Petalburg City… After a long walk with a couple battles here and there, Luna finally made it to Petalburg City. "Look! We're finally here!" Luna said to Dratini and Ralts as they stepped inside city limits. Luna headed toward the Pokemon Center and stepped inside, enjoying the simplistic pink and yellow that adorned the walls and floors. Luna recalled Dratini and Ralts into their Poke balls, and handed them to Nurse Joy. Within a few minutes of waiting, Nurse Joy gave Luna's Pokemon, now fully healed, back to her. Luna walked outside, and released Dratini and Ralts, who looked at her expectedly. "Ok… It's time! Time to beat the Petalburg Gym!" She gestured towards the gym as Dratini and Ralts nodded in agreement. Luna kneeled down to her Pokemon, "Alright. Now, we're going to give it our all. This isn't going to be like the people we beat on the way here. This guy will know what he's doing, so we have to be on guard. But don't be afraid. I have faith that we'll win!" "Dratini!" "Ralts!" The two Pokemon said in agreement. Luna smiled, and held out her arm. Dratini assumed his scarf-like position, and Luna picked up Ralts. Together, they walked toward the gym with the highest amount of enthusiasm possible.

Luna stopped outside the door to the gym, now anxious. With a reassuring nudge from her Pokemon, Luna took a deep breath, and stepped inside. The gym itself was rather bland, a brown and beige color scheme decorated the walls and floor. The only thing that stood out was the battle field, and a boy who stood at the other end of that field. The boy was wearing a red and black shirt with black shorts. He also had a weird white hat and a green backpack. "Yo!" He called out to Luna. "I'm Brendan! The Petalburg City Gym Leader!" Luna smiled, "Hello! I'm Luna Crescent, and I've come to challenge the Petalburg Gym!" She said to him. Brendan smiled back, "A challenger? Ok! I uh… See that you have two Pokemon, correct?" Luna nodded. Brendan's smile went away for a second, replaced by a face of deep thought, but then quickly came back. "Alright, Luna! This will be a two on two single battle! The first person to have both their Pokemon faint, loses!" Brendan threw a Poke ball, which released a Torchic onto the field. Luna knelt down and placed Ralts on the floor. "Let's have fun~" Luna whispered to Ralts. The psychic Pokemon then walked onto the field, and got stood, waiting for the battle to begin. "Ready?" Brendan called out, "Let's go!"

----------------------------------------------- Battle Start! ------------------------------------------------------

"Torchic, use Ember!" Brendan called out. The small fire chicken spat embers at Ralts, getting a direct hit. Luna was a bit shocked by how quickly Torchic moved, but was not deterred. "Ralts, use Teleport and then Confusion!" The small psychic Pokemon complied, instantly disappearing and then reappearing right behind Torchic. Ralts then hit Torchic with a minor psychic blast, causing damage to the fire chicken. Without Brendan even saying anything, Torchic turned and used Low Kick on Ralts, tripping up the small psychic Pokemon. Luna was completely shocked at that development. 'That Torchic attacked without ordering…' Luna began thinking to herself. "Yo!" Brendan called out to Luna, "Good attack, but battling is more than just giving orders!" Luna heard what Brendan said, deeply exhaled and closed her eyes. Luna opened them, but now her smile was gone, and she seemed much more focused. "Ok… Ralts! Use Confusion again!" Ralts got up and hit Torchic again with another psychic blast, this time landing a critical hit. "Torchic, use Peck!" Torchic struggled to get up, but began charging at Ralts. "Ralts, use Disarming Voice!" As Torchic charged, Ralts made a rather cute and endearing voice. Torchic kept charging, but collapsed as it reached Ralts. "Ah… Torchic was knocked out…" Brendan recalled the knocked out Torchic, and clapped. "Nice, Luna! But…" he pulled out another Poke ball, "This battle isn't over yet! Go, Mudkip!" Brendan threw the Poke ball, causing a Treecko to appear. Brendan blinked slowly, "Uh… wait! I swear I didn't mean to pick that one!" He called back Treecko and sent out Mudkip. "Sorry about that! But now, we start!" "Ralts, Growl!" Ralts growled at Mudkip, causing the water type's attack to drop a bit. "Mudkip, use Water Gun!" Mudkip spit water at Ralts, hitting her dead on, knocking her out. 'Damn… Hoped I wouldn't have to rely on him…' Luna called Ralts back. "Sorry, Ralts." Luna whispered to the Poke ball. Luna stretched her arm out, and Dratini jumped off of it onto the field.

