Pokemon Colosseum: Legacy [IC]

"Well, this was a bit disappointin'..." Alicia sighed as she and Rose stepped back out onto the main path of Route 1. She glanced down at the Snivy that was by her side and huffed, stopping in her tracks. The plant Pokemon did the same. "I don't get what your problem is, ya know? First ya did that whole runaway bit back in town. Then you totally freaked that Starly out, causing it to run off before we could even battle it... Now you just like, ignored me completely over a berry!"

The Snivy glanced over at her trainer and simply shrugged in response. This earned an annoyed groan from Alicia. The blonde was starting to wonder if raising all Pokemon was like this. If she was remembering right, it seemed that Marcus was having some problems with his Pokemon as well... Then again, it seemed that Will was doing fine with his Charmander.

"I guess Marc and me just got bad luck..." Alicia thought with a sigh. She glanced up at the sky for a moment and then checked the time with her Pokepad. "I guess we should be gettin' on down the route so we can meet up with the others... Come on, Rose..."

The duo began to walk down the path. However after a few steps, Rose suddenly stopped and began to look around. Alicia was not oblivious to this, as the blonde turned and looked at the plant Pokemon with a sigh.

"You're not gonna do that runaway thing again, are ya?" Alicia asked. Rose remained still and silent however. The Snivy began to glance all around herself. Alicia raised an eyebrow to this. The blonde took a step forward towards her Pokemon, her concern for the Snivy's sudden change in acting raising a bit of concern. "Rose...?"

No sooner had Alicia called out the Pokemon's name did a blue blur suddenly leap out from the bushes. Alicia's eyes were wide with shock as the blue blur slammed into Rose, tackling the grass Pokemon to the ground. The Snivy glanced up at her assailant, finding herself staring a Shinx right in the face. With a huff, Rose slapped the wild Pokemon off of her with a quick Vine Whip, quickly scrambling to her feet.

"Where did that Shinx even come from?" Alicia questioned as she ran to Rose's side. "Are you okay? That didn't hurt, did it?"

Rose shook her head and glanced at Alicia before staring back the wild Shinx. Alicia noticed a different look in her Pokemon's eyes than there had been previously with the wild Starly and Sentret. Rather than looking bored, annoyed, or smug, the Snivy had a look of anger... and acted as if she wanted to battle this Shinx. Alicia looked a bit hesitant, but found herself slowly nodding. The feeling of excitement had once more began to rise in her stomach.

"Alright, Rose... If it's a fight this Shinx wants, we'll give it one!" the blonde cheered. "Quick, tackle it to the ground like it did you!"

Rose quickly ran forward, ready to charge into the wild Shinx. The Shinx was ready however and easily managed to dodge off to the side, biting onto Rose's tail with it's small, but sharp fangs. The Snivy let out a small wail of pain as the vines it used early shot out, slapping the Shinx in the forehead and causing the little lion Pokemon to release it's bite.

Rose jumped away from the Shinx, keeping a careful eye on the lion. The Shinx let out a small roar, before dashing towards Rose once more. Alicia stared at the Shinx as it dashed to tackle her Snivy. A smile suddenly graced her lips.

"Rose, use your vines to catch it in middle tackle!" the blonde shouted.

Rose nodded and shot her vines forth. One of each wrapped itself around the front paws of the Shinx. The little lion Pokemon was trapped in mid-tackle, making it much easier for the Snivy to deal with its attack. Quickly, the grass Pokemon slammed the Shinx into the ground, causing the wild Pokemon to grunt in pain. Rose released her vines and watched the Shinx curiously. The attack she had used had clearly hurt the lion Pokemon. Slowly, the Shinx tried to stagger to its feet, a small growl coming from the wild Pokemon's mouth before its legs gave out from beneath it. Alicia stood quietly at the scene, staring at the fainted Shinx in silence.

"I... I was attacked by a Pokemon... We were... But... we beat it... That means..."

