A/N-This chapter is now edited too for grammar. I realized I've been starting my sentences with 'I' a little too much, especially in Chapter 1. I suppose a third revision is due sometimes in the future...

Chapter 2

I cleaned my bowl under thirty seconds and looked up to beg for more.

The trainer refilled my bowl with a surprised expression on his face. After he set the bowl in front of me again I ate slowly. This time, I actually did some tasting and chewing.

While I had my head practically buried in stew; the sound of dried items pouring out of a box reached my ears. I perked up hoping there was more food, but I was greeted with a bowl of unidentifiable brown clumps.

I scrunched my nose at the repulsive smell and returned my attention back to my stew.

He looked at me with a puzzled expression, "It's Pokémon food."

So this is what captured Pokémon live on? I gave one a doubtful lick and then I guzzled down a couple mouthful of stew to wash away the awful aftertaste.

He sighed and held it up for other takers; the trainer's Flygon happily gulped it down along with his own share of UFO—my appellation for the unidentifiable food-like objects.

After dinner I sprawled comfortably on a patch of grass near the campfire. I was happily dreaming about barbecued meat when a voice busted my dream bubble.

"Well hello there! Aren't you one foxy babe!"

I looked around to find the source of the obnoxious voice and humorless pun. Strangely, no one was near me.

"Yo! Down here baby!" I finally spotted the owner of the voice: a little Riolu that looked no older than a month. "Congratulations! You just won a date with Mr. Hottie here."

Someone is a little narcissistic, I rolled my eyes. Out of my own amusement, I decided to deflate his disproportionably large head.

"Sorry kid, I don't date anyone who doesn't reach my eye level." I replied while getting onto my feet to loom over his little figure.

The Riolu was undeterred, "Sexy AND spunky. I like! You make me feel like I'm on fire! Rawr!"

I would be glad to do the honor! I glowered as I harnessed the fire in my jaw for a Fire Blast. It every bit worth to see the Riolu's eyes double in size. He took a couple of steps backwards and held up his hands as a sign of peace.

"You're really pretty!"

A new voice took me by surprised causing the fire in my jaw to die out. I coughed up some smoke and whipped my head around to identify the newcomer.

A wide-eyed Espeon was examining my tails; she pawed one of them and giggled in delight as it swished around. "Your tails are so beautiful Miss Ninetales!"

Ha! Someone with manners! How refreshing! I turned back to the womanizer, but he had enough sense to run away.

"My name is Fal! Welcome to our group!" The Espeon piped with a little too much vivacity.

"The name is Zeal, and don't you forget it!" The Riolu somehow appeared from behind. After carefully examining my expression, he decided it was safer to nonchalantly move away for now.

"Your bandage is really pretty too." Fal the Espeon chirped as she examined my leg that their master had bandaged. "OOOH! Here's a prettily shaped rock!"

I watched in bewilderment as the Espeon kicked her rock around, she was soon joined by Zeal, the egotistical Riolu.

Another one of them approached me; it was the Umbreon that I was first acquainted with.

"Ignore those two and your sanity will be just fine." The Umbreon nodded toward the pair who are happily playing 'pass the rock'. "I believe Zeal was dropped a couple of times when he was an egg and Fal just didn't have enough nutrient for a healthy mental development when she was a kit."

I didn't know quite what to believe.

"We haven't been properly introduced yet." The Umbreon nodded politely at me, "I am Arios, I'm the most—"

"—cynical one." I finished for him with a roll of my eyes.

"—REALISTIC one." He forcibly concluded, showing no signs of whether or not he had heard me.

I muttered a 'whatever' along with a proper 'nice to meet you'.

"Do you have a name?" Arios inquired.

"I got none." I replied, though in the back of my mind, a name I no longer use resurfaced.

"That's fine. Seph will give you one after you are officially part of the team." The black eon said confidently.

I assumed Seph was the one currently reading a book by the campfire. He was lying on his side using an arm to prop his head up. His expression showed weariness as he aimlessly leafed through his book.

"No guarantee that I'm going to join." I rebutted, "In fact, joining your little group would be most inconvenient for me. I'm only here with one goal in mind and that is to fill my stomach."

"We'll let our actions settle this in a couple of days," the Umbreon smirked, "when I crush you like a Wurmple."

I snorted, "You better start learning Dig. This way, you can dig a hole to hide your shame when I pulverize you."

