Hey! Welcome back to chapter 2 of the story! I'm gonna be taking OC submissions soon if that piques your interest, so probably by the 4th chapter. Anyways, onwards to the story!

Rivalry Ignites!

"I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE!"

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"

Both boys stared each other down before jumping back. While Joey recalled Drago, Zach sent out his Pokemon.

"Go! Blazer!"

Out of the Pokeball came Zach's brand new Chimchar, obviously ready to tussle.

"Let's do this Leafy!"

The Turtwig took a battle stance and glared at the opponent.

"Blazer, Scratch!"

"Leafy, Withdraw!"

As the orange monkey approached, Leafy withdrew into his shell, and remained there as scratch attacks landed on the surface to no avail.

"Now, use Tackle!"

The Tiny Leaf Pokemon quickly popped back out of its shell and rammed into Zach's Chimchar.

"Blazer! Get back in there and use Scratch!"

"Let's go Leafy, do it again!"

The process repeated itself twice more, until the opposing Chimchar could barely stand.

"Finish this Leafy! Tackle!"

As Leafy moved in for the final blow, he wondered why Zach wasn't ordering a command. He looked up to him and saw that he was… smiling? Then he realized.

"Leafy! Get – "

But it was too late.

"Blazer, unleash Scratch attacks!"

His Turtwig was suddenly caught in a rapid barrage of relentless scratches, until he finally went down.

"HA! Looks like I win!" Zach boasted as he stuck his tongue out. "Looks like someone's just a bad trainer!"

He returned Leafy to his pokeball and then pulled out the Premier Ball. "It's not quite over yet Zach." Joey muttered as he lobbed the ball into the air "Drago! Let's Rock'N'Roll!"

In a flash of red, the dragon pokemon appeared, ready for battle. Zach suddenly became aware of the appearance of the second pokemon and prepared for battle. He quickly sprayed a potion on Blazer before looking back up to the boy standing opposite him.

"Ready when you are!"

Suddenly, Joey realized something very important. He didn't have a single clue what any of Drago's moves were. Looking between him and the Fire type standing opposite, he decided to go with a simple attack.

"Drago, Tackle!"

"Blazer, Scratch!"

Fortunately, Drago seemed to know what he was doing, and landed the Tackle before jumping out of harm's way.

"Good one Drago! Let's do it again!"

"You know what you're doing Blazer."

Once again, the same set of events occurred. A successful Tackle, and a dodged Scratch. "One more time Drago!" Joey called out to the pokemon. The small dragon charged forward in a Tackle but was suddenly surprised by hitting nothing but air. Looking around, he heard something land behind him and turned around to face a barrage of scratch attacks, like what had happened before to Leafy.

Joey watched on hopelessly as the same thing occurred. Is there anything I can do!?

While there was nothing he himself could do, there was something Drago could. Jumping backwards, the land shark kicked some sand into the monkey's face, blinding it and causing it to stop its attack. Taking the momentary pause to its advantage, Drago charged it with a tackle attack, and toke Blazer down.

Both boys looked silently upon the scene for a moment before Joey cried out in victory.

"I won!" He pulled Drago close and hugged him "Good job buddy!"

Meanwhile, Zach was left to his salty emotions, while his Chimchar was left to literal salt in its eyes. He returned the fainted pokemon and silently started walking down to the Poke Center.

While Joey continued to celebrate, he heard the lab door open and there.

"Oh, hey Professor! Didja see my battle?!"

"Yes, I did" Rowan responded somewhat gravely "and it was horrible."

The young trainer was flabbergasted. "But what makes you say that!?"

"Your strategy was absolutely terrible. You fell for the same trick twice, and nearly lost both of your Pokemon to it. The only thing that saved you was that Gible's quick-thinking."

Looking back on the battle, he knew the man was right. He had taken the bait both times, and nearly lost the match.

"But cheer up. I've got a mission for you." The doctor said as he pulled something out of his pocket. "This is a Pokedex. I want you to fill it out for me, so we can have data on all Pokemon in Sinnoh. This is the same quest I sent your father on that he completed, but times have changed since then. With the introduction of the new Fairy type, the Pokedex needs to be updated. So, I want YOU to go out and catch all the pokemon of Sinnoh will you assist me?"

Without even stopping to think, he responded with a yes. Then another one. The professor had a short laugh and handed him the Pokedex, wished him good luck, and head back into the lab. Before he left town however, he figured he'd need to stock on supplies – which wouldn't be a problem with the prize money he just got from Zach – and tell his Mum he's heading off.

When he arrived home (which only took 3 minutes to run back too) he told his mom about everything that had happened up to receiving the Pokedex.

"Sounds like both men in this house are gonna be out on adventures now, huh?" she joked but then added "But be careful. You never know what kind of Pokemon might attack."

"I know, I know." Her son replied "But as long as I have my team with me, there's not a thing we won't lose to!"

"Well, in any case, have this. Consider it a gift to help you on your adventure."

Joey grabbed the box and opened it to find a pair of running shoes inside. He held them above his head, and they floated for some strange reason while music played in the background. This freaked him out a little so he dropped them to the floor and looked back in the box. This time he pulled out a small piece of cardboard labeled "Instructions"

"Press B to Run, and Blaze Trails of Adventure Like Never Before!" he read, then looked at it quizzingly "What is that supposed to mean?"

His mother shrugged and looked toward the you. "That's for them to know."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing."

An awkward silence passed through the room.

"Sooo…. Why did you get me the shoes? I can run perfectly fine without them."

She pointed down at his feet and he looked to find that soles were torn up, and the fabric on top scratched up.

"Oh… so that's why everyone else walks everywhere…"

He quickly slipped on the shoes, said his final good-byes to his mother, and went off to stock supplies for his brand-new quest. Who knows? He might even become champion while he's at it!

I'm just going to start putting random quotes here.