Rose glanced over at her trainer with an expectant look. Alicia snapped out of thoughts as she met eyes with the Snivy, who then gestured over in Shinx's direction. Fully returning back to reality, the blonde girl grabbed one of the empty pokeballs from her bag and tossed it at the Shinx. The ball bounced into the fainted lion, snapping open as a bright light enveloped it and then pulled it inside. Alicia stared at the ball with baited breath, watching as it bounced against the ground and slowly started to shake. After what seemed like a lifetime, the shaking of the ball stilled.

Alicia stared at the ball, her body seeming to take forever to move. The blonde slowly and carefully made her way over towards the ball. Her hand shakily reached out, taking it into her grip and then pulling it close to her body.

"...A wild Pokemon... I... We caught a Pokemon..." Alicia whispered. She looked down at her Snivy, who looked a bit worn and a little tired from the battle. A small smile found its way to Alicia's lips, which slowly grew into a wide, toothy grin. "We did it! We totally caught a Pokemon!"

Rose crossed her arms with a sigh... mustering up a small smile for her trainer.

Sean made his way inside the center and being the first there handed his pokeball off to the nurse. "He's just weary for now. No major injuries or anything." He smiled weakly and went over to sit down in the waiting area as the nurse went to work on healing up his pokemon. It wasn't long and the nurse just went on about he was healthy again and Sean really didn't care. He just nodded and grabbed the ball. The likelihood of him coming back to this specific town was highly unlikely, so there really was no need to act nice to anyone here. He would get to the next town eventually and from there never look back. Well, occasionally look back he supposed. The map did have some dead ends after all, and that was the tricky part... trying to determine where to go.

He put it out of his mind for the moment and as he passed Trevor he just gave a simple nod, "I'll be out catching some mon. If you're fast enough, you can catch up." He walked on down the dirt roads as he saw yet more trainers at the professor's place and he sighed wearily. It was just more people to go up against in the tournament and more factors to take into account. Though, he could consider Trevor his little pawn now, all he needed to do was test out what he knew and slowly mold him. Would be a fun experiment anyways even if he did fail.

He strolled on down the route and glanced up at the sunny sky. Clouds usually meant rain, and with no clouds ergo there would be no chance of rain. The forest itself looked rather thick with trees and Sean made a mental note to himself NOT to step off of the path. If he strayed too far he very well could be lost in the woods and with a beginner pokemon on his hands, he doubted that the Torchi would be very helpful already with survival skills.

As he walked about he mostly heard the sounds of birds cawing loudly in the sky. Every so often a tree shook as a whole flock flew off into the sky. Trevor knew birds could be helpful… but at the same time he wasn't sure if he would take the time to catch one. He needed something more… brutal to be fair. Something that he knew could be a well-integrated part of his team. Still, it would be a waste to not find out more about these bird types. He paused suddenly and then pulled out the Torchic's pokeball. The bird appeared next to him and fluttered about, no doubt angry about its latest defeat.

"I've seen how well you can fight." He told the bird slowly, which also caused the chicken to look up angrily at him. "You almost had him, yet you idiotically went in flailing. This is not some game chicken. This is knowing how to defend yourself in the wild. In effect, you did better than I expected. You listened and you saw the boons of that, however you still acted impulsively and that led to your defeat." He rubbed at his chin, "Now, we're going to try this a second time. I can see that your impulsive nature will be hard to get rid of, but with a few winning battles you'll understand about how things work."

He eyed a tree with a flock of Pidgey in it and nodded, "Right, first off call down a opponent. And be ready to attack. Don't just mindlessly attack else all of them will come down and beat you to a pulp. It is wise to choose when you will attack, when you will say anything or perform a gesture of any kind. Now, show me."

The chicken eyes him with a curious look, but it still walked up to the tree and began calling out in shrill cries up to the tree. Judging by the unbothered Pidgeys in the tree, the taunts were generic ones.

"Want to ruffle them up? Adjust your speech. Make it specifically to degrade a Pidgey, not something you can throw against any generic pokemon."

The Torchic ruffled up its feathers and squawked out louder. This time the birds reacted a bit by cocking their heads, but still didn't so much as eye the fire type.