"Dratini, use Extremespeed!" Luna ordered, but before she finished, Dratini had already collided with Mudkip, giving a good amount of damage to the water type. Brendan was surprised, but was determined to keep going. "Mudkip, use Mud-Slap!" Using the already wet ground, Mudkip kicked mud into Dratini's face, causing minor damage and reducing his accuracy. "Dratini, Leer!" Dratini… Well, uh, leered at Mudkip, causing Mudkip's defense to drop a bit. Mudkip then used Sludge, spitting a purple, toxic substance at Dratini. The move hit, and also poisoned Dratini. 'Damn… That's unlucky…' Luna thought to herself. Before she could issue an order, Brendan already called out another order. "Mudkip, use Water Gun!" Mudkip spit a strong gush of water at Dratini, hitting the serpent-like Pokemon. Luckily, Dratini didn't take too much damage due to type effectiveness, but the poison added a bit more damage on top of it. Then, in a matter of seconds, Dratini seemed to shed its skin, and was completely cured of poison. Luna smirked, "Dratini!" And in an instant, Mudkip was sent flying as Dratini had used Extremespeed, knowing that was what Luna had wanted. Now Brendan smirked, "Don't get ahead of yourself! Mudkip, use Counter" Mudkip recovered, and then rushed at Dratini, hitting him with a move that doubled whatever physical damage Mudkip had just received. Dratini was knocked down, but not out. Dratini rose with a wobble, "Dratini, Twister." Luna commanded in an eerily monotone voice. Dratini got down, and slithered quickly by Mudkip, and started going rapidly in circles. As Dratini went, a small tornado infused with the power of a dragon type grew, enveloping Mudkip. A couple of seconds passed, and Mudkip was thrown out of the twister, knocked out from the attack. The twister had subsided as Luna sighed in relief. She won the battle!

This Azurill still has some fight left, huh? Considering its small size, adorable appearance and general frailty, it has done quite well. I hope it won't mind me having to battle it to befriend it.

Zachry sighed. Not exactly a fan of battling, even if it was to acquire an adorable little Azurill. After all, the only way that he had received his beloved Fennekin was as a gift for his 14th birthday, so he had no experience with actually battling for his Pokemon. Pushing aside those thoughts for a moment, he called out to Charlotte, and commanded, "Alright Charlotte, go ahead and use a Flame Charge."
With a nod and a look of determination, the Fennekin tensed up her muscles in preparation for a Flame Charge attack, which landed with a solid hit by an despite the type resistance. The Azurill, now visibly more tired, then retorted its attack with a super effective low aimed Bubble, which was dodged by Charlotte, who glanced the blow by dodging to the left, enabled by a speed boost and landed face up, ready to attack once more. Not wasting any time, Zachry called out, "Ember!" Charlotte took a short, sharp breath and shot the Ember attack at the Azurill, who now seemed to be more or less on the ropes of this encounter. Recognizing this, Zachry reached into his bag, more sure of a victory in catching the Pokemon. He arced the ball towards the Azurill and encapsulated the little blue Pokemon in it, shaking. Zachry bit his nail, waiting for the ball to confirm the success or failure of his endeavor.

Briefcase:


The ball clicked shut, confirming the capture of the badly injured Tympole. This poor Pokemon needed medical attention as soon as possible. Maurice quickly got up and went to turn when he heard something.

"All right!"

