Chapter 2

As Brendan walked into town, his first thought was that something was wrong. The streets were empty. He ran down the road until he came to a fruit shop, in which an old woman was stocking up on watermelons. This was definitely not characteristic of a crisis, so Brenan slowed to a walk.

Eventually, he stumbled upon a marketplace, toward the centre of Accumula Town, which currently seemed to hold most of the population. Everyone was crowded around a man dressed in regal gowns, standing on a platform in the centre of a market place and talking into a microphone.

"Pokémon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers," the man on the platform was preaching, "they get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work... Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying?"
"What?" Brendan said aloud, wondering what on Earth he was waffling on about.
"We must liberate the Pokémon!" The man shouted, throwing his fist in the air, "Then, and only then, will humans and Pokémon truly be equals!"
"Liberate?" Brendan repeated in disbelief. This guy, dressed like a monk at mardi gra, and the gang of colourless goons behind him, were trying to persuade the townsfolk that Pokémon were enslaved. He had heard of people believing that confining Pokémon to poke balls was cruel, as was battling, but he had never come across anyone like this.
"We are all equals!" he shouted at the man on the platform, who either couldn't hear Brendan, or simply ignored him.
"We sincerely appreciate your attention." The man said, bowing to the crowd and walking, along with his gang of bodyguards, from the platform, disappearing into the crowd.

"Next time you should probably just keep it down," someone said from behind him. Brendan turned around to see a boy a few years younger than him.
"Did you hear that stuff?" Brendan asked, "It's like they were the members of some deluded cult!"
"They kinda are," the boy said, "He's a sage of Team Plasma."
"Never heard of them."
"What, have you been living under a Gigalith?"
"A what?"
"Your being serious, aren't you?" he asked. Brendan nodded.
"We had better have lunch," the kid told him.

"So that's their story," Brendan said, leaning back and closing the lid of a pizza box, "What's yours, Cheren?"
"I just started on my journey," Cheren told him, "Got my first Pokémon, captured a few more, been training them here in Accumula Town before I go over Striation City my first badge."
"No kidding," Brendan said, "I've just come over from Hoenn. I'm starting a new journey with only Pokémon I catch here, so I guess we're both beginners."
"Really?" Cheren asked, "Do you wanna battle?"
"Sure," Brendan smiled, "But it'll have to be one on one, cause I've only got one Pokémon so far."
"Fine with me," Cheren said, "I know where we can battle."

Cheren took Brendan to a square behind the Pokémon centre, where an arena had been painted into the concrete. Brendan, deciding to go first, threw out his Victini. He had only completely one small training session so far, not enough to challenge a gym, but it'll do for this simple backyard battle.
"Cool," Cheren said, as the victory Pokémon appeared, "You have a Victini!"
"Uh, yea," Brendan said, "What, are they rare?"
"Well, they're not common," Cheren told him, "But they're not terribly rare either. Where'd you find it?"
"In the forests over there," Brendan told him, "It was eating my lunch from in front of me."
"Well, let's get this started," Cheren said, throwing a poke ball and releasing a small blue and white Pokémon, that looked suspiciously like a water Pokémon.
"Go Oshawott!" Cheren said, "Use your Water Gun!"
"Guess I was right," Brendan muttered, "Victini, Confusion!"
Victini glowed and the jet of water released by Oshawott was completely dissipated.
"Tail Whip!" Cheren said. His Oshawott waggled its tiny tail. Victini's defence would have lowered, not that it mattered. Water Gun was a special attack, and that Oshawott didn't look nearly agile enough to hit a flying foe with a physical attack.
"Tackle!"
"Dodge." Brendan said, and Victini simply flew higher, out of range.
"Let's check out that Searing Shot of yours," Brendan told Victini, deciding it was time to fight back. Victini burst into flames, which shot at Oshawott like a shining meteor. Oshawott tried to leap out of the way, but was hit by a glancing blow and went down.
"Oshawott!" Cheren said in alarm, running to check his Pokémon. Victini flew down to Brendan, and received a pat on the head.
"Good job, buddy," Brendan said to it, recalling it back into its Repeat Ball.
"That's the first time I lost." Cheren said, coming over to Brendan.
"Don't worry about it," Brendan told him, "Even though Oshawott had a type advantage, it couldn't hit Victini. You have to factor stuff like that into your Pokémon choice, which is hard right now, but it'll become easier as you get more types and start evolving."
Cheren nodded.
"So you going to Striation City now?"
"Yup," Brendan nodded, "You were too, right? You wanna go together? I could really use a guide."
"You are kinda clueless when it comes to Unova." Cheren smiled.
"Wanna tag along or not?" Brendan asked.
"Sure, why not?"