"You better think up of a good taunt Torchic." He replied calmly. "Failure is not an option." The Torchic once more glared at the boy and finally puffed itself up proudly. It screamed out again, and this time the Pidgeys reacted. The five birds flew up and Sean could see his Torchic start to sweat a bit, but Sean called out to the Pidgeys, "Five on one? Whatever my Torchic said would simply be true if it has to take five of you to beat down a silly little chicken. Now if one of you can beat him down, then obviously whatever he says is false and he has no reason to say smack about any of you."

At his words the birds paused and glanced among each other. "And of course the whole forest is watching, so that will only prove whatever the Torchic says to be true." With that the birds squawked among each other and finally one flew down in a battle position.

Sean smirked, "Now keep your distance, talons are a bad thing. Remember you're a fire type so your ember will do wonders here. Show it what you say is truth."

The Pidgey let out a shrill cry and flapped its wings a big and rushed at the Torchic. The fire type cried out in turn and sent out a Ember to strike the bird. Right before it could hit the Pidgey flew above it and up into the sky. Instinctively the Torchic's eyes followed it and he looked right into the sun. The chicken cried out and closed its eyes tightly, which was what the Pidgey had been waiting for. It swooped down with both talons scooping up the Torchic and it began to fly up. The fire type began to panic while stuck in the talons and Sean called up to it, "Remember, fire."

The Torchic wasted no times in letting an ember out from its beak to scorch the Pidgey's belly. The bird cried out and released the Torchic and the bird fell quite a distance bfore landing with a thud on the dirt. The Torchic shaily got up and looked to be in a daze. Sean closed his eyes, "Surely you want to beat these Pidgeys no? Then shake it off and stand up and battle!"

The Pidgey smirked up above and flew down to tackle right into what it considered helpless prey, but then the dazed Torchic staggered off to the side. The bird was taken by surprise and ended up crashing into the ground. It turned and let out a angry cry at the Torchic and that was enough to get the Torchic out of its daze.

It shook is head about and let out a taunt right at the Pidgey. Enraged already by it's failed attacke the Pidgey wasted no time in flapping its wings and going to hit right into the Torchic yet again. The Torchic bounced on it's clawed feet and dashed off to the side as the bird passed, this time in more of a mind to shoot out a Ember at its foe. The bird was caught off guard by the fire, but didn't crash this time and flew once more into the sky.

"You know, if your eyes can't follow then you should use other senses." Sean said casually. The Torchic turned to him with a confused look and the bird hit it from behind, once more ascending to hide among the treep tops. The other Pidgeys let out mocking calls to the Torchic as they saw an obvious defeat coming. Sean smirked, "Your hearing. Use that. Close your eyes and hear it coming."

The bird clamped its eyes shut as he ground his beak and did his beast to hear. All that he could hear was the sound of wind and the mocking cries and then… there! The bird turned about as the Pidgey was only a few feet away and seeing no chance to run off to the side it instead opened its beak and let the Pidgey run into a wall of flames. The bird cried out in shock and slammed into the Pidgey, but its burnt feathers were preventing it from flying off. Although it was now underneath the heavy bird the Torchic kept up with blowing out embers.

Finally the chicken kicked his feet up to push the bird away and stood back up, panting a bit. The Pidgey did not move. The other birds let out shocked cries and angrily fluttered their wings but Sean smirked, "You all agreed. He won you lost, so deal with it." He glanced over at the chicken and nodded, "Now, Cataclysm, shall we move along?" The chicken blinked at the name, then proudly puffed up and nodded.

"Good, these weaklings will be no match for you anyway. We need to find a tougher opponent. Something that will really test you out." He moved along and the chicken quickly ran to his side to follow. "You see? You prove yourself and you earned a name today. Nothing is free in this world, to get somewhere you have to push yourself to get there. Push yourself all the way, and I'll be content."

The fire type eagerly nodded its head and Sean looked through his pack and dug out a potion. He puased and grabbed a hold of the bird and began to spray the cuts and bruises it had gained. "There we go, that will heal you up. Remember, there is always a stronger opponent out there, somewhere. Just because you beat up a Pidgey doesn't mean you are the strongest. You need to gain more experience before you can start strutting about. Do you understand?"

