final advice or tips?"

"I always try to use my Pokemon's type advantages in gyms, and keep the ones that are weak out of the action. For example, I will try to avoid using Lady for this gym as electrical attacks are strong against her water type. However, Leaf's grass type absorbs electric based attacks, so I will use her first in this gym."

"Oh," Wally looked to his Ralts, the only Pokemon is his party was neither strong nor weak to electric types, "I have to rely on my Ralts, don't you ever rely on Blaze?"

"Sometimes, I know Blaze will always come through for me, but it's important not to overuse him. If any of the trainers or leader use a Magnemite then I will switch Blaze straight in as his fire will melt it's steel."

The two went silent as they finished off their meals, Blaze and Ralts were sat with their trainers both eating some tofu for their pre-gym meal.

"Erik," Wally spoke, breaking the silence, "I'm not happy with you burning the Winstrates' house down."

"I told you, it was an accident," Erik replied, slightly irritated that it was being brought up again, "Blaze was angry that Ninja had just been killed but he never meant for the garden, nor the house to catch aflame."

"It's just how you're not sorry or anything, you didn't apologise to them or even offer to help them rebuild the house," Wally was becoming visibly upset as he continued ranting, "I looked up to you, Erik. Now I don't know how I feel about you."

"You're annoying me now, Wally." Erik snapped, he was angry with himself as much as he was with Wally, "First May, now you, I don't choose these things to happen to me but you both treat me as if I'm some villain."

"Please don't be angry with me," Wally cowered, Ralts sat up in anticipation, moving into a defensive stance, "who's May?" the trainer continued.

"Sorry for snapping, I'll see you later." Erik informed Wally as he got up, him and Blaze leaving the food court to go and challenge for his third badge. He was ashamed he had gotten so angry at his friend Wally, deciding he would go and apologise to him after he had finished with the gym.

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As soon as Erik stepped foot into the large, open room, he noticed that the entire gym consisted of metal, swarming with electricity. Electrical barriers blocked his passage to a doorway at the rear of the room, the floor was flat and cold to the touch, with all four walls looking sturdy enough to cause damage if a Pokemon were to crash into one.

"Ahh, a challenger" an elderly gentleman spoke, spotting Erik coming through the doorway, he was flanked by two trainers to either side, "I am Wattson, the leader of this establishment and I welcome you," the leader was dressed in a bright yellow suit, with matching trousers both as bright as the sun. A white undershirt split the all-yellow look, as did his bushy white beard and thin hair.

"Erik," the Kantoese trainer replied, Leaf's Pokeball already in hand.

"A pleasure, please say hello to my protégés, Kirk, Ben, Vivian and Shawn," the gym leader continued, "once you have beaten them, I will turn off the electrical barriers blocking the rear door, feel free to proceed through and challenge me."

"I will be go first," Kirk instructed, as Wattson made his way through the doors, his bright yellow suit conducted the electricity in the barriers, allowing him to pass through without harm.

Kirk was wearing a leather jacket, with a guitar strapped around his waist. The trainer grabbed a Pokeball from his belt and lobbed it, a Magnemite emerging from within.

Erik put Leaf's Pokeball away and instead sent Blaze into battle, remembering the plan he had told Wally, for his Combusken to melt the Magnetime's steel shell with flame. Blaze read his trainer's mind, engulfing his body in fire and slamming into the Magnemite, the plan working as the steel Pokemon's shell was destroyed by the flames.

Kirk threw out a second Pokeball, this time an Electrike emerged from within, Erik retaliated with Leaf, his Oddish getting her first taste of battle.

"I know in the wild you were a frightened Pokemon, who elected to run and not fight back, but here you have to, it's fight or die." Erik spoke to his new grass-type Pokemon.

His word's seemed to frighten Leaf, who slouched, looking afraid before being slammed into by a quick attack from the opposing Electrike.

"This is what I mean, you cannot cower, hide or run here. I know my words are harsh but they are also true. Come on Leaf, I wouldn't send you into battle if I didn't think you were capable of winning here" Erik roared passionately.

