I'm not exactly proud of this chapter, either, but it's not getting quite interesting yet. Things will get better soon.

By the way, none of the Pokémon have nicknames in this story. I just didn't feel like it, and in Emerald, my Pokémon were just known by their species names, and this story is based off my character in that game.

CHAPTER TWO

FIRST BATTLE

Back in the classroom, Steven handed Brendan and I some notebooks and pencils. "You'll need to take notes for the rare few tests we'll have, got it? You can copy off a friend's notes for the lesson you missed before lunch."

I nodded, accepting the material, and returned to my seat. My fingers still traced the metal of Mudkip's PokéBall as I turned my attention back to Steven.

Steven began talking about dual-types and the advantages and disadvantages of them. It was interesting, but that soon faded as I hurried to scribble down notes.

The rest of the day passed in a blur that seemed to take both an eternity and a nanosecond as I spent my time in a strange sort of trance, listening to Steven in a sort of daze.

Tomorrow, I was going to have my first Trainer battle – heck, my first battle ever! I had challenged Cody to a one-on-two fight, and though his Pokémon were three levels lower than Mudkip and one had a type disadvantage, I knew it would be a tough battle.

Maybe I would lose.

If Cody had the sort of strategy similar to Dylan's – weaken the opposing Pokémon with attacks, then send in a fresh reinforcement – then the battle was as good as lost.

Why did I have to challenge him like that? I would be the laughingstock of Hoenn if I lost that battle.

Mudkip would be so disappointed in me and in himself… I thought, gripping the PokéBall tighter.

"That's enough for today." Steven's voice broke into my thoughts, and I hastily shoved my pencil back into my desk.

The class began to rise again and poured out, separating before two staircases – one labeled BOYS in bold letters and one labeled GIRLS.

"Those are the dormitories."

It was Annabelle, the girl with the powerful-looking Pidgey. I turned to look at her, surprised.

"You can put your notes in your desk. There's no need to study them, since we haven't finished this new unit," she said, raising a hand. The Pidgey hopped onto her finger and looked at me with soft, dark eyes.

"O-okay. Thanks," I said, following her directions.

Annabelle smiled. "No problem. You can just follow me, okay?" she said.

I nodded in response, and she led me up the staircase to the girls' dormitory.

We emerged in a large room with a fireplace and about nine comfortable-looking chairs gathered around it. There was plenty of place to relax in.

"Everybody calls this the mess room, since it usually is a mess, or others just call it 'the Room.' It's actually the common room, but you, know… mess room works." Annabelle led me through the waves of students. "We don't sleep here, of course. We sleep in room with three other people – I'll show you ours…"

We successfully navigated through the sea of kids and came to the end of the room.

"There are separate areas for ten, eleven, and twelve-year-olds," Annabelle explained, gesturing at the three red doors that met our gazes. "The twelve-year-olds that stay usually turn out to be experienced Trainers, since they stay for an extra year. Roxanne is twelve, for example."

"Can we battle her?" I asked curiously.

Annabelle laughed. "You have the opportunity to once you turn twelve. I know Leif, for example, could beat her – his Roselia and Lombre are both level 23."

Wow. "My Pokémon's only level 7," I admitted sheepishly.

"Leif's a better Trainer than most," Annabelle told me with a swift nod, pushing open the door that read 10-YEAR-OLDS.

We came into a medium-sized room with two bunk beds on each side of the room.

"Your bed's up on top, above Isabella's," Annabelle told me. "I've got the top bed too, and Kara's on the bottom."

I looked around.

Kara's side was decorated with posters of various Pokémon. A cushion covered with blue fur sat next to her pillow, obviously for her Marill. Everything there was in either in the colors blue, green, or yellow.

Kara herself was lying in the center of her bed, sprawled out like a sleeping Growlithe, Marill sitting in the crook of her arm.

Annabelle's had posters, too, mostly those of Pidgeot, Swellow, Staraptor, and Honchkrow flying about. She had a collection of bandanas spilling from a bag at the foot of her bed.

"I collect bandanas for no reason," she explained, blushing slightly.

Isabelle's side was concealed by blankets, but I could see her Pikachu's eyes glowing at us. Isabelle lifted up the curtain to grin at us.

The walls of my bed were completely blank, and the mattress had nothing on it. I stared unhappily at it, wondering what to do.

Kara looked up at me and laughed. "Don't worry, your mom sent a package with some sheets, a pillow, clothes, and books."

She handed a large box to me. I winced at the sudden weight – it was heavy – and managed to drag it up to my new bed.