The bird was silent for a moment and the nodded, "Good, very good." He stood back up and looked around the forest, "Now to find our next opponent we'll have to go more into the forest I believe. Not so far mind you." He rubbed his chin again, "You know hot to tackle flying opponents a bit better now, but that isn't th eonly ones you'll face. You need to learn how to battle without me, to be able to go and take on a whole team on your own. With my advice in battle however, I'll be able to aid you in getting the outcome you desire."

All the while Cataclysm nodded to everything his trainer said. It seemed that the bird was rather impressionable, especially with Sean being his first trainer and that was always a good thing.

He made his way to the side of the road and began to press in through the trees. Suffice to say, the grass wasn't that thick but the problem was that there were many trees. He angled his way inside in such a way that he wouldn't lose sight of the road. Cataclysm just looked around eagerly, probably having never been inside a real forest before and Sean looked down, "Cataclysm. Rememberto always be alert. Every new place can be dangerous." He looked about, "Same here. Just because it's near a town doesn't mean it's any less dangerious." He was about to take another step when a loud howl sounded out.

At that moment the forest exploded in a way with activity. Sentrent, Rattata, Zigzagoon, and other species he hadn't even realized that had been hiding in plain sight quickly ran off into other parts of the woods. "Well... I have a bit of learning to do myself." Sean remarked as he looked to where he had heard the howling. There was a lone Poochyena who strutted into a clearing and leaned down to eat at something, most likely some carcass. "Strange… don't dogs stay in packs?" He murmured to himself.

At that moment he had more to worry about when he saw Cataclysm break away and run into the clearing. It called out to the canine who paused in its feeding and turned to growl lightly at the chicken. Cataclysm took a shaky step back and then the canine pounced.

"Cataclysm, don't chicken up now! Ember!" The fire type however just stood there in fear as the canine ran at it and snapped his teeth intimidatingly. The canine snarled and growled once more. Cataclysm stood there looking terrifired for but a moment more before shaking his head and standing tall. The advice from Sean hit into the Torchic's mind and it opened its beak to send out flames at its opponent. The Poochyena seemed to be used to any potential prey running away once it growled and so he didn't have times to run away from the flames.

As the ember died down though the Poochyena still stood. It's fur was cringed and it looked up to lock eyes with Cataclysm, letting the bird know then and there that I had REALLY pissed it off.

This time the canine dashed forth and knocked into the chicken's body. With Cataclysm down for but a second the canine opened his jaws and bit into his flesh. Cataclysm cried out in pain. The Poochyena dug in a bit more yielding another chocked sob from the young starter.

For some odd reason though the Poochyena suddenly pulled away and dashed into the woods. Sean walked over to the shaking Torchic and knelt down to apply another potion to the bites, knowing that it would take for the flesh to be knit together. "Easy… it seems to be an ambusher." He chuckled softly, "It's why he left, thought he would leave you for dead and then come back. If everyone is as afraid of him as I believe… then that Poochyena is someone to add to our team." He smirked, "Yeah… I'll catch him, and you'll help Cata. We get him, but you'll need to get stronger first." He reaclled the Torchic into his ball and smirked, "Heh, a fine adversary."

It seemed a bit odd to be splitting up so soon Marcus thought, but he could hardly force the other two to travel with him if they wanted to explore by themselves for a while so he returned Alicia's wave as she disappeared down the road. After standing around for a while, unsure what to do, Marc started walking in the general direction the others had gone, branching off into the trees rather than sticking to the road. The shade beneath the branches was pleasant to him, a bit of a break from the midday heat that was steadily increasing as the sun rose higher and higher.

The woods were full of life as he made his way through them, though most of it was only visible out of the corner of his eye; Rattata scurrying through the undergrowth or Pidgey disturbed by his passing, whatever it was most of the wildlife around here wasn't eager to hang around when there was a human about. Walking through the trees like this was pleasant but Marc still found himself troubled, his mind inevitably drifting back to the disappointments that had been his first interactions with his pokemon. He hadn't been expecting raising a pokemon to be easy but he hadn't expected it to be this hard either; Tycho wasn't just strong willed - though he was that as well - but he seemed to actively dislike Marc for some reason that he couldn't fathom.