Maurice looked towards the sound and found the girl with blue hair he had seen in Oldale. She seemed to be a bit embarrassed as she held up her little Poochyena to her face.

"Um…nice catch" She said to fill the void. Maurice couldn't help but smile at this.

"Yes i suppose it was" he said looking at Tympole's Pokeball "but there is still much work to do" he finished as he looked towards Junior's Pokeball somberly.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off. This Tympole was badly injured and I need to reach the Petalburg Pokemon Center as soon as possible" Maurice said with a turn "By the way thats a good looking Poochyena you got there. Hope we can battle sometime."

With that Maurice began walking towards Petalburg at a brisk pace. He had a lot on his mind and at the forefront was what happened just now with Junior. The Bunnelby blatantly disobeyed Maurice and almost killed that poor Tympole. This was very worrying for Maurice. He and Cocoa had gotten along so well when they first met. What was the problem with him and Junior? Was it something Maurice did wrong? Or were the two just incompatible? These thoughts raced through his mind as he made his way towards Petalburg.

"Yes!" Luna yelled out triumphantly. Brendan called Mudkip back into its Poke ball, and walked up to Luna.
"Nice job, Luna! That was a good victory! If I had done this and this…" He started mumbling to himself. "Anyway!" He started, "Here you go!" Brendan handed Luna a badge with two circles on either end. "That's the Balance Badge! It's a symbol of your victory here at the Petalburg Gym. As you know, you have to beat 8 gyms in order to challenge the Pokemon League." Brendan's face got serious, "But be careful. The next 7 gyms you must face will only get more difficult as you progress, and unlike me, they know what they're doing as a gym leader." Brendan smiled, "But I think you'll be fine! Again, Good job on beating me!" He clapped as Luna inspected her new badge.
"Thanks Brendan! I'll be seeing you!" Luna said to Brendan. She then left the Petalburg Gym, with a new badge in her case.

Luna immediately headed for the Pokemon Center, basically running as she entered the building. She gave Nurse Joy her Pokemon and waited. Within a few minutes, Nurse Joy gave Luna back her Pokemon, which were now fully healed.
"Hey" Luna said to Nurse Joy, "Do you have any rooms available?"
Nurse Joy nodded and pointed to a hallway, "All rooms are located down this hallway. Boys are on the left, and girls on the right." She handed Luna a key, "Here. This key opens the last door down the hallway on the girls' side."
"Thank you." Luna said as she took the key. She proceeded to walk down the hallway and opened the door to her room. She stepped inside and locked the door behind her. Luna cleaned herself up, and let out Dratini and Ralts. "Sorry" Luna said to Ralts, "I didn't mean for you to be knocked out…"
"It's…… Ok….." Luna heard inside her head. Luna looked at Ralts with a confused look on her face, "Was… Was that you?" Ralts nodded. "I… Can… Speak a… Little…" Ralts said in response to Luna's question. Luna smiled, "Cool!"
Luna laid down on the bed, and felt the exhaustion from the gym battle overcome her. As she began to fall asleep, she felt Dratini and Ralts snuggle close to her. "Good night…" Luna said to her Pokemon. She then fell asleep, her vision replaced with vivid dreams of what may happen tomorrow.

Click.

With that noise and the stilling of the Pokeball, one Zachry Alma caught his second Pokemon, a little blue Azurill that, like most Azurill, appears to be scared of lots of things, even a fairly harmless looking if tall teenager. While Zachry's little orange fire fox took her and her trainer's newfound victory with elation and jumping up and down in excitement, Zachry merely examined his Pokeball, pondering what kind of reaction the timid little Pokemon upon being under the possession of the guy who just battled the Azurill. Deciding to wait to go to the Pokemon Center for the Azurill to be healed up, he backtracked to Oldale Town to get his Pokemon patched up.