"Don't worry, we can donate some stuff to spice up your place a bit," Isabella told me, emerging from her bed. Her Pikachu hopped after her.

15 minutes later, a poster of a Lucario using Aura Sphere on a dodging Gallade (donated by Kara), another poster of an Eevee gazing at its reflection in a pond (also donated by Kara), several bandanas (formerly Annabelle's) and a detailed hand-drawn picture of a Mudkip dancing (by Isabella) were hung up on the wall.

Several long, thick strips of wood stuck out from the wall just above my head. Isabella had fetched Dennis, who made his Caterpie use String Shot on it (which was basically the strongest glue in the world), and then told me that the wood, which they had found left over from a building project several days ago, would make a great bookshelf.

I placed my books there and looked at them, grinning. "Thanks, Isabella. That was a great idea. And thank you to Kara and Annabelle, too."

"No problem," they chimed in.

"Let's go to the Room," Isabella suggested. "It's about dinnertime, by the way."

I nodded, and followed them out, emerging into a room full of warmth and the scents of food…

XXXXX

Nighttime had come.

The girls were chatting, but I stared down at the few berries I'd taken, planning to give them to Mudkip in case he grew hungry.

"Hey, Swift!"

I was jolted out of my thoughts by Annabelle's cheerful voices. Startled, I looked over at her.

"Swift!" she repeated. "We were just wondering, do you have any Pokémon yet?"

"Ah – yes, I do. I saved some berries for him, too," I replied, holding up a Pecha.

"Could we see him?" pleaded Kara, looking up at me. "Or is it supposed to be a surprise of some sort?"

I shook my head. "It's fine. I never thought about it."

Annabelle tilted her head. "If your Pokémon's level 7, you must have gotten him from another source besides the Trainer School."

I grinned. "I got him from Prof. Birch. Come on out, Mudkip!"

There was a flash of red light that illuminated the room, and Mudkip popped out of the Ball and settled down onto my bed, looking sleepy.

"Wow! Mudkip are supposed to be really rare. You and Brendan are so lucky," Kara murmured, staring up at Mudkip.

Brendan. I wondered what he was doing today.

"Brendan has a Treecko," I told her.

"Wowwww!" Annabelle fell onto her bed, getting an annoyed squawk from her Pidgey.

"You could probably beat me in a battle," Kara said darkly, looking down. "Marill's only level 5."

"You might even be able to beat me. Mudkip's got some Ground-type attacks, and Pikachu is Level 7 too," Isabella told me, stroking the electric mouse's yellow fur.

"Probably not me. Pidgey's level 14, close to evolution." Annabelle shrugged.

They fell back into conversation again while I sat up straight in my bed, wide-eyed.

The battle! Tomorrow I would have my first battle!

Mudkip yawned, showing his pink mouth, and plopped down next to me. Sighing, I stared back outside.

A longing for Littleroot had just started up in the pit of my stomach, gnawing at me with dull teeth, and I fell back against my pillow.

XXXXX

After a nice, long sleep, I felt better when I woke up the next day. However, anticipation built up within me, rising like a growing tower until I could no longer ignore it.

Steven seemed to notice my pale face as I entered the room. "Are you all right?" he asked in a hushed voice as I let Mudkip free, ignoring the amazed murmurs around me.

"Ah – yeah – just… nervous," I admitted in a mumble, staring down at my shoes. Mudkip bounced around my legs.

"Swift." Steven pushed my head up so I was looking into his eyes – they, like his hair, were silver. "Even if you do lose to Cody, you gain more experience. Either way, win or lose, you learn more about battling. Nobody here will laugh about it, I promise you."

He's right.

I returned to my seat with a noticeably lighter heart and was able to pay attention to the lesson – about evolution, one of the greater mysteries about Pokémon.

"Evolution happens when a Pokémon gains a certain amount of experience and reaches the right level. The Pokémon's stats and appearance change dramatically, and sometimes the ability, type, or moves of that Pokémon will change too." Steven called Leif, Annabelle, Carly, and Chase up.

"Leif has two Pokémon, Roselia and Lombre. These Pokémon evolved from their original forms – Budew and Lotad, respectively – once they gained enough experience," Steven explained.

Leif nodded, his eyes following the movement of his Roselia, who was spinning by his feet. "Their appearance changed, and they grew stronger, but I feel like I lost their old selves. However, their personality is still the same."

"Annabelle's Pidgey is close to evolution. In two levels, her Pidgey will evolve to a new form," Steven continued. "Scientists have guessed at why this happens, but all they could come up with for sure is that evolution happens at a certain level."

Annabelle smiled, her face lighting up. "I can't wait."