He couldn't quite help let out a sigh as he thought about it, fingers drifting over the pokeball that held the firey Cyndaquil. Just when Marc had finally started to get himself excited about the journey the reality of pokemon that he had learned at five years old had been pushed into his face again; they were violent creatures, and his in particular he daren't let out of his pokeball in case it attacked him. It wasn't a good start and Marc's outlook was bleak right now, but at the same time he didn't want to give up. He had no illusions about how disappointed his father would be in him if he gave up right out of the gate, and he would be disappointed in himself. Marc had been reading about places for all his life, and for all his life that had been enough. This little stint of traveling had awoken him though; he wanted to actually see somewhere, not just read about it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a growling, causing Marc to snap out of his daydreaming and actually see the Poochyena that he had practically walked over, accidentally intruding on it eating a small pidgey. Marcus locked up in fear ass the pokemon glared at him aggressively, showing small but dangerous looking teeth. The small dog started advancing on him, teeth bared angrily and Marc retreated, hands raised placatingly. Unfortunately the Poochyena seemed to sense his sudden fear and showed no signs of backing off. Caught between a rock and a hard place - a pokemon he thought might attack him and a pokemon that was almost certainly about to - Marc chose the lesser of two evils and darted his hand down to Tycho's ball, releasing the Cyndaquil into the clearing.

Fortunately for Marc Tycho didn't seem too angry about being recalled earlier and, after giving Marc a dirty glare Tycho turned his attention to the angry Poochyena, matching it's growl with his own. For a moment the two pokemon stood still, staring at each other, then in an instant both were charging towards each other.

Marc knew that his was where he was supposed to give orders - unlikely as it was that Tycho would actually listen to him - but the sight of the two pokemon actually fighting had frozen him and all he could do was watch as the larger and heavier pokemon threw Tycho backwards when they collided, the Cyndaquil landing on his back with a squeak. Tycho spat a burst of embers at the Poochyena but it dodged them, zigzagging from side to side as it ran forwards to send Tycho flying with another tackle.

Tycho his the ground hard several meters away, rolling for a bit from the force of the Tackle. The Poochyena started advancing on him slowly, taking careful steps forwards with it's eyes fixed on Tycho's throat. Desperately Marc tried to think of something to do, hs eyes fixing on the dry, dusty ground that Tycho had fallen on.

"Tycho! Throw some dirt in it's eyes!" he called out. Miraculously Tycho listened to him for once and hit the Poochyena straight in the eyes with a clump of dust just as it was charging forwards with teeth bared, stopping it in it's tracks. The Poochyena blinked and shook it's head, reopening it's eyes just in time to take a burst of ember to the face. It yelped and darted backwards, shaking it's smoking head. Tycho followed behind it and caught it in the face again with a punch that had the Poochyena slipping to the ground.

And that was it. The Poochyena tried to recover its footing but Tycho was all over it with a hail of punches from his small fists, occasionally firing off some more embers at point blank range. Soon the Poochyna was well and truly unconscious but the angry Cyndaquil kept punching, over and over again until Marc called out, "Tycho, that's enough!".

For a moment it seemed as though Tycho would keep fighting, but then he turned away with a dismissive snort; for once not directed at Marc. "You alright?" Marc asked quietly as Tycho padded over to his side, getting a nod in response. Marc shivered as he remembered how close the Poochyena's teeth had been to Tycho's throat, how close the Cyndaquil had been to not being alright.

Now that the battle was over Tycho seemed to have gone back to his old self, making a point of looking away from Marc as the two stood there. With a sigh Marc unclipped Tycho's pokeball from his bag and maximised it. "Shall we move on then?" he asked and, getting no response from the Cyndaquil except a tiny nod, he recalled Tycho into his pokeball. It dimly registered to him that he had technically just won his first pokemon battle but considering that all he had done was tell Tycho to throw some dirt, it didn't really feel like it; he certainly didn't feel like celebrating.

With a sigh, and wondering how much more discouraging this day could get, Marc continued his walk into the woods.