After going through the usual small talk about taking care of their Pokemon and the nurse congratulating him on catching his new Pokemon, Zachry walked out of the Pokemon Center with slight anxiety, hoping that the Azurill wouldn't be too hard on him. As he went back on Route 102, he took out the Pokeball and gently let it down to the ground to open. When the Azurill came out, it looked around in confusion. As far as it knew, one minute it was scraping by a meager existence, trying not to be noticed by the more intimidating wild Pokemon and the next, it was next to a Fennekin and a tall boy. This freaked it out, and it started to cry.

Oh geez, now I feel bad for it. I wonder though, why did it look so sad anyways? It's almost like no matter what I do, it'll be sad. Oh boy…

Attempting to console the blue Pokemon, Zachry knelt down, reached into his bag and pulled out a Poke Doll he'd originally bought for Charlotte. Over the protests of Charlotte, who was really looking forward to having that doll, he set the doll down, waiting anxiously for the Azurill for its reaction. The Azurill, puzzled by this act, merely looked around in confusion and approached the doll. The doll, being roughly the size of the Azurill, was more suitable as an inanimate play companion rather than a toy. While the now appeased Azurill began to playfuly, Zachry thought of what to name the little guy.

Hmm…he seemed to be quite timid and yet all too eager to tackle that doll with all its might. He might have just needed some encouragement. Now, what to name him…
After pondering for a couple of minutes, the ironic name of Havoc came into play. Thinking it was cute, he tried it out on him.

"Hey, buddy, what do you think about the name Havoc?"

The Azurill, slowly warming up to the tall teenager, especially with a soft and cuddly present, nodded meekly.

"Alright, Havoc. Wanna go in my bag? It'd be pretty cozy~."

Havoc inspected the bag suspiciously and after thinking about it, he scurried in with his Poke Doll. Charlotte, not being able to help it, was a little jealous of their new friend, started to hog up the attention of her trainer by acting extra clingy, nipping on her trainer's ear from her perch on his shoulder. Of course, Zachry did his best to accommodate both, feeling happy that he has two Pokemon at his side. Arriving back at the point where he had started outside of Petalburg City, he had happened upon Rose Burnes, the fellow fire fox trainer. Seeing that they were in the middle of training, he was unsure of what to do and fidgeted, until a cry of "Fen!" did the work for him, grabbing Rose's attention.

"And who might you be?" Said the lady in the Team Magma uniform.
"My name is Seraph! What are you doing wearing that outfit?" Seraph replied.
"Oh this? I just wanted to match today. I don't mean anything by it." the lady replied. After saying this, the lady got up from where she was sitting and started pacing slowly back and forth..
"But you were still one of them, right?" Seraph asked.
"Well yes, I suppose. I was Courtney back then. I suppose you can call me Courtney too since you are obsessing over my past life. Thanks for asking, by the way.
"Well, uh... Team Magma was one of the worst teams to exist! There were many other teams better than you guys!" Seraph exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, yea. Whatever. Amuse me boy, and have a battle with me instead. This conversation is going nowhere. And when I win, you got to go away." Courtney replied.
"This is going to be a fast battle then! Get ready to get beat, Courtney! I'll show you that Team Rocket is the better - er... why Team Magma sucks!" Seraph said.
"What was that? Oh well. You seen crazy enough as it is." Courtney replied.
"I'm only crazy to beat you!" Seraph said.
"Whatever. Koffing, come on out!" Courtney said. She reached into her back pocket, and pulled out an oddly-colored ball. It was blue and red instead of red and white. She threw it out, and out came the Koffing.
"Wha - Nevermind." Seraph said. He got out his own red and white pokeball and threw it out. "Let's go Sticky! Time to fight!" Seraph said. The two opponents got ready to battle.

Where was she to go now? Everything looked the same! Ling-Mai whimpered and gripped onto her toy Teddiursa for reassurance as she looked around the path she was on. All the trees and mountains loomed over her which only made the young and purple haired girl more worried. She had only left the foster home in Oldale Town two hours ago and she was already lost! She didn't even know where she was going in the first place, so in that way, she was lost from the start! Since her feet were starting to hurt, Ling sighed and sat at the side of the road to rest for a while. She was beginning to feel peckish but was too far into a worried mess to have the strength to go into her bag and find something to eat.

