Jerome entered route 102 and looked around, there was a nice pond with crystal clear water just to the right of the main path, but he decided to avoid it. He didn't need water and he didn't want to get attacked by a wild water type since his only Pokemon was a fire type. There was the overgrown foliage on either side of the path that served as a home, and refugee for wild pokemon, which he wanted to avoid since he was sure he would run into the biggest, meanest Pokemon with his current luck. He took a quick look around for Pokemon before he started down the path to Petalburg city hoping to avoid any more trouble. After walking in peace for about five minutes Jerome came across two girls who were talking to each other. Jerome nodded at them as he passed by, and the girls glanced over at him. The younger one suddenly giggled before walking up to Jerome with a huge grin on her face.
"Hello sir, my name is Tara and I need your help with a little bet," said the girl wearing a yellow and grey dress that looked like a school uniform. She looked to be a few years younger than him, and definitely had more energy than him. She was pretty short though likely five feet and maybe one inch. She had a huge grin complete with braces to go with her energetic voice to make her appear even younger. She suddenly held out her hand for Jerome to shake.
Jerome smiled and gently shook her hand before replying with a friendly voice, "Well Tara, how can I help you?"
"By dueling us!" exclaimed the girl continuing her grin. Meanwhile her older friend with long brown hair and a simple green and white dress began to blush.
Noticing Tara's friend's reaction Jerome started to really wonder what this girl was up to. He focused his attention on Tara and with an uneasy smile he asked, "How will that help?"
"Ok the bet is if I beat you in a duel then you have to take my friend Jessica over there on a date. If she somehow beats you then I have to go on a date with you," said the girl with a devious smile as Jessica turned a crimson red.
Jerome's smile faded and he thought for a second before responding, "Wow um… well, what do I get if I win?" Frankly he felt like he was on the end of a bad joke. The girls were using him as torment for the loser of the bet. He didn't realize that the one girl was trying to set her friend up on a date with him since she was confident she would win, and it was not in fact a joke on him.
The girl's smile faded as she asked in a less enthusiastic tone, "What do you want?" She clearly hadn't thought of that possibility since she assumed the teenager would have jumped at the chance to take her or her friend on a date. In fact he seemed a little insulted, or something because his face had a slight frown on it.
Jerome thought about her question for a bit and replied with the same friendly tone, "Well I don't really want to force my Pokemon to fight right now so I would prefer to just be on my way."
The once grinning girl began to frown and said in an anger filled tone, "Wow you're a bore… Even if you're no fun and don't want to play our little game I want to battle you. Maybe beating you will make you a little more fun." The girl then pulled out a Pokeball from her purse and released her pokemon. A small green and white creature with three leaves on its head appeared and it looked up at Jerome with innocent looking ruby red eyes.
"I would prefer not to battle," said Jerome looking down at the Petilil with a neutral look on his face as he pulled out his Pokedex and tried to get information on the Pokemon. The old device's screen popped up a message that said "Pokemon not in Database." This made Jerome say sarcastically, "well this thing sure is useful."
"Well too bad, I'm challenging you to a battle… So you have to stop being boring and battle, it's the rules," said Tara with a frustrated tone of voice as she put her hands on her hips and moved her head to one side as she waited for Jerome to call out his Pokemon.
Jerome stared at her for a second before he pulled out his Torchic's Pokeball and released the red feather covered Pokemon. The Torchic seemed to be half asleep and not very happy with the state of his world when he fully appeared. The Torchic gave Jerome a disapproving glare before looking around at his surroundings with half closed eyes. Jerome had his PokeDex out and was reading the information on the screen as he said in his normal tone of voice, "Sorry I had to… you got yourself in a lot of trouble at the PokeCenter, but that is the past. Right now this girl says we have to duel so… time to show her that she chose the wrong pokemon to battle against." The Torchic seemed a little less angry once Jerome praised him and he turned to face his opponent.