Trevor Dean​

Trevor delivered Dynamite pokeball to the nurse of the center just as Sean was heading out. Sean said he was going ahead in the field to get some pokemon. Trevor didn't mind. He might have trouble keeping up however, because Trevor wasn't usually the rushing type. He sat down in the waiting area and starting thinking about his journey to come. The region of Oras seemed to be filled with a bunch of interesting locations, cities, and towns. He and Dynamite would be sure to have a blast. However remembering what Sean said, it struck him that he'd need to have other pokemon join him as well. He supposed that would just be another thing that he would have to find out as he went along.

Finally, he received his pokeball back from the nurse. He thanked her and went back to the waiting area, letting his Tepig eat a bit. Watching the little pig also got Trevor wondering how they would come to know each other. They seemed to be tight even now, but still, they had just met. His thoughts were interrupted as Dynamite gave a few snorts snuffing out the crumbs in his bowl. "Hey, you all done?" The boy gave his partner a smile while petting him. The pig responded jovially. "Good. Can't be going out on an empty stomach can ya? Let's go catch us some more pokemon." With that, he headed out of the center with his partner at his heels.

The first route's woods were a pleasant sight and the fresh air was invigorating. There were many woodland pokemon that scurried it's grasses. Though Trevor wasn't exactly sure how to confront one for battle. After several minutes of scanning the area, Dynamite looked up at his trainer looking for a command. Noticing this, Trevor scratched his head a bit and quickly singled out a nearby Bunnelby that was in the middle of foraging. "Ahh, perfect! Alright Dynamite, let's get that one over there", he pointed to the rabbit pokemon . "Hit it with tackle." The Tepig nodded and began to charge while crying out, being loud enough to get the Bunnelby's attention fast enough just to avoid blindsiding it. The normal type was struck and hurled backwards into the thick bushes. In no time though, the angered rabbit, darted right back out with agility, slamming into Dynamite a top speed. Strong...pretty good, Trevor thought with a small smile.

"Tackle once more!" Dynamite rushed again, this time sweeping around to the left. Unfazed however, the Bunnelby reared back and caught the entire pig dead in his tracks with its powerful ears. Trevor quickly realized the situation and issued an ember. The tepig quickly exhaled a burst of flames. The bunnelby was forced back, with shaking of its smokey fur. Trevor nodded. "Good, now ember again." Quick to recover from the previous burning, the bunnelby quickly uses its agility to evade the attack and circle around Dynamite, preparing a tackle. "Stand your ground, and throw it back!" The Tepig planted his feet then took the high speed tackle then used his entire body and weight to push back against his attacker and send it flying straight into a tree. A heavy thud was heard upon collision.

Both trainer and pokemon waited for a moment for another response from the rabbit. Nothing. Dynamite trotted over to check, much to Trevor's worry, but it was in fact unconscious. "Good job Dynamite!" The Tepig called back over to its trainer then nodded to the Bunnelby. Trevor thought for a moment. "Uhh, I don't think I'll catch this one." The Tepig nodded but instead of immediately running back to Trevor, he sat the unconscious rabbit up against the tree in a sitting position and scanned the area for a sitrus berry the normal type dropped when the battle started. Dynamite subsequently fed the berry to Bunnelby reviving it. Both Trevor and the rabbit stood for a moment in shock. Soon though, both pig and rabbit exchanged smiles and the Bunnelby actually gave Dynamite a berry of his own and ran off. Trevor then walked over and scooped up Dynamite into his arms. "Haha, you're a nice guy aren't ya?" His partner happily yipped in response. Trevor gave him a pat. "Well it's good you're able to handle yourself. We might need to have a few more battles before we get out this forest." With that, Trevor set Dynamite down and they both continued their trek through the woods.

"Hm…" Sean was now back on the road and just looking around for some potential competition. "If we want to beat the Poochyena, then we're going to need to train you up. It's using hit and run tactics to get us weak, that and eventually make me run out of potions, I only have two left." He closed his eyes in concentration. "Alright, we're going to be finding other species and dealing with them. Let's see… walk with me." Of course Cata followed along his trainer as they walked down the path. "When we find something we'll have you battle it. Go in strong and you'll do fine."

Cata nodded his large head happily and continued walking on, only stopping when he realized his trainer had stopped as well. Sean pointed off to a bush, "Cata, what's wrong with this picture?"

