It was a sunny, wonderful day. A bright blue sky hung above the world of Hoenn with a few puffy clouds dotting the sky. Ross walked along the trail trampled by many others before, hoping to test his team's might as usual against competing trainers. As chance would have it, he found a match waiting for him. A female trainer of similar age leaning against a tree, reviewing her Pokedex. As Ross came close, she noticed him and took initiative.

"Hey there, come here often?" She asked.

"Oh, I'm Ross." he said, slightly embarrassed. "Just passing by looking for a good battle." Ross retorted.

"Heh, aren't we all? My name is Alice, by the way. If you want a fight, you found one." Alice said as she put her Pokedex away and readied her Pokeballs.

"All right, let's go." Ross said, backing up to prepare for battle.

"Let's do a three-on-three; I want to see how well you can do with just half of your team." Alice suggested. Ross nodded as he carefully chose his lead-off Pokemon.

"Go, Piloswine!" The girl said, unleashing a healthy Piloswine.

"Go, Hitmonlee!" Ross shouted, releasing his Hitmonlee.

"Show her your Hi-Jump Kick!" Ross commanded to his Hitmonlee. In an instant, it jumped high and readied its knee to strike the opposing Piloswine.

"Uh-uh! Protect!" The Piloswine readied itself with a barrier, and confidently embraced the fierce fighting move. The sheer recoil knocked back Ross's Hitmonlee, taking some serious damage.

"Hitmonlee! Mega kick!" he ordered as a safer alternative. Hitmonlee gathered his strength and attempted another kick. It connected, doing a fair bit of damage.

"Piloswine, show him your Blizzard!" Piloswine inhaled deeply and exhaled a blisteringly cold spray of snow, knocking out the Hitmonlee with ease. Ross recalled the battered Pokemon and sent out his Starmie instead.

"Use Psychic!" said Ross. Starmie's central gem glowed and fired brightly colored, distorting waves at the Piloswine. It did great damage but not enough as it hung on by the skin of its teeth.

"Earthquake!" The rival trainer said, causing Piloswine to send out a violent disturbance to the ground. The seismic wave reached the Starmie, and did some brutal damage.

"Don't give up! Another Psychic!" Starmie shot out another series of psychic waves, finishing off the piloswine. It was recalled from Alice, and she sent out a Flygon in its place, quickly shifting its head to examine the area in a curious and excited manner.

"Flygon, Dragon Claw!" Without hesitation, the Flygon Flew upwards and primed its claw. It swooped downward and slashed directly at the Starmie, knocking it out.

"Huh, not bad." Ross said upon recalled his Starmie. "Now, the real fight begins! Let's go, Swampert!"

Veronica was freed from her pokeball, ready yet resentful. She saw the Flygon hovering above the ground, and was waiting to strike it down at Ross's command.

"Veronica, Rain Dance!" Veronica channeled her power and dark storm clouds quickly appeared over the battle site. Within moments a downpour started.

"Don't let up. Flygon, another Dragon Claw!" Flygon happily repeated the same sequence of actions to knock out Ross's Starmie. The vicious attack connected, but the Swampert took the hit well. Her natural durability had help come into play and readied to strike back.

"Retaliate with Muddy Water!" Ross bellowed, as Veronica kicked up a wave of water, feeding the swelling mass with high amounts of loose dirt and muck. The wave crashed over the Flygon with unrelenting force. When it subsided, the Flygon had lost its will and energy to fight.

"Come back, Flygon. You did your job," Said Alice. "Now, let's see what you're made of. Come on out, Salamance!"

With a great roar, the Salamance entered battle. It took immediate notice of the downpour and the Swampert, and knew it was going to have a disadvantage.

"Another Muddy Water!" Ross ordered. Veronica was in agreement, and kicked up another wave of dirty water. It splashed roughly on the Salamance, dealing a fair amount of damage. Yet, Salamance looked on and was ready to return the favor.

"Come on Salamance, use your Dragon Breath!" Salamance's maw opened up and began sucking in air, and then in an instant unleashed the air in the form of a vile breath, caustic and painful to the touch. Veronica responded with a painful remark, indicating that she had become paralyzed from the attack. Ross became quite worried, hoping that she can soldier on.

"Quickly end it! Hyper beam!" Commanded the female trainer. Salamance adopted a sick grin as it opened its mouth again and charged the attack. The lights flashed brighter and brighter for several seconds until it was ignited. Ross felt his heart sink and quickly called to Veronica.

"Protect! Protect! Now!" Veronica managed to find strength and immediately put up a protective barrier, similiar to the Piloswine's. The Hyper Beam connected just as it hit Veronica and was successfully voided. She survived it.

As the attack failed, Alice's expression quickly turned grim. She gambled with hyper beam, and from the outcome of the previous turn, was going to lose almost certainly. She could do nothing but watch as her Salamance recovered from the exhausting attack, and both waited for their judgement.