The Petilil looked at the Torchic nervously as her trainer's shoulder's dropped as she moaned, "It had to be a fire type. Of all Pokemon a fire type… why?!" Seeing the opposing pokemon and its trainer's reaction to his presence, the Torchic charged forward confidently as he built up the toxic gas in his mouth to release as an attack. Snapping back to the task at hand the girl said, "Ok Lily you can do this… use Leech Seed… you know the trick!"
The Petilil closed its eyes and several seeds formed around the base of its three flowers. It then whipped its head around throwing the seeds at the Torchic, who didn't even try to dodge them. The seeds quickly grew tiny roots that sunk into the chick Pokemon's feathers and latched into his skin. The Torchic replied with a burst of flame from his mouth that shot at the Petilil like a fiery bullet. When the small blast of fire hit the Petilil straight in the face it cried out in pain, but it didn't move. The Torchic had only released an opener to his attack and he planted his feet suddenly so he would skid to a stop right in front of Lily. The Petilil didn't move as the fire type unleashed a burst of flame from his mouth that enveloped the Petilil completely.
The seeds on the Torchic glowed as they absorbed some of his life and then they released small bits of energy that floated back to the Petilil. At the same time the grass type used its healing ability, using an amazing amount of focus to do this despite being engulfed in flames. The Torchic hopped back to survey the damage, but after the smoke cleared it saw that the Petilil looked completely undamaged. The Torchic looked shocked, but then he narrowed his eyes and pushed the assault once again. Burning his opponent with another burst of flames. Once again however the Petilil healed itself as it turned sunlight into health all the while its leech seed slowly drained the Torchic of his life. The Fire type began to get frustrated as his opponent kept recovering from his attacks. This futile cycle continued until Jerome finally spoke up, "Ok settle down… use your toxic ability to poison it. Maybe that will allow you to out damage its ability to heal."
The Torchic looked back Jerome for a second then nodded its head, while Tara looked at Jerome with a confused look since she hadn't heard of a Torchic able to use Toxic. The Torchic breathed in really deep then released a toxic cloud right into the face of the Petilil. The Grass type's eyes began to water and it coughed violently as it backed out of the cloud. Just then the Leech seed stole the Torchic's life and gave it to the Petilil making it able to breathe a little better. Jerome watched the energy transfer then said, "If we can remove those seeds that would really help." The Torchic heard this and suddenly walked into his own Toxic cloud and released a small flame. The gas ignited and surrounded the Torchic for a second burning him a little, but it burnt all the seeds causing them to fall off or hang lifeless from his feathers. The Torchic continued using new tactics and instead of just attacking he started to focus his energy. The Petilil summoned more seeds as the Torchic stood there focusing motionlessly. The Petilil then threw the seeds and the Torchic suddenly hopped off to the side. Barely dodging the seeds the Torchic began to focus again and a small continuous flame began to burn out the corners of his beak. The Petilil coughed some more, but its trainer pulled out an antidote and walked over to the grass type and injected it into the grass type with a needle. Instantly the grass type looked healthier as her trainer whispered something to the grass type. Lily then nodded and charged toward the Torchic and when it got close it launched another set of seeds at the Torchic. The fire chick didn't dodge this time but as the seeds sunk in the Torchic looked up and opened its break wide. A large intense ball of fire suddenly formed in the Torchic's mouth as all his focused energy gathered into one attack. The Petilil's eyes got big as the Torchic stepped forward, sucked in the entire flame inside his mouth to condense it down, and then suddenly spit it out. This ember attack wasn't like any of the others the Torchic had used before: It was actually very small, but it was also a very intense dart of superheated flame that shot out at the Petilil at incredible speeds.
Lily had no time to react and the Torchic's focused ember slammed into it with such force that it sent the small grass type flying backward. The intense heat made its leaves instantly wilt as all the water in them evaporated. Lily started to stand up, but right as it pushed itself to a full standing position it succumbed to the burns and collapsed to the ground. At the same time the seeds the Petilil had planted on the Torchic feel off the chick Pokemon and stopped draining his energy. After recalling her Pokemon, Tara pouted and said, "Jess, I weakened it so maybe you can win this fight."