The Torchic blinked his eyes in confusion and glanced over at the bush, not really understanding until he saw the bush move about. He let out a eager cry and rushed over there. He puffed up his chest and let out some loud squawks and the bush suddenly stopped shaking. "Zig?" A voice called out as a Zigzagoon popped his head out of the bush and blinked a bit at the Torchic that now was glaring at him.

The Zigzagoon cried out as flames were shot out at its face and initially the normal type turned to flee, but Cata had other plans. The Torchic shot yet another burst of flame at the Zigzagoon and the normal type fell onto the ground, groaning softly as the heat from the flames knocked it out.

"You'll learn nothing that way Cata." Sean said simply. "Defeating opponents by simply jumping on them when they don't expect it is never a way to fight. If you go in knowing who you are against, and knowing their weaknesses and strengths and using such knowledge to your advantage, then that is a far better way to battle. Not only do you learn new techniques, but you also are able to leave knowing that you beat the enemy fair and square. As long as they know that you mean them harm, then you are free to act as you wish. You don't necessarily have to use fair tactics. Trickery is also allowed, as many opponents will use that against you as well but don't use trickery until they do. A fair fight like I said will make you stronger in the long run." Sean began walking again and Cata cast a glance back at the fallen Zigzagoon, but turned his eyes away and running to catch up with Sean.

"If you simply battle the weak then you gain nothing and instead give others a worse idea of you. You must always look like the good guy because that is what civilization as a whole gravitates to. If you go and beat everyone up, then no one will support you and you will find yourself without allies. Understand?"

The Torchic gave several nods and Sean frowned, "At this point I don't think you do, but you'll learn in time. You are still young after all and these things take time, even years to understand." Sean glanced around again and spied a Shinx that was eating some berries from a bush. "See that Shinx there? Challenge it to a battle. Give a formal request and I'll help from the sidelines. I'm the voice of reason in these battles and know that with my advice you'll win."

Cata nodded and walked on over to the indulgent Shinx and chirped at the electric type. The Shinx paused in its meal and cast a glance over at Cata as it chewed on the berries and swallowed quickly. It yet out a yip in return and got down and wagged its tail back and forth.

"Cata, get ready. Battle position now." The Torchic chirped and flapped hiss tiny wings and gripped the ground with his talons. For a few seconds the two combatants did not move, but then the Shinx dashed forward. "Cata, Ember." Sean commanded. Cataclysm opened his beak to let the flames pour out and the Shinx was obscured for a moment. As the smoke parted however the Shinx leapt out and batted Cata with one of its paws. Cata staggered back a bit while his opponent smirked at the hit.

"Cata, stay strong. It was but one hit. Keep your guard up and once the Shinx comes in close enough let out another Ember."

Cata glued his eyes right on the Shinx and the Shinx likewise stared him down. Slowly the Shinx began to circle Cata and Cata began to spin on the spot to keep him in his sights. For about half a minute the two played this game until finally the Shinx could hold back his excitement any longer and ran at Cata. As soon as he was in range Cata let loose another Ember and the Shinx cried out. Instead of running through the fire, it turned around and quickly ran out of the flames.

Cata paused in his fire breathing to still keep a set of wary eyes on the Shinx. The electric type already looked plain exhausted so Sean nodded, "Cata, finish it off with another Ember." The Torchic flapped it's wings and sent out a small wave of flame to bake the Shinx. The small creature fell down and Cata let out a victorious cry. The Torchic padded over happily to Sean who knelt down and patted the Torchic on the head, "Good work Cata. Just keep that up and you'll do fine."

"Heh, a Torchic huh? I guess that must mean you're one of those trainers that just got a starting pokemon eh?"

Sean got back up and turned to see a girl about his age standing there. She wore what could be considered a type of uniform and had a backpack on and had a pokeball on her belt.

"Yes… I am." Sean stated simply, "And you are?"

She grinned, "Heh, don't recognize the uniform huh? I'm from Lynbury Town just up ahead Route 1. I'm from the trainer's school and when I heard that some new trainers were coming in I wanted to come down and test my mettle. I'm Jessica and I challenge you to a battle!"

