Chapter 1: Pride

Jubilife City; the face of the Sinnoh Region. Modern skyscrapers stretched high all around the city. People and pokemon came and went every second of everyday – and today was no different. The beginning of the gentle spring season proved to be the perfect outdoors day. As such, the central park was filled more than usual, young people and pokemon spending time together in blissful joy. The park was the most beautiful and well-kept in all of Sinnoh; thus Sinnoh's finest would usually visit the park at least once in their lifetimes. One such individual was there the moment the sun reached its highest point. The Champion of Sinnoh, Cynthia, sat relaxed with a book and a Jubilife Cone on one of the many benches. She was in her casual wear; her baby-blue vest-dress.

In the shadow of the trees further down the path stood a young boy struggling to work up the courage to speak to her. He lived his entire life as the shy-type, only speaking when spoken to, mostly. Cladis was the name of the boy. His hair was pure white and tied up in a high pony-tail but also extending down to cover his right eye. He wore a dark crimson jacket which remained open to show his black shirt and pants. Around his neck hung a pendant shaped in the form of the Roman numeral I, tied with a golden chain. Perched on his shoulder was a pokemon that was uncommon to the Sinnoh Region. It was his best friend; Sonitus. A Noibat.

"Noi…" the pokemon cooed in a concerned matter.

"I-I know, Sonitus, I know I have to," Cladis replied in a gently voice, "I'm just nervous, is all…"

"Noibat!" it retorted, in a commanding fashion.

"A-alright, alright I'm going," he took a deep breath and stepped out into the pathway. "Okay…here goes-" He was cut off by three Punks who walked into him, not paying attention, and knocked him to the ground.

"Watch it, you twerp!" the leader snarled.

"S-sorry, but you were the ones who weren't p-paying attention," Cladis responded as he picked himself up.

"Hey boss, check it out, this guy's givin' you lip," the Punk to his left said.

"You gonna take that?" the right one chimed in.

"Dumbass, why you gotta ask stupid shit like that?" the leader said, pushing the right one a bit. "Of course I'm gonna teach this smartass and his rodent a lesson!"

Cladis growled angerly. "H-he's not a rodent! If there was a rodent around here, it'd be you!" Sonitus patted Cladis' cheek with his wing-paw gently. C-calm…r-right.

"Wrong move, kid. Now you and your flying rat are gonna get a beating! Back up your words, if you're so tough!" the leader said as he tossed out a pokeball into the air. In a flash of red light, the leader's Honchkrow took form and cawed loudly.

Sonitus flew off Cladis' shoulder and took an aerial battle stance. "Noi!" it cried out.

The Honchkrow and its trainer laughed. "Look at this thing! Teach it a lesson, Honchkrow, use Dark Pulse!"

A black aura began to form around the bird. Its wings began to flap, shooting waves upon waves of Darkness at Sonitus at an alarmingly fast speed. The Noibat barely had enough time to dodge around the waves. Before Sonitus could even prepare itself to counterattack, the Honchkrow was immediately in his face and issued a devastating Night Slash with its talons, knocking him to the ground. "Sonitus!" Cladis called out as the Noibat shrugged off the damage, impressively. "G-gust! Use Gust!"

"Gust?! Oh no, whatever shall we do?!" the leader mocked. "Honchkrow, cut through it with Night Slash!" The talons of the Honchkrow began to glow purple again as it charged through the Gust attack, ignoring the minor damage it was sustaining.

"A-arrogance will cost you," Cladis now mocked, "Sonitus, use Heat Wave!" The Noibat called out as the gust of wind he was whipping up began to burn with a fiery intensity that proved too much for his foe to ignore. The Honchkrow cried out as the burning winds engulfed it.

The leader was now showing signs of distress. "What kind of bullshit is that?!"

As the battle raged on, other park goers stopped and stood on the sides of the path. They became spectators, cheering on Sonitus as he charged into the fiery winds and knocked the Honchkrow to the ground with a hardy Tackle. Surprisingly enough, the tiny bat pokemon was proving to be a match for the Punk's Honchkrow. It was truly becoming a remarkable spectacle for such a spring day.