The Electrike lowered it's head, preparing for another charge as Leaf bounced back to her feet before releasing chemicals into the air, directing them straight towards the opponent. Upon inhaling the scent, the Electrike crouched down, unable to keep it's eyes off of the Oddish.

"I've heard of this move," Erik thought to himself, "it's called 'attract', where one Pokemon releases pheromones into the air, which trick the opposing Pokemon to temporarily fall in love for a few minutes until the effect wears off."

The Electrike remained still, eyes fixed on the Oddish, with Leaf taking advantage of the moment to release more powder into the air. Erik saw that it was in fact sleep dust as the Electrike slowly moved out and calmly inhaled the fumes, falling asleep moments after.

"I take it these are moves that you used in the wild to escape from fights?" Erik said quietly to his Oddish, "very clever Leaf, but here in battle you now have to take advantage, try releasing poisonous spores into the air that will suffocate the opponent once they inhale."

Leaf followed his words, sending out a wave of poisonous fumes into the air, which the sleeping Electrike had no choice but to inhale, ending up choking on the fumes as Erik predicted, winning him the first fight.

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The relentless training had worked, Erik was taking the gym by storm. Ben's electrike had fallen to Leaf the same way as she had defeated Kirk, although this time her foe managed to retaliate with an electrical blast, although Leaf stood her ground and absorbed the surge.

Vivian was up next, sending out a Meditite against Ice, the Mightyena grabbing the opponent in his fangs, carrying her to the electrical barriers and throwing the opponent into the electricity. His team looking incredibly capable, powerful and confident after all the training that they had done.

Shawn had gone down easily too, two Voltorbs falling against Leaf's spores, with Erik healing his team at the Pokemon centre before returning to find the electrical barriers down and the back room accessible, Wattson now standing in front of him.

"You made it through almost without a scratch, you must be some trainer," the old man spoke, tugging nervously on his beard as he did so, "you know, this gym powers the entire city?" he said as he turned around to point to the huge metal conductor behind him. The room had only three walls, each flooded with electricity, with the floor being made of the same metal as the previous room, although this metal floor looked almost unstable, as if it could break apart at any moment.

Erik looked to where Wattson was pointing, the conductor was an enormous metallic sphere, pylons teaming with electric waves on either side. Erik guessed that the pylons led all the way underground to the city's power grid, if the battle goes out of control here it could shut off the electricity for the entire shopping mall.

Wattson pulled a small object from his pocket, a small circular badge, "this is the Dynamo badge, awarded to any trainers who defeat me in battle," he smiled as he spoke, "are you ready?"

"Always," came the reply, as Erik picked up Blaze's Pokeball and threw it. He mistrusted the room so wanted to send his most reliable and trusted fighter into the mix, to assess the situation. Luckily, Wattson's first Pokemon was a Magnemite, Blaze knowing immediately what to do.

The Combusken engulfed his body in flame, before charging at the Magnemite. Again, the steel Pokemon's shell began melting as soon as the fire touched it, being slammed into the wall by Blaze's attack. The Combusken stepped back in shock, as the Magnemite began absorbing the electricity from the wall, leaving him to become supercharged before it powered up a strong electrical attack.

Erik wiped the sweat from his brow as he and Blaze had another stroke of good fortune, the Magnemite's shell melted before he was able to attack, a wave of built-up power radiating off the fallen foe, which paralysed Blaze as it crashed into him.

Erik recalled his Combusken, sending out Leaf next who was met by a Voltorb. The electric-typed Pokemon began charging, absorbing power from the nearby conductor as it prepared itself to attack, expanding in size as it did so. As the opponent grew larger and larger, it inhaled sleep dust released by Leaf. The Oddish then followed up the attack by sending out poison, the sleeping Pokemon inhaling the spores in it's sleep and winning Erik the fight against Wattson's second creature as it choked.

"Very impressive, but my Magneton isn't affected by poison, and your Combusken is paralysed, how are you going to fight it?" the gym leader said proudly.