We both smiled. I felt this was oddly the start of a friendship.

A brown trail stretched across a field of green.

On that path walked a trainer about seventeen-years-old. Right behind him I followed in the form of a Ninetales. Another figure approached, I looked at the newcomer with curiosity. He looked like another Pokémon trainer, a little bit younger, perhaps fifteen.

"Hey there!" The other trainer called out when he was close enough, "If you're not in any hurry, let us have a quick battle!"

Seph stopped and smiled good-naturedly. He responded to the other trainer's challenge by taking out his Pokeballs.

The younger boy smiled too when he saw this. He too fetched his Pokémon.

"Three-on-three, no substitution. How does that sound?" The challenger asked with overflowing confidence in his voice.

Seph merely nodded. The other trainer released his first Pokémon.

"Go Machamp!"

A humanoid beast emerged in a beam of light. He pounded his chest with his many arms with a look of eagerness for some action.

Seph assessed the Pokémon for a brief moment, then he reached for Fal's Pokeball.

Fal happily chirped as she pranced to her place in the battlefield. She looked up at the Machamp with her large lavender eyes and whistled.

The other trainer grinned smugly with a look of 'I got this battle in the bag'. "Machamp, Cross Chop!"

The large figure charged with two hands reached out for an attack. His gigantic figure loomed over the purple feline Pokémon.

"Fal! Agility!" Seph commanded when his opponent was only a step away. Fal instantly disappeared and reappeared behind her target.

The Machamp was taken aback when his fists met thin air. The giant momentarily lost his footing, but that was all the time Seph needed.

"Fal! Quick attack!"

The Espeon shot out like a bullet, slamming her own weight on the back of the already unsteady Machamp. The fighting Pokémon stumbled and fell squarely on his face.

"Psychic attack!" Seph called out. The ruby jewel on the psychic Pokémon's forehead glistened as Fal unleashed a special attack volley.

The giant fell. When he didn't get up I knew the round was Seph's.

For the first time, I realized just how good Seph was as a trainer. The younger trainer was blinded by Fal's small stature and overconfidence of his own skill; he charged forward with his best attack hoping to end it quickly. Seph knew Fal does not have enough power to knock the Machamp down, so he used the Machamp's own weight against him. This made the Machamp vulnerable to a good clean attack that he was weak at.

I also noted the complete trust between him and his Pokémon. In order to surprise the Machamp, Fal needed to pull out at the last possible moment. If Fal moved early, the whole strategy would've been worthless. Fal trusted her trainer completely to tell her when to make a move, even if a miscalculation would result in serious damage.

My mind wandered back onto the battlefield after my reverie. Fal was taking on a formidable Gengar. Her foe released a dark ball of energy, the Espeon moved away in the nick of time.

"Woah! That was close!" Fal chirped after agilely dodging a chain of Shadow Balls.

One after another, Gengar continued to send out volleys of Shadow Balls. Fal had her paws busy dodging and there was no chance to counterattack.

The little Espeon was near the end of her endurance, but the Gangar looked like he was just warming up. I glanced at Seph, he looked a bit unnerved, but I could still spot confidence in his expressions.

"Yow!" Fal yelped. A Shadow Ball landed a bit too close to comfort. She then made another leap with great effort, another Shadow Ball whizzed by beneath her.

"Stop Fal," Seph commanded simply. The Espeon stopped in her track obediently; I watched in horror as a great ball of glowing energy made contact with the purple feline Pokémon.

A great cloud of dust flew up and encompassed the battlefield.

"Wahoo! I did it!" The other trainer leaped up with joy; his Gangar's perpetual smile seemed to have grown wider too.

"Fal, psychic."

All I caught was a purple blur shooting out of the cloud of dust. Fal's familiar cry resonated from a glowing creature; the Gangar was surrounded by a similar glow which made him cry in pain.

Fal landed on all four paws with adroitness. She bowed and glanced around as if expecting standing ovation for her spectacular performance.

What she received was a thump from her opponent collapsing to the ground. Fal grinned, satisfied with that feedback too.

My mind drifted after that battle. I underestimated Seph's abilities, and my glorious victory over Arios did not look as promising as I envisioned it. I appraised Seph's tactics and reflected on my own. Is there a weakness in his strategy? And how can I exploit it?