Among the crowd were two particular individuals. Both of them – a male and a female – were rather tan and thin. The male was rather lanky with a small soul patch on his chin while the female was of average height with a black ring piercing on her lip. They both had "dirty blonde" hair, shaven for the male, shoulder length for the female. If their white and blue striped tops didn't give them away, their bandanas surely did. The sigil of Team Aqua from the Hoenn Region was worn with pride. The spectacle was so entertaining, no one even bothered to pay them any mind. "Kid's not bad," the lanky one said.

"Oh please," the female scoffed, "would you have expected that small bat to have such a move?"

"No, and that's my point. Kid had it all planned out. Besides, he must be good to get the Champ's attention."

The female looked over to see Cynthia standing behind the crowd in a discrete fashion. She looked quite entranced. The female grunt rolled her eyes and looked back at the battle. I guess not.

Sonitus dove in for another Tackle. Catching the Honchkrow in its dodge, Sonitus launched another Heat Wave. The Honchkrow fell straight to the ground, struggling to get up. "Get up, damn bird, get the fuck up!" the leader ordered.

"S-Sonitus, please end this. Use Heat Wave one last time!" The Noibat began to storm up another wind when it was suddenly blind sighted by a burst of flame from its side. "H-hey!" Cladis yelled as he turned to see one of the only Punks standing with a Houndour.

"You can't show up the boss like that! You mess with him, you mess with us!"

"Damn right!" the attention shifted to the third Punk, who sent out a Stunky. Sonitus was barely able to get up before it was pelted with an Acid Spray attack.

"S-stop!" Cladis cried out.

Sonitus laid flat on the ground. It was clear that he was unable to continue the battle. The crowd grew visibly upset. "Cowards…" the lanky grunt said. His female companion was silent.

Cladis clenched his fist while reaching to his waist for Sonitus' pokeball. "H-happy now? You win. Sonitus ret-"

The Noibat was struck by a Shadow Ball from the Honchkrow, sending him flying. He landed a few inches away from his trainer. "W-what are you doing?! The battle's over!"

The poor pokemon was struck again.

"Y-you're killing him!"

"We ain't done until you and your rat learn some respect, twerp! Boys, teach him one final lesson!"

The three pokemon began to prepare a Fire Blast, Dark Pulse, and a Sludge Bomb combination. They fired, causing a massive smokescreen around the crowd. The crowd was spewing profanity and vulgarity among the smoke. But once the smoke cleared, the crowd grew silent – they were stunned to see the boy standing before his pokemon. He was tattered and charred and in would seem in pain if not for his stern gaze. He said nothing as he picked up his bleeding, unconscious pokemon.

"Serves you right, kid! Mess with us and shit happens! Hope you learned your lesson!"

"Picking on a defenseless pokemon? I think you're the ones who need to be taught a lesson."

Cynthia was now standing ahead of the crowd but…it wasn't her who spoke. The crowd stared in fearful, surprised awe as they saw the female Aqua grunt standing beside Cladis. Beside her was an angry looking Vaporeon. Her male grunt companion looked beside him, only just realizing she was gone. "Fighting to kill? How sickening!"

"What's that fancy smancy word, boss? Hypocrite?" the right Punk taunted.

"My thought's exactly," the leader replied. "I say we teach her a lesson, too!"

"Hey hey, hey now," the male grunt said as he walked up to the other side of Cladis in a mellow fashion. "No lessons'll be taught. Not without me," he said, sending out a Mightyena.

The leader grinned. "Still three to two. You really think you can take us?"

"Allow me to even the odds." Cynthia now approached the battlefield. She looked down at Sonitus. "He'll be fine if you hurry to the Pokemon Center," she said, touching Cladis gently on the shoulder.

Cladis nodded and dashed off just as Cynthia's Garchomp appeared from behind the bench Cynthia was sitting on. "Shall we begin?"

"S-shit…"