"This fight is mine. Now is your chance, one last Muddy Water!" Not questioning Ross, Veronica repeated her signature move for a third time, and put in all her energy into it. A massive wave had swelled and crashed upon the recovering dragon Pokemon. The Salamance slumped onto its stomach, defeated. The female trainer nodded in acceptance and returned her Salamance to its pokeball.

"Great fight. That Swampert of yours sure is strong." The defeated battler said to Ross.

"Thanks, great fight to you as well Alice. We can battle again tomorrow..." Ross said, blushing slightly.

"Maybe, but this loss just means I'll have to try harder. We can be great battle partners. Come find me here again tomorrow if you want to battle again" Alice said. As customs for losing a battle, she handed Ross a fair sum of cash; approximately nine-hundred Pokedollars. Ross accepted the money as Alice departed down the trail and went into town past the rain. Ross followed, making sure to give his Pokemon a good rest for a battle well fought.

The downpour still didn't let up as Ross rolled into town after about ten minutes walking through the rain. Eventually, he made it to the Pokemon center, a haven for trainers. Ross also coincidentally ran into Alice again, having her Pokemon healed.

"Need healing as well?" Alice said in a playful tone.

"Everybody does when they are a trainer." Ross replied.

They both healed their Pokemon back to prime condition, thanking the Nurse Joy for the service. Still with the showers raging outside caused by Veronica, they decided to hunker down and wait out the storm. As minutes went by, Ross suddenly came to a serious realization involving Veronica: What if she suddenly stopped obeying him? What if she simply refused to battle for him due to the neglect?

Ross admitted that he depended on his Swampert for a majority of his victories. He knows that he has a strong team that is well spread out in terms of battle experience, yet his primary Pokemon has been ignored so many times. He questioned himself on training her extensively and rarely giving her play time like the others, painting himself as a restrictive and cold hearted master. Veronica tried to notion it towards him with her attitude, and Ross felt foolish never realizing it until now. Ross decided that for the first time in a very long while, he would make it up to Veronica. As Ross waited for the storm to reduce to a mere trickle, he wondered: how exactly can he mend their past together? He needed something dynamic and right in her element, but what could he do?

Ross thought about possible solutions, such as including her into his team's recess regularly or giving her some deluxe and expensive Poke food, but quickly argued against it. Ross needed something big and something reliable to curb Veronica's attitude. After thinking, a grand suggestion was born into his mind. Ross started talking to Alice again.

"Hey Alice, you wouldn't happen to know of any wetlands or swamps nearby or the like, would you? I'm thinking about trying to catch some new Pokemon other there." Ross questioned.

"You already got yourself a nice team, why would you need to catch some more?" Alice replied.

"Well, uh, that's... not the point. You see... uh..." Ross awkwardly said, and alerting Alice to his real intention.

"You want to go there just for your Swampert, don't you?" said Alice

"Uh, yeah. That's actually what I meant." Ross said slightly sadly. "It is because I rarely spend time with her outside of fighting. She deserves better than having to constantly battle. I'm doing this for her sake." Ross said, with slightly more emotion.

Alice nodded in agreement and began pondering possible places of interest that would suit Ross and his Swampert. Eventually, she remembered one spot that she went to herself a while back.

"I know of one place, about twenty minutes away from here." Alice said. "Head back to the east, right around where we battled. From there, try going northeast into the forest and keep going. Eventually, you should find a swamp or the like out there. Careful though, it's bound to be muddy from the weather."

Ross's heart lit up with excitement and determination. "Are you sure there's one close?" Ross said.

"Yeah. Absolutely." Alice answered. "Well, if you say so. I'll check it out myself." Ross said back.

Ross got up from his seat and left the Pokemon center, retracing his steps along the muddy trail formed out of Veronica's Rain Dance. Ross made it back to where he battled Alice earlier; complete with cracks in the ground from Earthquake and heavy erosion from repeated Muddy Waters. He checked his compass for northeast, directly into the forest. It was almost six O' clock, and with the forest's thick canopy, he wondered if there would be enough light to navigate safely. Knowing it would be foolish going back now, he carefully hiked his way through the damp and somewhat darkened forest, almost qualifying as a bog itself. Ross moved carefully, even though there was still good visibility, anything could jump on him at a moment's notice. After trekking through an array of small plants, leaves, and rocks for a while, he suddenly smelled the distinct scent of wet moss and muck-concentrated water. The ground was becoming more and more damp; something good was close.

Ross pressed on just a little more, and before him was a textbook definition of a swamp. Exactly like the one he had in mind. He stood upon a cliff, looking down at the swamp from a height of around eight feet. A big mass of water, almost public pool like, filled to the brim with muck and microscopic plant life. Large trees decorating the swamp water and surrounding area. Above the water was a slight fog that hovered over the water body.

After taking in the scenery for a while, Ross came to his senses; realizing the whole purpose of coming out here. He fumbled quickly for Veronica's Pokeball and called her out. Ross took a deep breath and hoped for the best.