Jessica shyly stepped up and released her Pokemon, a Budew. Speaking in a soft heavenly voice Jessica said, "Thorn… use leech seed." Meanwhile Jerome pulled out a potion, but when his Torchic saw this it looked up at its trainer and shook its head.
"You want to just win with your own strength don't you?" asked Jerome as the Torchic shook its head. It then looked back at the Budew, and nodded its head slowly. Jerome stared at his Torchic for a second and muttered to himself, "I really need to figure you out so we can work together better." The Budew's vines over its head parted revealing a seed on the end of each one. Whipping the vines the Budew launched the seeds at the Torchic. The Torchic was sick of Leech Seeds so he stood his ground and unleashed a small barrage of tiny fireballs that "shot down" the two seeds. The Budew tried this attack again but the Torchic once again defeated it with its own counter attack.
Jessica suddenly ordered, "Thorn tackle the Torchic and then use Leech seed at point blank range. Perhaps you can land the attack then." The Budew charged forward as the Torchic braced itself for the tackle while exhaling a cloud of noxious fumes. The Budew charged through the fumes, breathing in the poison, and then slammed into the Torchic and knocked them both down. As the Budew tackled the Torchic its vines whipped around and "slapped" the Torchic, attaching leech seeds on either side of the Fire type. At the same time the Torchic released a burst of flames into the Budew's face causing it to flinch a little in pain. Both Pokemon struggled against each other for a minute on the ground, both unwilling to try to recover from the messy flurry of flames, claws, vines, and kicks. Jessica frowned at the unsightly brawl, while Jerome watched the fight pacing like a caged animal.
After a minute of this the two Pokemon separated and slowly regained their footing. They stared at each other for a second then the Budew charged at the weakened Torchic and the Torchic unleashed a burst of flames at the lower level grass type. The Budew slammed into the Torchic after charging through the flames. Both of the Pokemon rolled a foot away from where the Torchic had stood, and neither of them stood up as they had both been knocked out at the same time.
"A tie," said Jessica in a soft sad voice as she recalled her knocked out Budew to its red and white Pokeball. Jerome walked over and picked up his knocked out Torchic off the ground.
"If you had healed your Pokemon you would have won dummy," said Tara who clearly didn't like Jerome.
"He didn't want to be healed… so I didn't. It was his fight, so it was ultimately his choice," replied Jerome as he gently brushed the Torchic's top feathers with his hand he wasn't using to hold the Pokemon.
"What? That is stupid you're his trainer. You're the one who didn't win because of it," said Tara.
"Yes he is fighting for me, but he was the one doing the fighting. If I cannot respect his wishes and honor them, then I don't think we can ever be true allies," said Jerome as he tried to explain his mindset. This made Tara shake her head and walk away while as she yelled at her friend that it was time to go.
Jessica looked at the Torchic and then at Jerome and said in a soft voice, "You need to give him a proper name."
"Like what?" asked Jerome taken off guard by the woman's words. He had never thought about naming his Pokemon and honestly he felt a little embarrassed that he hadn't considered it before now.
"That is only something you can decide… he is not my Pokémon," said the girl as she paused for a second to answer before she walked away.
Jerome watched the two leave and then looked down at his Torchic unsure what to name it. After he stared at the Chick Pokemon for a second he said to his knocked out Pokemon, "Magnus… How is that for a name? I guess I should ask you after you wake up." He then kneeled down and took off his backpack and pulled out his First aid kit. First he used a potion on the Pokemon then wrapped up its remaining wounds. After he did this he put the items back in his pack, and repositioned his poncho and old sleeping bag on the top of his pack, making a pseudo bed. Placing his bandaged up Torchic on the "bed" he zipped up the bag just enough so when his Torchic woke up it could stick its head out of the bag. He put the backpack on carefully and started off toward Petalburg since he couldn't return to the PokeCenter in Oldale to heal his Torchic.