While Ling panics, her black Furfrou Flo sat in the grass next to her obediently. Flo, true to her species, refused to leave the girl's side and kept looking to her trainer with concerned red eyes as she watched her spiral further down into a anxiety induced breakdown. The Pokemon shakes out her fur and starts trotting around with her nose out. She didn't want her trainer to have a breakdown so soon into their journey.

Suddenly, Flo's ears flick up at the sound of two voices further away. She didn't know what they were talking about but they were close. Turning her heels, Flo ran back to Ling-Mai who was clinging to her teddy and rocking back and forth as she tried to figure out what on earth she was supposed to do.

Wiping the forming tears from her eyes, Ling notices Flo coming back and standing in front of her. The dog like creature lets out a small grunt and turns her head down the road. The girl smiles at Flo and stood up. She tucked her teddy under the navy blue harness that was on the Pokemon's body and grabbed onto it, knowing that Flo knew where she was going.

As they went down the road, Ling-Mai jumps when she notices two people. A boy and a girl, both older than herself. She pulls on Flo and the dog stops obediently. Ling goes into her bag and fishes out a map to look at it. Never mind the fact she could have looked at that map in the first place and avoided all of that stress. She looked at the map for a moment, realising that Petalburg City was just ahead. They were at the entrance of it. Ling knew that there was a gym there, but she wasn't thinking about challenging anyone. She just wanted to be somewhere safe, like a Pokemon Center. She didn't want to spend another day out here. Who knows what kind of Pokemon were out here!?

As she walked towards them, she freezes upon seeing that the girl had a Houndour with her. Not even considering whether or not it was friendly, Ling shook her head, alarmed and tried to yank Flo away.
"Go another way!" She cried as she tried to pull the stubborn Flo away from the pair but the Furfrou refused to listen and kept walking towards the pair, yanking Ling-Mai with her. The girl let out a small scream as she trips on a small rock, making her fall forward and lose her grip on Flo's harness.

The black Furfrou didn't seem to notice her trainer's absence and trotted over to the pair, she had sensed that her trainer would probably benefit from social interaction, even though she probably didn't want it. Ling sniffed as she picked herself up. She didn't want to start crying in front of these strangers. They looked more experienced than her and she didn't want to look stupid. It was only when she got up that she realised that her teddy was still tucked into Flo's harness. The Furfrou was still sitting in front of the pair, probably waiting to be noticed. Forgetting her anxiety, Ling runs to Flo without another thought and grabbed the teddy from her harness.

It was only when she had her teddy she suddenly remembered that she was standing in front of two complete strangers. She takes a few steps back, with Flo following her. She gulped and looks past them into the city. She shakes quite violently with worry but since she really wanted to find somewhere to eat, she guessed she could ask just this once.

"Um… Where…" She darts her eyes, "Where the… Pokemon Center?" She squeaks before looking away. Great, now these two will think she has some kind of problem. Flo was much more confident than her trainer as she was trying to sniff the Houndour that was with the girl.

After unintentionally greeting Rose vis-à-vis his Pokemon, Zachry waved and meekly said, "Y-yeah. Almost there." He didn't know how to carry on the conversation any further, especially now that he was more or less obligated to carry on some semblance of a conversation. Looking for comfort, he reached down to pet his Fennekin, who more than happily obliged. "Uh, so I found a new Pokemon. His name is Havoc. Come on out Havoc."

The little Azurill, having had his name called, peeked out from Zachry's backpack, which was left open for him. He looked at the new trainer in fright, barely getting used to Zachry and Charlotte, let alone this blue haired girl. Havoc promptly went back into his backpack, going back to check on out his new toy.

Zachry scratched his head, reassuring Rose, "Eh, looks like he's not ready yet to get out from his comfort zone. "

"So, uh, I don't know what to really do now. Everyone seems to be getting this battling stuff down. I'm not much for battling, so, yeah, I don't know."