My mind barely registered the last match, it seemed that Fal repelled a Bubblebeam with a Swift Attack.

I analyzed his tactic; it seemed too perfect. Seph knows exactly how to negate each and every attack. His defense strategy is perfect and his comebacks are awe-striking.

Fal delivered the final blow to her opponent, knocking him out.

And that was when I discovered his weakness.

"Today is the day," I announced to no one in particular. I stretched my limbs and went for a test run, my ankle felt better than new.

I bit off the bandage and carried it over to the waking trainer. He glanced at the bandage and immediately understood.

"Right after breakfast," he simply said.

Arios caught my eyes; he nodded briefly, signaling to me that he was ready at anytime.

I nodded back at him. If it goes like I planned, this would be my last time seeing him.

We were back to the place of our initial battle. The large circle burnt away from my Fire Spin two days ago was starting to sprout again. I took my place on one side of the circle, Arios took the other side.

I opened the battle with a Quick Attack and then closely followed it with a Flamethrower.

Arios nimbly dodged it; he rebuked with Faint Attack. Then, multiple images of the Umbreon surrounded me; I let out a Fire Spin without missing a beat.

"Remember this?" I shouted so my voice could rise above the dust and wind I stirred up.

"Oh yes," Arios replied, "If I recall correctly, you're going to land on your face next!"

"As if!" I laughed.

I tensed my muscles for a Quick Attack; Arios was prepared for the attack so he stepped away without another thought.

I quickly twisted my body and sprang back toward the black feline, this time I caught him taken aback. When I was at a close proximity; I delivered a powerful Fire Blast.

Arios was badly hurt by my close-range special attack. Patches of his fur were burnt away to nothing.

"Arios!" Seph exclaimed in surprise. But as I suspected, Arios was too tough to go down in one blast.

"Nice job," Arios puffed. He shifted his weight; I could tell he changed to attack mode.

Perfect. This is what I am waiting for.

Seph's tactics consisted of mainly defensive and counterattacks; he rarely made the first move. I drove Arios into attack mode; now I could use their own tactics against them.

Seph had Arios start with a Shadow Ball; I met his attack with a Fireblast. The two attacks exploded in the middle. I utilized this time of confusion to sneak close behind the unsuspecting Pokémon and tackled him.

Umbreon yelped in surprise; Seph had a look of bewilderment.

To prevent Arios shifting back to defense, I released several balls of Will-o-Wisp. These annoying little balls of fire kept the Umbreon on his toes.

We exchanged several attacks in this manner; all of the Umbreon's backfired.

"Arios, Bite Attack!" Seph commanded with a strange composure in his voice. Ha! Is he sending his Pokémon to defeat?

I didn't think twice; it was quite nice for Seph to play right into my strategy. I jumped away and quickly sprang back toward Arios hoping to deliver a counterattack while he was recovering.

Seph voice came from my right, "Shadow Ball."

Arios met my head-on attack with a glowing ball of energy produced from thin air.

I felt my body sail through the sky and land on to the grass with a loud thump, the air knocked out of my lungs and my head dizzy. Taking advantage of my disabling moment, Arios sent out a barrage of Shadow Ball.

I laid on the grass, unable to move and laying in defeat. How did he produce a Shadow Ball so quickly? I chuckled, I should have known. Arios had that Shadow Ball ready before his trainer called out the command.

In the end, I fell victim to the flaws Seph's other opponents had: overconfidence in one's own skill and underestimating the strength of Seph and his Pokémon as a team.

I felt a light tap of an object against my body and then a red light surrounding me. I didn't even try to struggle.

"Release."

I was back onto the field of green with Seph and Arios smiling down at me.

"Welcome to the team!" Seph grinned. He gave me a quick pat on the head, "Now that you are officially part of the team, you'll need a name!"

The young Pokémon Trainer pondered for a while; then a smile broke out on his face.

"How about Ardelle? It means flame."

Ardelle... It is a beautiful name. I murmured in approval.

"Great. Welcome to the team, Ardelle!"

Arios came up and greeted me too; he looked at me with a new light of respect.

I smiled; perhaps being captured won't be awful. Arios caught me grinning and decided to burst my bubble.

"Since you're new, you get extra night watch shifts."

Sure. But guess whose face is getting drawn on tonight.

A/N- In Chapter 3, our antagonist will be briefly introduced. And Seph is what?

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