As he walked down route 102, the sun started to set but Jerome wanted to get Magnus to a PokeCenter, so he pressed on instead of making camp. As he walked through the lightly forested area it was relatively peaceful until he heard a painful cry that sounded almost like a ghostly voice of a young girl. This startled Jerome and something clicked in his head. Adrenaline started to pump through his veins as he charged through brush on the left side of the path, as he headed toward the source of the sound. He then spotted a brown and white fur covered Pokemon dart toward something. Looking in the direction it had gone Jerome spotted a small Pokemon with a small bight colored horns on its head and a light colored body that almost looked like a human child wearing an oversized shirt or dress. Jerome calmed down a little when he realized it wasn't a human calling out for help, but the question was now if he was going to help or not. The oversized Zigzagoon grabbed the undersized Ralt's right side with its terrible jaws and pushed the creature to the ground, the Ralts let out another pain filled cry. The Ralt's glowing left hand pushed toward the Zigzagoon. The Ralt's weak psychic attack was able to push aside the "tiny" Raccoon's head before it could bite down on the Ralt's throat, but the Zigzagoon quickly dug its left claws into the Ralt's left arm to pin it to the ground so it couldn't defend itself. The larger than normal Zigzagoon then moved in for the kill once again, but this time it was interrupted by an old dust stained shoe in the gut.
Jerome's kick sent the shocked Zigzagoon through the air and it landed several feet away. Jerome glanced at the Ralts and saw it was still alive, but it was in really bad shape. Jerome wasn't so sure why he was so compelled to protect the Ralts, perhaps it was its human like features or that haunting cry. He had seen carnivore Pokemon kill and eat others before, but this time he felt compelled to take action to stop it from happening. "Shoo go away," said Jerome in a stern voice at the Zigzagoon. The Zigzagoon was almost twice the size of a normal one and it looked very angrily that Jerome had interfered with its dinner. The human's presence did not evoke fear in the creature's mind like Jerome had hoped and it charged at Jerome at a blazing speed before it launched itself at the human and smashed its head into Jerome's chest. Jerome was taken off guard by the creature's speed and was knocked back a few feet.
The Raccoon pokemon then turned toward the smaller than average Ralts, that tied to crawl away despite its wounds. The Zigzagoon moved to grab its prey then flee, but right as it reached the Feeling pokemon Jerome grabbed its tail. Jerome gave the Raccoon a quick flying lesson as he threw the Pokemon by the tail into a tree. Jerome reached back behind his jacket and on his belt, and pulled out a knife with a 7 inch blade. The knife, mainly used for surviving in the woods, had seen plenty of use throughout the years, and showed evidence of being sharpened and used many times. "This is Vengeance, she will take your life if you do not back off," threatened Jerome he held the knife in his right hand with the tip pointed toward his enemy and his left hand in a guard position. The Zigzagoon ignored his threat and quickly dug into the ground. Jerome moved toward the Ralts, he thought the Zigzagoon would try to grab it again, but instead the Zigzagoon appeared off to his right and jumped at Jerome slashing him with long sharp claws. Once the Zigzagoon hit the ground it burrowed again before Jerome could retaliate. Jerome wanted to yell in pain but he wouldn't give his opponent the satisfaction of hearing it. The Zigzagoon suddenly reappeared again, this time from behind and slashed Jerome again before going to ground at lightning fast speed. This happened again and again and Jerome realized he was outmatched, but he refused to give up, run away, and abandon the Zigzagoon's prey. After a few more rounds of this Jerome was cut up and bloody from the fight and looked like he was going to the ground in defeat, but the Zigzagoon made finally a mistake. It attacked Jerome head on intending to go for the human's throat, but it underestimated the human. Jerome didn't use the knife at first and instead grabbed the Zigzagoon's head and smashed it into the ground with his left hand. Ignoring the creature's sharp claws raking his left hand and forearm he held the creature in place as his right hand directed the knife into the creature's neck. Digging the knife in deep then pulling up sharply he ended the Zigzagoon's life in a single ruthless attack.