Battle! Team Magma Admin Courtney!​

A few moments after Sticky landed on the ground, the sea slug pokemon turned his head to look at Seraph. he then cocked it in confusion.
"Hey. I was thinking. I lied the way you battled out there in Route 102, and it sees like you really like battling. How would you like to battle with me?" Seraph asked. Sticky pondered over this for a few moments, wondering whether he should trust Seraph or not. But finally his battling and competitive spirit won, and so he nodded his head and turned to face the Koffing.
"That's great! Alright, use Water Pulse!" Seraph commanded. Sticky reared his head back, then shot it forward, opening his mouth and releasing a big circle of water.
"Koffing, counter with Sludge!" Courtney countered. The Koffing opened its mouth and forcefully shot out some poison from his mouth. The two attacks collided and created an explosion. When the smoke cleared, both pokemon appeared unharmed.
"Your Shellos is strong. BUt let's see you dodge this! Koffing, use Smokescreen, then Gyro Ball!" Courtney said. Her Koffing opened her mouth, and a cloud of gray smoke engulfed Sticky. As soon as Koffing registered that the smokescreen hit, she started spinning around and around, getting faster and faster and started barreling towards Sticky. Panicking, Seraph pondered what to do.
"Sticky, use Body Slam!" Seraph said out of desperation and stupidity. Blinded, Sticky jumped into the air... and landed onto the ground with a thud, hurting himself. However, not all was lost. When Sticky used Body Slam, he jumped over the KOffing's Hyro Ball, preventing further harm.
"Very Well. LEt's keep up this pressure! Use Assurance!" Courtney commanded. Following the command, Koffing stopped her Gyro Ball and started barreling towards Sticky. The Assurance made a direct impact and Sticky slid back.
"Let's make them pay for that! Sticky, use Mud-Slap!" Seraph exclaimed. A look of puzzlement appeared on Courtney's face that slowly turned into a smile. She didn't command her Koffing to do anything as all of the Mud-Slap kept hitting the Koffing.
"Good job Sticky! You are getting some good hits on the Koffing!" Seraph said.
"Now Koffing! Use Gyro Ball and Sludge at the same time!" Courtney suddenly shouted. Koffing started spinning again, barreling right through the Mud-Slap as if it wasn't even taking damage. Poison came out of the spinning ball, affecting the battlefield. Sticky couldn't step anywhere to avoid the gyro Ball barreling towards him.
"Sticky, use Water Pulse!" Seraph shouted as a last resort. As Koffing came inches to Sticky's face, he released a massive circle of water that scored a huge hit onto the Koffing before barreling into the sea slug. THe resulting collision create and explosion and a huge cloud of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, both pokemon remained standing but panting. Finally, after a couple of moments, Sticky fell down onto the ground, defeated.
"Sticky, return. You did great." Seraph said sadly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To be continued....
Score: Seraph 0 Courtney 1

Ling-Mai clings onto her teddy tightly against her chest as she looked between the pair. They didnt look much older than her, but they were much taller than her which did leave the girl a little alarmed. She looks down at her black Furfrou, Flo as she sat next to her, looking quite content. She looks towards the boy, who mentioned that both he and the girl were just as new to Petelburg as she is. She fumbles with her map and looks at the boy asks her if she saw a Pokemon Center on the map.

"...There... Center there." the girl prods the paper as she notices the universal symbol on the map. She still fumbles her map worryingly, wringing it in her hands. She looked back up at the pair and preened her teddy's fur. She didn't like talking. She hadn't spoken for years so getting back into it was quite hard. Ling sighed and sat, cross-legged in the grass. Flo slides onto her belly next to her, but keeps her head up and is looking around.

The girl jumped as she heard the girl compliment her Furfrou. She gives Flo a scratch on the top of her head. The dog like Pokemon sighed contently but continued to watch the pair of strangers. When the girl asked Ling Mai about her Pokemon's name, she fumbles with her oversized jumper for a bit before looking back at her.

