The two trainers stood gazing at each other. Both poised to fight and determined to win.

Joe, the taller of the two, was the favourite to win. He had explored Hoenn with his friend Lewis and had much experience.

Callum on the other hand has also explored Hoenn, but did not have the experience of travelling with someone. His tactics were based around one Pokémon and one Pokémon only.

Joe had built a whole sturdy team based around his Sceptile, but this was a one on one match. His team didn't matter.

Both trainers threw their Pokeballs onto the dusty terrain and their Pokémon were released.

As predicted, Callum had chosen his strongest Pokémon, his Aggron. He was often predictable in his choice of Pokémon and often reckless. Callum was one to go for brute force in an attempt to completely tear apart the opponents' team. He normally relied on hoping that a water Pokémon with enough stamina wouldn't pop up.

Joe has chosen his reliable and Sceptile. The trainer and Pokémon had shared a close bond and was Joe's first ever Pokémon. Sceptile's grass type should prove dominant in this battle.

In the middle of the battlefield was Lewis, the referee for the match. Joe's close friend and blood related to Callum.

"Okay," smiled Lewis, "Ready guys?" His light-hearted personality seemed to somewhat ease the tension.

Joe nodded, trying to stay concentrated.

"Yeah, get on with it!" yelled Callum. Callum was younger than Lewis and Joe and was often naïve. Callum was definitely over confident.

"Sure," agreed Lewis, running out of the arena, "Sceptile versus Aggron! Go!"

"Okay Sceptile, Return!" yelled Joe, ordering the first move.

Sceptile's speed took full advantage and charged into Aggron, who stood still. Callum grinned.

"Huh…!" replied Joe, stunned by the fact Aggron who didn't move. Return had destroyed many trainers' teams in battles previously. However, Aggron did not budge. This was because, despite Joe's strong friendship with Sceptile 'return' was of the normal type and did almost nothing to Aggron.

"GO! GO! GO! Fire Blast!" yelled Callum.

Sceptile was standing beside Aggron and the fire blast attack was quick to hit. Star shaped flames licked Sceptile and flew it backwards. Luckily for Joe, Sceptile managed to stumble onto the ground, before it could have collided into Joe. Sceptile had lost over half of its' stamina already.

"Return again! IT'S GOT TO WORK!" yelled Joe, adamantly.

Again, Sceptile rammed itself into Aggron who this time took more damage than last time due to being a little off guard.

"Double-Edge!" yelled Callum. Callum knew that Aggron was running out of PP for Fire Blast and could only use it one more time. Despite being a tad on the reckless side Callum was not stupid.

Aggron smacked itself into the Sceptile, forcing both Pokémon backwards. Aggron had received a tiny bit of recoil, but Sceptile was looking very vulnerable after the attack.

Lewis, who was watching the battle from the outskirts of the arena, was resisting the temptation to speak. He didn't enjoy watching his friend getting beat. He was hoping for Sceptile to win the match, but it was looking very unlikely at the moment.

It was even harder to watch when Lewis knew that Joe was making tactical errors. Sceptile had the move Leaf Blade, which if Joe had used instead of return Aggron would have been beaten by now. It was almost like Joe was using Callum's ruthless strategy, hoping that the pure love between Sceptile and Joe would prove to be Aggron and Callum's weakness.

On the battlefield Joe knew he had to try something else. He had finally realised using return had been reckless. He felt outwitted by Callum. If Callum was to win now he would have deserved it.

"Okay… Hyper Beam!" yelled Joe. Lewis sighed in defeat.

Sceptile let out a powerful beam from its mouth powering straight into Aggron, who struggled to defend against it for a little while. However, as Lewis thought, Aggron had resisted it for long enough.

"Yes! Now Aggron, finish him off with a final Fire Blast" screamed Callum in delight.

Callum had predicted well that Fire Blast would be enough. The star shaped flame toasted Sceptile as it fell to the floor in defeat. Callum danced around in a circle, before he ran up to Aggron and hugged it.

"Sorry Sceptile…" apologised Joe to his Pokémon as he recalled it to its' pokeball.

"Game won!" cried Lewis, "Aggron and Callum are the winners!"

Callum had finally stopped hugging Aggron. The victory meant a lot to him. Joe and Lewis had come over to him and shook Joe's hand.

Joe himself was feeling regretful and was already in deep though.

"Good game," said he said, bitterly. Joe didn't like losing.

"Heh," said Lewis, putting his arm round Joe, "It was a good match, don't worry Joe. I'll tell you a few tips later,"

"What about me?" asked Callum, in search for approval from his older cousin.

"Hah, you're such an attention seeker," joked Lewis, "Dude, you were pretty cool,"

"Mhmm…" mumbled Joe, still watching replays of the battle in his head.

That night Joe and Lewis were camping round a fire. Lewis with his newly caught Trapinch beside him and Joe with his Sneasal. Every night they'd let one of their Pokémon out with them to spend the night with them.

"You know what happened today?" asked Joe, in the middle of a conversation about sausage rolls. He had clearly been thinking about it.

"Yes?" asked Lewis, perfectly well knowing what Joe was on about.

"How did I lose? Like Callum's known for being reckless. I thought it would be a battle of pure strength, but how…? And why didn't Return work?"

"You see Aggron's got good defence. It's steel and rock type so normal attacks such as Return and even Hyper Beam wouldn't be effective."

"But Sceptile and I have a strong bond! Equally enough as you and Crobat!"

Joe was still unable to face the fact he had lost. He couldn't get his head round the fact and was starting to get angry at Lewis.

"Dude, you should have used Leaf Blade. It would have done enough damage to kill Aggron in two turns."

There was a silence in the air. Joe had finally noticed the huge tactical flaw.

"Sorry" said Joe, a moment later. "I didn't mean to get angry,"

"I know" accepted Lewis, "You've been bothered by it all day,"

"Heh, thanks Lewis," For the first time ever since the battle Joe smiled, "I've been thinking, why are we still in Hoenn?"

"Because we agreed we'd train up Pokémon like Trapinch and Sneasal," Lewis patted the Trapinch on the forehead and it smiled.

"Yeah, but how about we go somewhere else!"

"Like…?"

"Kanto, Johto or Sinnoh. What about Orre? I love Orre! I went there on holiday!"

Joe was all of a sudden happy and excited.

"Whoa! Hold on a minute," said Lewis, trying to think reasonably. He hated Orre; "We're not going to Orre, because you know how much I hate it."

"Okay, but can we go somewhere else? We'll take Trapinch and Sneasal and a few other Pokémon we can train and catch new Pokémon. It will be a whole new experience,"

Joe's idea was starting to appeal to Lewis.

"I'm starting the like your idea," admitted Lewis, "Okay, but where do you want to go?"

"Hmm…" Joe thought a while, "So… not Orre?" Lewis nodded, "Hmm… I don't want to go to Sinnoh. So Johto or Kanto?"

"Johto?" asked Lewis, "I wouldn't mind going there,"

"Johto it is then,"

"I wouldn't mind Kanto also..." Lewis noticed the point he just made was just oblivious to Joe, "Yeah… Johto."