Pidgey chirped, flapping his wings.

"Carly's Vulpix is different. Vulpix needs a Fire Stone to evolve." Steven gestured at Vulpix. "Prof. Rowan is famous for his studies on evolution. One of his theories is that the Fire Stone supplies Vulpix – and other Pokémon – with the energy required for evolving."

Carly looked around shyly. Vulpix twitched her six tails and cocked her head. "Vulpix!"

"Chase just recently received his Weedle. Therefore, Weedle will not evolve anytime soon."

"I wish," Chase muttered, looking down at the caterpillar-like Pokémon with a sigh.

Mudkip glanced up at me, obviously finding this interesting.

So did I. How close was Mudkip to evolving? How different would he look when he did evolve?

"You can stop evolution with a strange rock, though," Steven continued. "The Everstone is that stone. It's rather rare, unfortunately."

It hit me in a flash.

"I retired from the rank of Champion to look for rare stones. Now that I've found those stones, I've decided to do more to help the world…"

Steven had said that when he first met Brendan and I.

My hand went straight up.

"Swift? Do you have a question?" Steven asked, his silver eyes turning to me with a hint of curiosity in them.

"You have an Everstone, don't you? And you have a Fire Stone and some other stones too," I guessed, looking straight at me.

Mudkip cocked his head. "Mudkip mud!"

"Correct." Steven smiled. "I will give those stones to the lucky student at the end of the next battle tournament… the lucky student who wins."

Brendan turned to me. "Battle tournament?" he questioned.

I shrugged, not knowing anything about it either.

"Oooh! A battle tournament? It's been a year since the last one!" Penny gave a long sigh. "Leif won the last one."

The green-haired boy shrugged. "I might not win this year, don't forget." He produced a bell from his pocket. "I won the Soothe Bell last time."

Other ten-year-olds were evidently confused, too. "Battle tournament?" wondered Isabella with a look of bewilderment on her face.

"I'll pass out flyers, don't worry," Steven reassured them. "Here – Chase, could you kindly do that for me? Once you're done… it's time for lunch."

XXXXX

I stood in the arena with the top half of the flyer sticking out of my pocket, begging to be read. However, my attention was focused on a smirking Cody, whose Poochyena was watching me with a fierce gaze.

"Let the battle between Cody and Swift begin!" Steven called, waving his hand.

I didn't skip a beat. "Use Tail Whip!"

Mudkip whirled around and wagged his tail. Poochyena looked confused by this and relaxed his stiff muscles.

"Now! Use Tackle!" I ordered.

Mudkip suddenly started running, his speed increasing as he grew nearer and nearer. However, his attack missed Poochyena.

"Poochyena, use Tackle." Cody smirked.

At level 4, Poochyena would only know Tackle…

"Tackle again, then use Water Gun while you're at it," I instructed, pointing a finger at the Poochyena.

"Mud!" Mudkip missed Poochyena again, but used Water Gun just as the dark-furred dog sidestepped.

"Yena!" growled Poochyena as the spray of water forced him back.

"Gah! Tackle straight through it!" Cody looked annoyed, not desperate like I expected him to be.

What's his strategy? I stared at him, wondering why he wasn't so worried by being hit by Mudkip's strongest attack.

Mudkip gave a sudden yelp as Poochyena smashed into him. He flew backwards several feet, landing on all fours, but looking shaken.

"It's okay, buddy," I comforted him. "Let's not give up."

Mudkip glanced up at me for a fraction of a second, then charged again, turning into a blue blur of speed.

Poochyena was hit by the attack, but he took much more damage than Mudkip had, being a lower level and with a lowered Defense stat.

"Okay! Tail Whip, then Mud Shot!"

Mudkip waggled his tail fin, which seemed to aggravate the Poochyena.

"Use Tackle!" Cody clenched his fists.

The mud slapped Poochyena straight in the face. After a low growl, the dog sank to the ground.

Cody looked anguished. "N-no! Poochyena!"

In response to his master's pleas, the Pokémon rose to his paws and then used Tackle again.

Mudkip was hit by the full-force attack, but managed to unleash another powerful Water Gun before being tossed away.

Poochyena growled. "Yena!"

"Mud!" challenged Mudkip.

"Tackle again!" Cody ordered, pointing a finger at Mudkip.

I grimaced. "Quick! Dodge it!"

Mudkip leaped up and landed squarely on Poochyena's back. With a strangled noise, the Pokémon fainted.

"Good job," congratulated Cody, returning Poochyena. "Now, Houndour – take over from where Poochyena left off!" He enlarged Houndour's PokéBall and threw it.