"Umm... Flo." she answers softly, still cuddling her teddy close to her. She was still uncomfortable about the Houndour, even though the girl had assured her that the Pokemon was harmless. She keeps a hold of Flo, who seems to be quite comfortable with the circumstances. When it came to her response to the question about whether or not she'd want to go to Petelburg with them, she lets out a little sigh, knowing there was no point in saying no. Because Arceus knows she would just get herself lost again. The girl sighed and gave the pair a nod in agreement that she would go.

Briefcase:


After what was a much longer walk than he expected, Maurice finally reached Petalburg and its Pokemon Center. After giving his Pokemon to Nurse Joy, he sat down in the lobby and waited. He had some important thinking to do regarding Junior and whether the two of them would be able to coexist as trainer and partner. After what had transpired the last day or so, Maurice wasn't so sure. The relationship between him and Junior was nothing like the one he had with Cocoa. Those two had become such good friends immediately that Maurice figured all Pokemon would be that way with him. Never had he met such an insolent little Pokemon.

These thoughts continued to float about Maurice's head as Nurse Joy called for him to let him know his Pokemon were all ready to go. He walked up to the desk to receive the Pokeballs, reaching out his hands for the trey with the three small red and white balls on it.

"You know, that Tympole of yours was pretty beat up. You should really take better care of your Pokemon." Nurse Joy said with a disapproving tone as she handed over the trey and walked away to help another customer.

Maurice wanted to say something but thought better of it as he knew she was right and nothing he could say would make the situation any better. With a sigh and depositing of the balls into his suit jacket, Maurice made his way out of the Pokemon Center and into the fresh air of Petalburg City.

Walking along one of the paths in a nice green area of the town, Maurice couldn't help but to overhear a conversation between what looked like mother and son. Though just by looking at the pair, one would not have guessed that as the mother had very typical features with voluminous almond-brown hair and tan skin. On the other hand, thekid, who was probably about thirteen to fourteen years old by the looks of it, had bright green hair and pale white skin. "Looks like someone got their father's genes" Maurice thought to himself as he eavesdropped on the conversation.

"But moooooooommmmmm! Everyone else my age has a Pokemon by now! Its not fair that I don't have one!" The son said in a bit too whiny of a tone for Maurice's liking.

"No Willard. You are not ready for a Pokemon. You have no idea how to catch one let alone how to take care of one!" The mother said sternly to her son, Willard, "Now let's head home, its getting late and I still need to make dinner." She said reaching for her son's hand.

Now this struck a chord with Maurice. He felt a kind of kinship to this kid, Willard. Maurice, himself, had also not ever known how to catch a Pokemon or raise it but that didn't stop him from befriending Cocoa and quickly catching her and raising her into a strong Pokemon and his best friend. Taking a deep breath, Maurice called over to the pair.

"Ma'am, I couldn't help but overhearing the end of your conversation with your son right now and not to be rude but I think you would be mistaken not to let your son, Willard if I recall correctly, go out and catch a Pokemon. Everyone has to learn at some point and I would be more than happy to help him learn the ropes."

The mother stopped and listened to Maurice as he spoke, a clear look of uncertainty on her face. The boy, meanwhile, looked about ready to explode with excitement as Maurice talked.

"Mom! Please please please let me go with him! You heard him! He'll help me to learn the ropes and catch my first Pokemon!" The kid was practically jumping on his mom now, tugging at the side of her dress. The mother on the other hand still seemed to be a bit unsure about it all.

"Ma'am I swear upon the gentleman's code that I will take very good care of your son and that he will not get even a scratch on him, as well as will end up with his very own Pokemon."

This seemed to do the trick as she sighed deeply before saying, "Alright, please take care of him. I just want what is best for him. Thank you very much for doing this." She said with a soft smile before heading off towards her home.

"You have my word ma'am" Maurice said before turning towards Willard, "Alright Willard, let's go catch you a Pokemon!" Heading back towards Route 102.

"Yeah!" Willard said excitedly, skipping along in beat with Maurice's steps.