"With Ice" came the blunt reply.

The Mightyena strutted out onto the field of battle, unfazed by the Magneton absorbing power from the nearby conductor, Ice charged in. Wattson's Pokemon was thrown into the air by an icy bite, picked up on it's way down and then slammed into the metal floor.

Erik almost fell as the room began shaking, the floor falling from underneath Ice's feet as the force of the Magneton's body slamming into it was too much for the creaky metal to handle.

Both Wattson and Erik ran up to the large hole in the floor, as the two Pokemon tumbled into an enclosed room below, the small chamber Ice and Magneton were now in swarming with electricity, sparks licking up and zapping Ice and Magneton, the steel-typed Pokemon unharmed by it, in fact, it looked to Erik as if Wattson's creature was drawing power from it.

"A conductor your Pokemon draws power from, a hidden electrical chamber which I bet is planned, this battle is rigged entirely in your favour, Wattson," Erik growled.

"It's my gym, isn't it?," the elderly man smiled as he replied, "I am allowed to set it up as I please."

As the two bickered, Ice continued to be zapped by sparks of Electricity, knowing that he was unable to charge at the Magneton through loose waves of electrical energy snaking around the room, too far away from Erik to be called back into his Pokeball and be switched out, as the Magneton edged closer, absorbing the snaky bolts of electricity as they zapped up at Wattson's Pokemon.

The Mightyena tried a new trick, roaring so loud the entire chamber the two were in shook vigorously, causing the bolts to fly everywhere, zapping both Ice constantly and causing the Magneton to overcharge.

"Now!" roared Wattson, with his Pokemon responding in kind, harnessing all the electrical energy in the chamber in preparation for an astronomical attack on Ice, who was slouched on the floor wincing in pain as the sparks continued draining his health. The Magneton finishing absorbing the power. Ice howled.

The Magneton shook with the room, all the electrical energy stored inside it becoming unstable and overloading the Pokemon, shaking in pain the Magneton tried floating upwards, but was unable to stop the energy inside him from exploding, shattering the Pokemon's steel shell. Ice had survived.

"Turn the electrics off in that chamber, the fight is over!" Erik screamed at Wattson, who duly obliged, pressing a button attached to his wristwatch.

"You fought extremely well, even with the odds stacked hugely against you and your team," the old man's smile remaining firmly on his face, "you didn't even lose a single Pokemon to my tricks and attacks, this Dynamo badge if yours, you have earned it."

Erik snatched the badge out of his hands before rushing Ice to a Pokemon centre to get him checked for lasting damage.

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Ice barked with joy, the nurse had informed Erik that his Mightyena was fully healed.

He was now stood at the sliding doors to Route 111, deciding his journey lay to the north, to Lavaridge town and the fourth badge, as well as his other plan.

"Right team," he spoke to his six Pokemon, who were all out of their Pokeballs and stood now in front of their trainer obediently, "I assume Wally has gone home to Verdanturf, and doesn't really want to see us at the moment, so we will go ahead to our next task."

Blaze chirped happily at his trainer, even Dancer looked please that none of her new teammates had taken any permanent damage or even been killed during the gym fight.

"Well done at the gym, Leaf, Blaze and Ice. The three of you were amazing," he continued, smiling at the three Pokemon in question, "We go now to , to the Team Magma base, back in my home region of Kanto they banned trainers and the use of Pokemon due to a gang like them, we cannot let it happen here, even if that means taking down their base by ourselves. I do not trust this Team Aqua or the corrupt authorities, our target is to take down Maxie and destroy their base, by whatever means necessary. I believe in each and every one of you, we can do this."

Five of his Pokemon roared in agreement, Dancer looking unsure before Erik flashed her a smile.

"We will need you up there too, Dancer," he said as he held out a hand to her, the Pikachu grabbing it with both her paws and smiling back at Erik, "thank you, my friend," he gave Dancer a pat on the head with his free hand as he spoke. The seven of them exited through the doors of Mauville together, the huge volcano they were headed to looming in the distance.