"Houndour! Dour!" Houndour spat flame into the air.

Cody smirked. "I got this Houndour from Outdoor Day. This Pokémon was bred from two Houndoom who both knew Flamethrower and Crunch. Do you think you can beat a Pokémon who knows those moves?"

Shock surged through me, and I stared down at Mudkip.

I had a type and level advantage now, but how could I beat a powerful Pokémon like that?

"Well… we'll certainly try. We're not going down without a fight!" I snapped.

Mudkip lifted his head. "Mudkip mud!"

"Give it your all – use Crunch!" roared Cody.

"Water Gun!" I ordered.

Houndour, at a blinding speed, moved close to Mudkip and brought his jaws down on him. Yelping, Mudkip shot three beams of water into Houndour's face, struggling to get the silver-striped dog off his leg.

However, Houndour refused to budge, and looked at Mudkip with an evil glint in his eye.

"Be that way, then. Tackle! Throw him against the ground!" I ordered. "Then pummel him!"

There was no way to use Tail Whip against an aggressive opponent like this. I had to go all-out too, or I would lose my first battle ever!

Mudkip leaped up, then smashed Houndour against the floor of the Ground. The Tackle attack was quite powerful, and it was more than enough to throw Houndour off.

However, Mudkip wasn't in good shape. I could tell – and Houndour looked only a little damaged.

This Houndour was really well bred, if he can take three Water Guns and a Tackle without getting badly hurt! I thought grimly.

"Use Flamethrower," Cody directed with a sneer. "This attack can fry any Water-type."

I frowned. "Mud Shot to counter it."

Houndour opened his jaws and shot a beam of fire at Mudkip, who countered by shooting earth at the flames. Luckily, the fire grew much weaker, but they swirled around Mudkip before they faded.

"Mud…"

I stared in horror down at Mudkip, who looked positively pitiful. His body was covered with scars from the burn. He was really hurt.

Right before my eyes, though, a blue light enveloped my Pokémon. The gentle light grew sharper and sharper, then winked out altogether.

A new Mudkip stood there.

Now Mudkip's orange fins had grown longer, and the fin on his head and his tail were wider and larger. His muscles appeared to be tenser, and his eyes held the light of battle.

"It's Mudkip's special ability, Torrent," murmured someone from the crowd. "It increases the power of Water-type attacks, but activates when Mudkip has low health…"

Cody looked shocked, and Houndour was completely still, flames sparking from his dark paws.

Mudkip's eyes narrowed.

"Torrent, huh?" I mused, looking down at my partner. "Use Water Gun on Houndour, then!"

Mudkip opened his mouth, and a beam of water shot from his mouth and crashed into Houndour. The dog-like Pokémon gave a yelp, flinching from the attack.

"Use Crunch!" Cody ordered, a bit of anger in his voice.

"Dodge it!" I instructed.

Mudkip was too late, though. Houndour's teeth locked on Mudkip's front leg.

Now with Mudkip's health so low, this was definitely a danger. This attack was obviously taking its toll.

"Hound," hissed Houndour, his voice muffled.

"Water Gun!"

Mudkip obeyed swiftly, sending a blast of water into Houndour's face, then repeating it from as many angles as he could.

"Dour!" yelped the Pokémon, falling backwards.

"Water Gun again!" I cried, my gaze focused on Houndour.

"Use – ah – Flamethrower!" Cody was quickly becoming desperate. However, Water Gun easily killed off the flames and splashed on the dog-like Pokémon.

"Houn...dour…" Houndour slumped against the ground, fainted.

Mudkip was in a similar position, sinking down, but still conscious. I ran forward and scooped him up.

"You did a fabulous job. That was your first battle, Mudkip. It was amazing, you beat two Pokémon by yourself!" I hugged him closer, and his head sagged in my arms.

"Mud…" he whispered.

"Swift is the winner of this battle." Steven jumped down into the arena. "Good job."

Cody returned Houndour. "I can't believe it! You're barely more than a rookie," he muttered. "Both of you did a great job. Here, Steven, can you heal them up?"

"Gladly." Our teacher accepted the PokéBalls and held them in one hand.

"I'm not just a rookie," I snapped. "I first met Mudkip when I was four years old, and I've played with him every day ever since."

Cody turned away. "You're good enough to beat me… obviously. But, even that wouldn't be good enough to win the battle tournament."

I stared after him, my rage flaring up inside me.

Steven placed a hand on my shoulder. "He's just sore he lost. Let me have Mudkip – I'll heal him up for you, all right?"

"All right," I said, reluctantly returning Mudkip and turning the Ball over to him.

All right. Please read and review!