Maurice was going to enjoy this little reprieve from the stress of life for a bit.

Part 2: Can Seraph Beat the Koffing?​

"Why didn't my Mud-Slap affect you? It should have been super effective!" Seraph complained.
"You see, Koffing has the ability Levitate. That makes all ground-type moves miss, regardless of type advantage or not." Courtney explained. The realization hit Seraph like a Rhyhorn. How could he have been so stupid? Of course Koffing have levitate! He had been so ignorant of that fact, as beating Courtney was the only thing on his mind.
"Well, let's keep this battle going! Let's go Celest!" Seraph said.

Battle Resume! Seraph - 0, Courtney - 1​

The long tail pokemon appeared from the pokeball as it hit the ground. He turned around, gave Seraph a huge grin, and turned around to face his opponent.
"I like your attitude, Celest! Let's start with Swift!" Seraph commanded. Celest jumped up, and released a barrage of stars headed for Koffing.
"Koffing, counter with Sludge!" Courtney commanded. The Koffing opened its mouth, and forcefully shot out the ball of poison. The two moves collided, and an explosion followed. When the smoke cleared, no pokemon took any damage from the other attack.
"Alright, now use Agility, then into Fury Swipes!" Seraph exclaimed. Celest started moving around the battlefield, getting faster and faster, then started advancing quickly towards Koffing.
"Koffing, Clear Smog, then dodge!" Courtney replied. The Koffing sucked in, then released a cloud of white gas towards the fast-approaching Aipom. The white gas started expanding and slowly started engulfing the whole battlefield. The gas hit Celest, who even though was slightly dazed from the initial impact of the Clear Smog, kept charging at the Koffing. However now he was considerably slower. By the time Celest got to the Koffing, he was at normal speed again and the Koffing easily dodged the attack.
"Good job Koffing! Now use Gyro Ball!" Courtney shouted. In response, Koffing started spinning faster and faster and started charging towards the off-balance Aipom in a spin. Seraph needed to find a way to get rid of this strategy of Courtney's. But right now, he needed to stall for time.
"Quick, Celest. Jump!" Seraph said. On one foot, Celest managed to make a wobbly jump into the air just in time for the Koffing to go barreling right under Celest and hitting ground instead of a pokemon. With the Koffing slightly lodged in the ground, Seraph realized that he had a good chance of getting a shot off. If he was going to have a chance, it was probably now or never.
"Quick, Celest! Use Astonish!" Seraph commanded. Celest hit the ground after the jump and started sprinting towards the Koffing while crying out "Aipommmmmm!!!! Aipommmmmm!!!!!" in a loud screeching voice. Meanwhile Courtney was now on the defensive...
"Koffing, use Smokescreen and get out of there!" Courtney demanded. However, the impact from Gyro Ball dazed Koffing slightly and was not able to use any move in response and eventually got hit with a direct impact from the Astonish. The Koffing slid back a considerable amount creating a huge dust cloud. When the dust cloud cleared, Koffing was just floating there doing nothing. However, Courtney needed a counter-attack to balance the battle out again.
"Koffing, use Sludge!" Courtney commanded. However, Koffing didn't do anything. It had flinched. Looks of realization appeared on both trainers faces. However, Courtney's face slowly turned to horror and Seraph's face turned into a massive grin.
"Oh yeah! Another flinch! Celest, finish this with Swift!" Seraph commanded. Celest turned around, gave Seraph another huge grin, then jumped up and released a massive horde of star-shaped rays at Koffing. The Koffing was unable to do anything as all of the stars made a direct impact. A big explosion soon followed. When the dust cleared, the Koffing fell to the ground, fainted. Courtney sighed.
"Good work Koffing. Return." Courtney said. Then to Seraph, "I'm impressed. You have so quick thinking skills. You manage to turn a bad situation good because of quick thinking. Good job. But now it's time for the final round! Here is my final pokemon!"

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To be continued.... Seraph - 1 Courtney - 1