Leaving the dead creature on the ground Jerome withdrew the knife and then ran toward the Ralts to check on it. Blood was pouring out of various wounds on the Ralts but what instantly caught Jerome's attention was its abnormally laborious breathing and that one of the fang marks on the Pokemon's chest making a sucking noise. "Hold on… don't give up," said Jerome as he ran over to his pack. Pulling out Magnus and putting him on the ground he quickly began to dig through his pack until he found his first aid kit, a self aid and buddy care handbook, and a plastic zip lock bag he had some matches in. Running over to the Ralts, he tore the plastic bag until he had a small roughly square sized piece ripped out of it. He ran toward the Ralts, but before he could reach her Jerome felt an invisible force that pushed him back. The Ralts was trying to keep him away, but he didn't care and he pushed past the weak psychic energy. "I'm here to help you… stop resisting or you will die," said Jerome in a frantic voice. However the Ralts once again shoved him away with desperate psychic energy, when he leaned over to start working on the various wounds.
"Please settle down… I promise you I'm not trying to catch you, I'm trying to save your life," said Jerome in a frantic voice that he was trying to make soothing as possible. He then took his left hand and rubbed the creature's forehead to try in calm it down. He brushed its hair back so its eyes were exposed, revealing large eyes filled with pain and fear. When he brushed its horn the Pokémon suddenly relaxed a little as it felt Jerome's worry and protective feelings toward the Pokemon. This allowed Jerome to start the best first aid he could give with the limited knowledge he had from reading the manual.
First thing Jerome did was seal the sucking chest wound with the plastic and tape. Next he put a tourniquet on its left arm which had been cut to ribbons. After these two terrible wounds were dealt with, Jerome did his best to stop the worse of the bleeding from various bite and scratch marks before deciding he had to get this Ralts to a PokeCenter now or it would die.
After doing his best field care, Jerome gently picked up the Ralts and moved over to his bag and quickly tossed most of the items back inside only being careful with Magnus. However most of his food, which he had thrown on the ground in his rush to get his first aid kit, was being claimed by a slow dull looking Pokemon with two toned brown fur. He didn't have time to reclaim his food from the Slakoth, so Jerome left most of his food in the care of the Slacker Pokemon as he threw on his pack and quickly picked up the Ralts and started to run off toward Petalburgh City. By this point the Ralts had passed out from blood loss and was barely holding on to life as Jerome began to run as fast as he could toward Petalburgh.
Right as Petalburgh came into sight a young trainer stepped out and announced, "You cannot pass without battling me!"
Jerome yelled the best he could, "Out of my way now! I'll duel you later!"
The kid crossed his arms and said in a stubborn voice, "I'm not mo…"
"MOVE!" yelled Jerome in a hostile order, as he ran toward the kid at full speed.
The kid realizing Jerome wasn't going to stop dove out of the way just in time. The kid then watched Jerome continue his run into the city. Finding the PokeCenter, Jerome charged inside also going through the glass door since he allowed it very little time to open. Jerome only stopped once he was at the desk. He forced the Ralts into a surprised nurse's hands and gasped, "Help… she doesn't look like…" Jerome's adrenaline then ran out and he suddenly felt his own wounds, which were all letting out plenty of blood, and he failed to finish his sentence. He stumbled backwards a few steps then fell to his knees before hitting the floor with a thud. By the time his head had hit the floor everything had gone black.
Jerome woke up in the local medical clinic a few hours later. He started to get up despite the massive amounts of pain he was in, and the nurse on standby tried to stop him. Jerome refused to listen to the nurse's pleas for him to take it easy, and he quickly dressed himself. Jerome walked out of the building and walked to the PokeCenter as fast as he could in his condition. He was covered in bandages, and the various drugs in his system made him walk a little funny so he was an interesting sight to behold as he made his way to the PokeCenter. He walked through the PokeCenter's door and walked up to the nurse's desk with a worried look on his face. He quickly asked, "Did she survive?" Jerome had to know if he had saved the Ralts, or had he once again failed in protecting someone?