Sean nodded a bit, "I see. Well I'm Sean and I'll accept that challenge. Cata, front and center." The Torchic raced over and flapped his wings with an eager expression on his face.

'Hm… we can't use items during our battle. That is my rule, so you should heal up your Torchic. It looks like it got a little bruise."

Sean kneeled and took out a potion yet again and sprayed his mon all over.

The two stood on opposite sides with Cata all ready to go. Jessica took off her ball and threw it out, "Come out Spearow!" She shouted as the large predator bird appeared on the ground and let out a menacing caw. "Remember, no items during this. Just pure skill will be at work."

Sean smirked, "Oh? Well my Torchic is very skilled. He'll have no trouble really."

Jessica frowned, "I meant trainer skill."

Sean blinked and looked genuinely surprised, "So you battle pokemon in place of Spearow?"

Jessica fell silent and pointed at Cata, "Spearow go and take down that Torchic! Use a Peck attack!"

The bird let out a caw and flapped its wings to get into the air and fly right at Cata. "Cata, counter with a Ember." Sean countered. The Torchic let out a wave of flames as per standard, however the foe flew right through the flames quickly and began to peck at the Torchic with its rather sharp beak. Cata cried out and fell down on his back with a thud as the Spearow stood over him and continue to stab at him with its beak.

"Cata, its right there. The best thing to do now is a Scratch attack. Get it way from you."

Cata flailed a bit more there until finally he began to kick out with his own claws to scratch up the Spearow and possibly push it away. The technique worked and the Spearow let out a caw as it was pushed away. Cata got back up on his feet and Sean nodded, "Ember."

With the bird being close enough Cata let out a point blank Ember to roast the bird. It wasn't until the bird was told by his own trainer to fly away from the flames that it snapped out of its shocked state and flew up into the sky. Cata kept his eyes trained on the high flyer but was helpless when the bird swooped down low and gripped the Torchic in its talons.

"Now let it go!" The bird cawed and let go of the small bird and Cata hit the ground and rolled around a bit.

"You see, I've learned a lot in the academy, like how bird types are very useful!" She chuckled, "You have no chance."

Sean just had a neutral look, "The play isn't over, until the Jynx sings." Cata, get back up and get back into a battle position."

The Torchic groaned and slowly began to get back up, only to fall down yet again, "Cata, get up." Sean said and the fire type staggered back up onto his two legs, huffing and sweating a bit.

"You know your Torchic isn't looking good." Jessica remarked, "It shouldn't be battling in such a way."

Sean just glanced over the field and at the Spearow. "Stay strong Cata, belief is what you need right now."

The Torchic let out a weak groan and Jessica sighed, "Fine, if that's what you want… Spearow, one last hit is what we need. Peck it yet again!"

The Spearow cried and flew down like an arrow at the Torchic. "Cata, use your claws and get some dirt up at that Spearow."

Cata grunted as he turned and used his clawed feet to throw up some dirt, already having an idea of what Sean was going for. With the Spearow's speed the dirt flew right into the bird's eyes and the flyer cried out as he became temporarily blinded. The bird turned back up, but thanks to his poor eyesight he ended up hitting into a branch and falling down on the ground.

"Cata, he's down. Ember."

The Torchic puffed up and sent out a Ember to hit the bird.

"Spearow get that dirt out of your eyes!" Jessica called out, but the bad thing with birds was that they had no fingers to rub at their eyes, so all the Spearow could do was blink its eyes furiously to try and get out the dirt, but it was now a choice. Either try and get away from the flames, or blink to see again.

The bird ended up trying to get away, though as it launched into the air it hit into a tree and fell to the ground unconscious.

"Hm, training is nice, but sometimes you have to try other things." Sean said. "Now you know a new trick Cata." The Torchic flapped its small wings happily as Sean called him back. "Though to be fair, it was luck too. Very easily the dirt could have missed. Probably the only time that trick will work to be frank."

Jessica just huffed and recalled her Spearow, "Yeah, I say it was all luck. You know you should take better care of that Torchic."

Sean made his way down the road, "We all have our methods. Later." He would have to get back to the center and heal Cata up, then it was back here to find that Poochyena.